Pauline Perpetua Quirke (born 8 July 1959) is an English actress, known for her role as Sharon Theodopolopodos in the long-running comedy series Birds of a Feather from 1989 to 1998, and again since 2014. For this role, she won the 1990 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. She was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1996 BBC miniseries The Sculptress. Her other television credits include Maisie Raine (1998–99), Down to Earth (2000–03), Emmerdale (2010–12) and Broadchurch (2013–).

Biography

Quirke has two children, Emily and Charlie (who stars as Travis in Birds of a Feather) and is married to producer Steve Sheen; they live in Penn, Buckinghamshire. During an appearance on The Paul O'Grady Show in 2007, Quirke told of how she suffers from severe stage fright and nerves and she usually refuses to appear on live television shows. In 2009, she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and underwent a hip replacement operation.

In 2011, Quirke went on a diet and slimmed down from 19 stone 6 pounds (123 kg) at Christmas 2010 to 13 stone 0 pounds (83 kg) in July 2011, and aimed to get her weight down to 11 stone 0 pounds (70 kg) after being told she was "a big unit" and her health was at risk.

In 2007 The Pauline Quirke Academy opened it's doors at various locations around the world. Quirke set this up as an extra curricular centre for young people who want to learn performing arts. There are currently 68 sites.