Early Life and Family
Wanamaker was born in New York City, the daughter of Canadian-born actress and radio performer Charlotte Holland, and American-born actor, film director and radio producer Sam Wanamaker, who decided not to return to the United States after being blacklisted in 1952.
Wanamaker's parents were Jewish, though she had a non-religious and non-observant upbringing. Her family was of Ukrainian extraction. The BBC documentary Who Do You Think You Are? broadcast on 24 February 2009, revealed that Wanamaker's paternal grandfather Maurice Wanamaker (originally Manus Watmacher) was a tailor (born 1895) in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
Wanamaker was educated at the independent King Alfred School in Hampstead, London, and at Sidcot School, a Quaker boarding school in Somerset. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
In November 1994, Wanamaker married actor and dramatist Gawn Grainger.
Read more about this topic: Zoë Wanamaker
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