Lisa Harrow (born 25 August 1943) is a New Zealand-born actress, noted for her various roles in British theatre, films and television.
Harrow was born in Auckland and attended Auckland University. After graduating from RADA in 1968, she joined the BBC Radio Repertory Company.
Her stage career started at the Royal Shakespeare Company where she played leading roles including Olivia in John Barton's production of Twelfth Night opposite Judi Dench, and Portia in The Merchant of Venice opposite Patrick Stewart. Other leading roles in the UK theatre include Juliet opposite John Hurt's Romeo at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, and Ann Whitfield in Man and Superman opposite Peter O'Toole at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.
Harrow has performed on stage all over America. She took over the central role of Vivian Bearing in the Pulitzer prize-winning play 'Wit' in its long-running off-Broadway production in New York. She was named 2001 Performer of the Year in Pittsburgh for Medea. Other roles include: Raynevskya in The Cherry Orchard at Yale Rep and the Chautauqua Theatre Company, where she also played Kate Keller in All My Sons.
She is probably best known for playing Nancy Astor, the first woman elected to the British Parliament, in the 1982 BBC drama of the same name. Harrow also played journalist Kate Reynolds in Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981) and Lizzie Dickinson in Lizzie's Pictures, (1987), BBC. She won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in The Last Days of Chez Nous.
She had a long-term relationship with actor Sam Neill, by whom she has a son, but is now married to whale-biologist Roger Payne, and lives in Vermont. Roger is founder and President of Ocean Alliance, and best-known for his co-discovery with Scott McVay, that the long, complex and apparently random sounds produced by male humpback whales are actually rhythmic, repeated sequences, and therefore, are properly called 'songs'. Lisa and Roger have created a lecture/performance piece called 'SeaChange: Reversing the Tide' .
Harrow is the author of the environmental handbook: What Can I Do?, published in four separate editions in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand .
