Born:
July 08, 1958
in
London
Best Known For:
Playing Sharon in Birds of a Feather.
Early-life:
Pauline Perpetua Quirke was born on July 8, 1959, in London. Along with her siblings Sean and Kitty, she was raised by her mother Hetty in a tenement flat with no hot running water. At the age of nine, she joined a drama club arranged by her English teacher and started winning small parts in children's TV shows and Dixon of Dock Green. This led to bigger roles in series such as ITV's You Must Be Joking. In 1976 she was given her own show, Pauline's Quirkes.
Career:
In 1980 she made a brief appearance in The Elephant Man. Bigger roles came in Shine on Harvey Moon and Angels. In 1989, she was cast in the sitcom Birds of a Feather alongside best friend Linda Robson; it ran for nine years. In 1996, Quirke earned critical acclaim for her role in psychological drama The Sculptress, and was praised for her performance as a bereaved mother in Our Boy. She also appeared in Office Gossip, Real Women, Maisie Raine, Being April, Down to Earth and The Thieving Headmistress before having a two-year stint in Emmerdale. While appearing in the Yorkshire-based soap her character underwent the trauma of losing a son, which coincided with the actress losing six-and-a-half stone in weight. She's since starred in Broadchurch and the ITV revival of Birds of a Feather.
Quote:
On nearing her target weight of 11 stone: "I won't put myself through any surgical procedures if there's an alternative. It's all manageable. I've never been hungry."
Trivia:
Quirke suffers from osteoarthritis and has had a hip replaced. She suffers from stage fright. Her son, Charlie, plays Travis in Birds of a Feather.