Lisa Dwan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lisa Dwan
Dwan at the British Library in 2022
Born	Coosan, Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland
Occupation	Actor director writer dancer
Years active	1997–present

Lisa Dwan is an Irish actress, director, and writer. She is well known for her work in theatre, especially performing plays by Samuel Beckett. She started her acting career in the TV series Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog (1998–1999). More recently, she starred in the Netflix series Top Boy (2019–2023). She also appeared in the Irish soap opera Fair City (2006–2007).

Early Life and Dance

Lisa Dwan was born in Coosan, Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland. When she was young, she trained to be a ballet dancer. At just 12 years old, she was chosen to dance with the famous ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. This was for the Ballet San Jose's show of "Coppélia" in Dublin.

Lisa left school at 14 after winning a special scholarship. She went to the Dorothy Stevens School of Ballet in Leeds. She also danced with the London Lewis Ballet Company. Lisa began acting professionally when she was still a teenager.

Acting Career Highlights

Lisa Dwan's first movie role was playing Agnes in an adaptation of Oliver Twist in 1997. She acted alongside stars like Elijah Wood.

Early TV Roles

Lisa's first regular TV role was as Princess Deirdre. She played this character in the show Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog. Later, she played Orla in "The Big Bow Wow" and Zoe Burke in the Irish soap opera Fair City. She also appeared as Angel Islington on Rock Rivals. In 2009, she starred with Martin Sheen in the movie Bhopal: Prayer for Rain.

Performing Samuel Beckett's Plays

Lisa Dwan is most famous around the world for her performances of Samuel Beckett's plays. Beckett was a very important Irish writer. Critics have called Lisa a top performer of his works.

She performed Beckett's play Not I in London in 2005. She even talked about Beckett with Billie Whitelaw, an actress Beckett himself called "perfect." From 2006, Billie Whitelaw helped Lisa with her work on Beckett's plays.

Lisa performed Not I again in 2009 and 2012. Starting in 2013, Lisa toured with "The Beckett Trilogy." This show included Not I along with two other short plays by Beckett: Footfalls and Rockaby. She performed these plays in many places, including London and New York. One critic said Lisa "is an instrument of Beckett," meaning she performs his work perfectly.

In 2016, Lisa adapted and starred in No's Knife. This was a one-woman show based on Beckett's writings. Lisa Dwan was the first woman ever to perform Beckett's Stories and Texts for Nothing.

Other Theatre and TV Work

In 2017, Lisa starred in plays by Harold Pinter in Washington, D.C. She won an award for her excellent acting there. She also starred in a stage version of Anna Karenina in Dublin in 2016. Other theatre shows include Shining City and Beside the Sea.

In 2021, Lisa played Dr Tori Matthews in the BBC drama Bloodlands. She also starred as Lizzie in the popular Netflix series Top Boy from 2019 to 2022. In 2024, she took on the role of DI Fia Lucey in Blackshore.

Writing and Teaching

Lisa Dwan also writes, gives talks, and teaches about theatre. She often talks about gender and Beckett's work. She has spoken on BBC radio and TV. Lisa also writes articles about Beckett and the arts for newspapers like The Guardian.

She has given lectures at top universities like University of Oxford and Princeton University. At Princeton, she taught a class about adapting Beckett's writings. From 2017 to 2018, she was an artist in residence at Columbia University. There, she worked with Irish writer Colm Tóibín on a play called Pale Sister. Lisa was also an artist in residence at MIT from 2018 to 2021.

Filmography

Film

Television