ARTS, SPORT AND ENTERTAINMENT
This category recognises three women who have added to the recognition and reputation of Ireland through art, music, literature, broadcasting, journalism, film, the performing arts or sport.
SELINA CARTMELL Director of The Gate Theatre
Selina Cartmell’s inaugural programme at The GATE starts from July 2017. As a freelance artist, Selina has directed a diverse range of work from Greek tragedy and Shakespeare, to international work and contemporary Irish drama, in theatres including the Abbey Theatre, the Gate Theatre, the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Theatre for a New Audience, New York. Her productions have been nominated for 35 theatre awards, winning 10, including three for best director. She directed three award-winning productions for the Gate, Catastrophe, Festen and Sweeney Todd, described in the Guardian as ‘a new dawn for the theatre’. In 2004, she established Dublin-based Siren Productions, a multi-award winning company conceived to innovate the classics and create relevant and dynamic new work, integrating theatre, dance, visual arts, architecture, film and music. Most recently she made her film debut with The Date, a Short Shot Film Award funded by RTE and Filmbase.
SHARON HORGAN International screenwriter and actress
Sharon Horgan is the co-lead and co-creator of the award-winning, critically-acclaimed TV series Catastrophe (Channel4/Amazon). Of her Bafta-nominated performance, The Hollywood Reporter noted “it’s Horgan’s performance that elevates the series”, and Variety commented that “Before 2015, we were unfamiliar with Horgan, but now we can’t get enough of her deft and versatile on-screen work.”
Sharon has won a Bafta in the Writer: Comedy category and was recently nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards alongside Rob Delaney.
Her HBO show Divorce is currently filming its second season in New York. The comedy which she has created, written and produced — stars Sarah Jessica Parker and is set in New York.
One of the Guardian’s top 100 most powerful people in the media 2015, her BBC show Pulling was nominated for two Bafta Awards and won two British Comedy Awards.
Further to her creative work, Sharon co-owns the independent production company Merman.
ANNALISE MURPHY Olympian
Annalise Murphy is one of Ireland’s elite athletes. She first got a taste of sailing when she was five and has been on the water ever since. When she took the Under 21 World Championship title in 2009 it showed her potential to compete on the world stage. She then took the brave step to defer her degree in Natural Science in UCD after her first year to focus entirely on competitive sailing. After a heartbreaking fourth-place finish in the London 2012 Olympics, Annalise fought back to be European Champion in 2013 and then after a number of tough years on the circuit, had the ultimate redemption of taking a silver medal at Rio 2016. In-between sailing and travelling Annalise loves to bake, cycle and kite surf. She also picked up a professional chef ’s qualification earlier this year at the Ballymaloe Cookery School.