GOING WEST The Irish in LA

CHRIS O’DOWD

Born in Boyle, Co Roscommon (and forever, delightfully, Sean Murphy of

Moone Boy for many of us), O’Dowd moved to the UK to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. First visible in the Channel 4 comedy

The IT Crowd, O’Dowd’s breakthrough came with the movie Bridesmaids, following up with This Is 40; Thor: The

Dark World and recently Get Shorty on Epix. Married to Dawn O’Porter, the couple bought a house in West Hollywood.

OLIVIA TRACEY

From Terenure in Dublin, Tracey, pictured below, studied English and French at UCD with a view to becoming a teacher, but teaching jobs were scarce, so she decided to try modelling instead. Aged 24, in 1984, she won Miss Ireland, worked in RTE as a continuity announcer and TV host for a time, then studied acting at the Gaiety School. She moved to London, then New York and then, in 1997, to LA, armed with her savings and a list of 40 names gleaned from friends. “It was very hard for the first two years, and I took a long time to settle,” she said.

But settle she did, finding work acting, modelling, writing and narrating.

BARRY KEOGHAN

Barry came to acting after seeing an ad in the window of a shop on Sheriff Street near where he grew up. Independent filmmaker Mark O’Connor was casting

Between the Canals. Keoghan got a part, and loved it. He left Dublin for LA because: “LA is where the work is, man... I have to do that. I miss home, but when you get home you get itchy again.” And LA has been good to him, with roles in David Lowery’s medieval epic The Green Knight, and upcoming Marvel blockbuster Eternals.