GREEN SCREEN IRISH ACTORS TAKE OVER TV
Line Of Duty star believes Covid has freed up the process of casting roles
TV VIEWERS were on the edge of their seats for the series finale of Line Of Duty earlier this month, endlessly positing and discussing conspiracy theories – with an Irishwoman at the centre of them (though many didn’t realise she was actually Irish).
Amy De Bhrún, a prolific actress raised in Rathfarnham, played Liverpudlian Steph Corbett, nailing the accent for the role as a widow drawn into the series’ intense world of crime and corruption.
The high-profile part has seriously increased her facial and name recognition – but a line of young Irish actors behind her are also enjoying breakout pandemic success internationally as a new generation of leading Irishmen and women in widely watched projects both here and abroad.
In a roundabout way, the worldwide coronavirus crisis may have actually helped.
De Bhrún explained how technology and the self-tape audition ‘was happening before the pandemic, but now it’s the primary way of casting people’.
‘It means you might be seen for something that you may not have been able to be seen before for, or with a studio,’ she told the Irish Mail on Sunday.
‘It definitely has opened things up – and I think, even just the level of training over here has certainly kind of grown as well, in terms of TV and film training… there’s a lot of focus on screen training over here [now] as well, which is really important.’
Starting this week, Dublin actor Patrick Gibson will star alongside the prolific British film and television actress Lesley Sharp in Channel 4’s highly touted new crime drama, Before We Die, which debuts on Wednesday and is being heavily promoted.
Gibson, 26, had landed roles in Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did and The Tudors, but his international profile truly began to climb when he was cast in 2016’s Netflix supernatural drama The OA. He left his philosophy course at Trinity College Dublin to star in what would become a major cult sensation, an unorthodox programme that undeniably rode the wave of streaming services’ increasingly visible power and influence.
The actor is currently filming in Australia but the Channel 4 programme is set to introduce him to even further legions of British fans. He plays the wayward son of a Bristol cop amidst intrigue including a disappearance, drugs, organised crime and family discord.
Meanwhile, a pair of Irish actresses are earning accolades for their starring turn in a hit on another major network – HBO Max in the States – and the series, The Nevers, airs on Sky Atlantic on this side of the pond. Ann Skelly, born in Dublin and raised in Wexford, and Laura Donnelly, from Belfast, star alongside each other in the American science fiction series The Nevers, following Victorian women who discover individual superpowers. Skelly had previously appeared in roles in Irish programmes including Rebellion and Red Rock, while Donnelly had also gained success with parts in The Fall and Outlander, for example.
But their breakout turns in The Nevers – and association with HBO – have seriously widened their name recognition and opportunities. In a joint interview last month, the actresses – who had never before worked together – spoke about their chemistry and friendship and the huge career advantage of HBO’s weight and reach.
Donnelly told Syfy: ‘What was a huge draw was the fact that it was going to be on HBO, because I have loved everything I’ve ever watched on HBO.’
Donnelly confirmed she was cast following an acclaimed turn on stage in The Ferryman. ‘I swear that this isn’t a lie… I had just had a conversation with one of the actors in that, [and] we were like, “Right, we’re going to decide what it is that we do next”. And I said, “I’m gonna get a lead on an HBO show. That’s what I’m gonna do.”
‘And as soon as [The Nevers] came up, that was literally a dream come true.’ At the same time, yet another Irish actress broke onto international screens this spring with a turn alongside Kevin Bacon and Jill Hennessy in Showtime’s City On A Hill, also available during lockdown on Amazon Prime.
Owen Laheen, born in Dublin and raised between Wicklow and France, played a plot-defining recurring role in the 90s Boston-set
‘A lot of focus on screen training over here now’
‘I hope it does open up more doors for people’
series revolving around police and community corruption and, of course, roping in connections to the IRA. Laheen plays Maeve Regan, a mysterious Belfast transplant to Boston who sings in the church choir with Hennessy’s character.
A twin, 24-year-old Laheen has been involved in performance for years, studying at the competitive SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Acting in New York.
De Bhrún, whose daughter with husband Seán Branigan will turn two this summer, said she hopes the young actors’ careers will continue going from strength to strength and – along with her own success – pave the way for even more fledgling Irish performers.
‘When somebody who is able to give you a job sees that you can handle yourself… in a big production like that, that has huge viewing figures – and that you, who came from Ireland, are perfectly capable of that – I hope it does open up more doors for people,’ she said.