Susie Figgis
Susan Margaret Figgis was a British casting director and anti-apartheid supporter. She worked on numerous films including Harry Potter and the [Philosopher's Stone (film)|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone], The [Full Monty], and The [Killing Fields (film)|The Killing Fields].
Life
Figgis was born in Nairobi to Shirley and Brian Figgis. Her father was a lawyer and her mother restored antiques. They moved to Britain when she was ten and she went to Wispers School. It was a boarding school where she was often punished and from which she was expelled more than once. She worked as an actor before she worked for the casting director Miriam Brickman who was working on the 1977 Swedish film The Assignment.She worked on numerous films including Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Gandhi, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Full Monty, and The Killing Fields.
As a casting director, she launched the careers of Lena Headey, Jodhi May, Greta Scacchi, Cathy Tyson, and Emily Woof, as well as Emma Watson who became Hermione Granger, and Rupert Grint who played Ron Weasley in the first Harry Potter film. She was also involved in the identification of Daniel Radcliffe as the lead character although she had left the team who had looked at 40,000 boys before Radcliffe was finally agreed as the lead.
Figgis was a strong and silent supporter of the anti-apartheid movement after agreeing to a request from Eleanor Kasrils who was the ANC's President Oliver Tambo's assistant. Figgis provided funds, transferred confidential messages and provided a place to stay for supporters. In 1998, she met Bill Anderson that way and, two years later, he became her husband.
She died on 12 December 2025, at the age of 77.