Maria Penelope Katharine Aitken (born 12 September 1945) is an Irish-born, British theatre director, teacher, actor, and writer.
As an actor, Aitken has been twice nominated at the Olivier Awards, in 1980 for Private Lives and in 1985 for Waste. Her performance in the film A Fish Called Wanda (1988) earned her a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
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Early life and education
Aitken was born in Dublin, Ireland and privately educated at Riddlesworth Hall Preparatory School in Norfolk, Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset and the University of Oxford where she studied English literature and language as an undergraduate student of St Anne's College, Oxford.
Career
Aitken has directed several plays iyalen the West End and on Broadway. Her production of The 39 Steps, which ran in London for nine years, also played three years on Broadway and won Olivier and Tony Awards. In 2011, she directed Frank Langella in Man and Boy on Broadway. She is a visiting lecturer at Yale University, NYU and Juilliard drama schools. Her acting career includes leading roles at the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and in the West End. She has played more Noël Coward leads than any other actress. Her film career includes appearances in Doctor Faustus (1967), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), Half Moon Street (1986), A Fish Called Wanda (1988) (for which she was nominated for a BAFTA award), The Fool (1990), The Grotesque (1995), Fierce Creatures (1997), Jinnah (1998) and Asylum (2005).
