Orla Brady
Orla Brady | |
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![]() Brady at the 2020 Dublin International Film Festival | |
Born | Dublin, Ireland | 28 March 1961
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1991–present |
Spouse |
Orla Brady (born 28 March 1961) is an Irish theatre, television, and film actress born in Dublin. She started her career as a touring theatre performer and began appeared regularly in television roles in the 1990s. She has been nominated for several awards from the Irish Film & Television Academy for her television work. Major or recurring TV roles continued in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with Brady appearing in over thirty series, limited series, or television movies up to the 2020s. This included her portrayal of two supporting characters in the CBS-Paramount+ series, Star Trek: Picard.
Brady's first role in film was in Words Upon the Window Pane in 1994. An early starring film role in the RTÉ-BBC co-production A Love Divided, won her the 1999 Golden Nymph Best Actress Award. Brady has since appeared in more than a dozen feature films and several short films, and was named in the 2020 list of Ireland's greatest film actors, published by The Irish Times.
Brady married in 2002 and lives in Los Angeles and Dublin.
Early life and education
[edit]Orla Brady was born in Dublin,[1] the daughter of Catherine and Patrick Brady,[citation needed] one of four children. At one time, her parents were the owners of an establishment called Oak Bar, in Temple Bar, Dublin.[2] She lived in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland, from birth until the age of seven.[3][2] She was educated at a convent of the Ursulines in Cabinteely, Dublin.[2]
Brady began training in performance in 1986, with a year in Paris;[1] she studied at L'École Philippe Gaulier,[4] and secured a place at Marcel Marceau's École Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris.[5] As she spoke of the time in interview, "there was a lot of clowning around, buffoonery and fencing. It was then that my own style kind of blossomed."[1]
Career
[edit]Brady began her career touring with Balloonatics Theatre Company,[6] in productions of Hamlet and Finnegans Wake.[7] Returning to Dublin after studying in Paris, she performed the role of Adela in House of Bernarda Alba in 1989[8] and Natasha in a 1990 production of Three Sisters, both at the Gate Theatre.[9] After moving to London, she played Kate in Brian Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come!, which later transferred from the King's Head Theatre to the West End.[7] Brady performed as Ghislane in Stephen Poliakoff's Blinded by the Sun, staged at the Royal National Theatre in England in 1996.[1][10]
Brady's first television role was a minor one as a bank clerk in the series Minder;[11] her first film part followed in 1994 when she was cast as Vanessa in Words Upon the Window Pane.[6][12][13]
Substantial roles have included the RTÉ-BBC co-production of A Love Divided,[11] where she portrayed Sheila Cloney, a woman whose conflict with the Catholic Church over her child's education leads to an anti-Protestant boycott, a story based on real events in 1950s Fethard-on-Sea in County Wexford,[14] for which she won the 1999 Golden Nymph Best Actress Award.[6][15] She also played one of the four lead characters in the BBC drama series, Mistresses, portraying lawyer Siobhan Dillon. She has appeared in RTÉ's Proof,[11] and had roles in films such as Words Upon the Window Pane (1994), The Luzhin Defence (2000), How About You (2007), and 32A (2007).[7]
Since moving to California in 2001, Brady has also appeared in Family Law,[11] where she played Naoise O'Niell, a series that ran for 3 years on CBS. She also starred in Nip/Tuck, a US drama about plastic surgeons (in which she played Dr. Jordan), and starred as Claire Stark in Shark (2008).[11] In 2008, she appeared in "Firewall", the second episode of the BBC series Wallander.[16] She also appeared as Meredith Gates, a fleecing art collector who herself is conned in the first series of the British series Hustle.[11] Commencing in 2009, Brady portrayed Elizabeth Bishop, the wife of Walter Bishop and the mother of Peter Bishop in the Fox television series Fringe.[17][6] In 2010, she played Catherine in the TV series The Deep,[7] alongside James Nesbitt, and starred as Katie Dartmouth in the TV series Strike Back.[7]
In 2012, she appeared in the ITV series Eternal Law as Mrs Sheringham, an angel who fell in love with a human and became mortal, and played Taryn in the Sky One series Sinbad.[18] In late 2013, she appeared as the Countess Vera Rossakoff in the television adaptation of The Labours of Hercules, part of the final series of Agatha Christie's Poirot alongside David Suchet.[19] Brady appeared in a special production in the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who,[6] the 25 December 2013 Christmas special, The Time of the Doctor (as the character Tasha Lem).[20] In 2014, she filmed Banished, playing Anne Meredith.[21]
In 2015, Brady appeared as architect Eileen Gray in Irish director Mary McGuckian's The Price of Desire,[11] which was in festivals in 2016 (and found a digital distributor in 2020).[6] From 2017 to 2019, she had a main role in the AMC martial arts drama series Into the Badlands as Lydia.[7] Brady had a recurring role in a season of the American Horror Story franchise,[6] portraying Dr. Hopple in American Horror Story: 1984, the ninth season of the FX horror anthology television series.[7]
As of 2022, Brady has had a recurring role in the science fiction television series, Star Trek: Picard,[11] as Laris, wife of the now-deceased Zhaban (Jamie McShane), the two being former members of the Romulan Tal Shiar and now, workers in the wine production and home of Picard at his Chateau.[22][23]
Modelling images used in artwork
[edit]In the 1980s, while she was in her mid-20s, Brady modelled for an artists' guide publication. She recalled in 2008 that the studio shoot had paid about £50 for her day's work, at a time when she welcomed the income, with her acting career yet to take off.[24] Photographed in a number of dancing poses, the resulting series of figure studies featuring Brady appeared in the Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual.[a] More than 25 years later, it was noted that one of these images of Brady, posing as part of a dancing couple, was the basis of the main figures in a widely-known painting, The Singing Butler, by artist Jack Vettriano. As stated by Vettriano in 2013, Brady's image had "later inspired [his] most famous painting, The Singing Butler". The identification of the pose study in the Illustrator's Manual with Vettriano's painting led to media reporting that he "owed his composition in part" to that publication. Vettriano, his agent, and Brady herself, have all stated that his work makes use of the image in a way that adheres to norms of artistic practice and was in line with the publisher's intent.[26][27][b]
Awards and recognition
[edit]Brady has been nominated for several awards from the Irish Film & Television Academy for her work.[6] She won the 1999 Golden Nymph Award for Best Actress for her starring role as Sheila Cloney in the RTÉ-BBC co-production, A Love Divided at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival.[15] In 2020, Brady was listed as number 43 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's 50 greatest film actors.[28]
Personal life
[edit]In 2001, Brady moved to Los Angeles, where she met English photographer Nick Brandt, whom she married in December 2002 in the Chyulu Hills of Kenya. A Georgian flat is her Dublin home when in the city.[29] She has discussed in interviews that she originally left Ireland as she found it "a repressive place to be a woman" at the time, with little opportunity.[2][5] The 2015 marriage equality and 2018 abortion referendums, as well as the expanding Irish industry, changed her mind, making her realise "Oh, this is a different Ireland and it accepts me now."[4] Brady had a "Catholic upbringing", but as of 2002 considered herself an atheist.[30]
Filmography
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Orla_Brady_in_2015.jpg/220px-Orla_Brady_in_2015.jpg)
Film
[edit]Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | Words Upon the Window Pane | Vanessa | |
1999 | A Love Divided | Sheila Kelly Cloney | |
2000 | The Luzhin Defence | Aunt Anna | |
2001 | Silent Grace | Eileen | [31][32] |
2002 | Fogbound | Ann | |
2006 | Last Night | Lucy | Short film |
2007 | 32A | Jean Brennan | |
2007 | How About You | Kate Harris | |
2013 | Wayland's Song | Grace | |
2015 | The Price of Desire | Eileen Gray | |
2017 | The Foreigner | Mary Hennessy | |
2019 | A Girl from Mogadishu | Emer Costello | |
2019 | Rose Plays Julie | Ellen | |
2022 | The Other Me | Marina | |
2023 | Freud's Last Session | Janie Moore |
Television
[edit]Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1993 | Minder | Bank Teller | Episode: "Opportunity Knocks and Bruises" |
1994 | The Bill | Amy | Episode: "No Job for an Amateur" |
1994 | Absolutely Fabulous | Nurse Mary | Episode: "Hospital" |
1994 | The Rector's Wife | Sister Josephine | Episode: "1.2" |
1995 | Dangerfield | Diane Foster | 2 episodes |
1995 | New Voices | Ruby | Episode: "The Treasure of Zavimbi" |
1995 | Casualty | Wendy | Episode: "Outside Bulawayo" |
1995–1996 | Out of the Blue | D.S. Rebecca "Becky" Bennett | 12 episodes |
1996 | Pie in the Sky | Kit Kelly de Goris | Episode: "Irish Stew" |
1996 | The Vicar of Dibley | Aoife[33] | Episode: "The Christmas Lunch Incident" |
1997 | The Heart Surgeon | Marcella Duggan | Television film |
1997 | Noah's Ark | Clare Somers | 9 episodes |
1998 | Wuthering Heights | Cathy | Television film |
1999 | Pure Wickedness | Jenny Meadows | 4 episodes |
1999 | The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns | Kathleen Fitzpatrick | Television movie |
2000–2002 | Family Law | Naoise O'Neill | 43 episodes |
2003 | Servants | Flora Ryan | 6 episodes |
2003 | The Debt | Angela Jahnsen | Television movie |
2003 | Chris Ryan's Strike Back | Katie Dartmouth | 2 episodes |
2004 | Hustle | Meredith Gates | Episode: "Picture Perfect" |
2004 | Nip/Tuck | Dr. Monica Jordan | Episode: "Christian Troy" |
2004 | Lawless | Liz Bird | Television movie |
2004–2005 | Proof | Maureen Boland | 8 episodes |
2005 | Revelations | Nora Webber | 6 episodes |
2005 | Empire | Atia | 2 episodes |
2005 | World of Trouble | Joan Denny | Television movie |
2006 | Sixty Minute Man | Kate Henderson | Television movie |
2006 | Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise | Lilly Summers | Television movie |
2007 | Protect and Serve | Dr. Lorna Herrera | Television movie |
2007–2008 | Shark | Claire Stark | 4 episodes |
2008 | Wallander | Ella Lindfeldt | Episode: "Firewall" |
2008–2010 | Mistresses | Siobhan Dillon | 16 episodes |
2010 | The Deep | Catherine Donnelly | 5 episodes |
2010–2012 | Fringe | Elizabeth Bishop | 5 episodes |
2012 | Sinbad | Taryn | 9 episodes |
2012 | Eternal Law | Mrs. Sheringham | 6 episodes |
2013 | Jo | Beatrice Dormont | 8 episodes |
2013 | Agatha Christie's Poirot | Countess Rossakoff | Episode: "The Labours of Hercules" |
2013 | Doctor Who | Tasha Lem | Episode: "The Time of the Doctor" |
2015 | Banished | Anne Meredith | 7 episodes |
2015 | American Odyssey | Sofia Tsaldari | 9 episodes |
2015–2019 | Into the Badlands | Lydia | 25 episodes |
2018 | Collateral | Phoebe Dyson | 3 episodes |
2019 | American Horror Story: 1984 | Dr. Karen Hopple | 4 episodes |
2020–2023 | Star Trek: Picard | Laris / Tallinn | 11 episodes |
2020 | The South Westerlies | Kate Ryan | 6 episodes |
2022 | Death in Paradise | Maggie Harper | Episode: "11.8" |
Notes
[edit]- ^ This publication is: Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual. London: Bloomsbury. 1987 ISBN 978-0-74750-008-7.[25]
- ^ The Guardian article attributes the source of certain figures in Vettriano's paintings to the Illustrator's Manual, but it does not mention Brady as the model for the manual's illustration.[27] The news item on the Jack Vettriano Website does explicitly name Brady as the model photographed in the dancing couple reference illustration, used by Vettriano as the source for the figures in his The Singing Butler, and other paintings,[26] as does The Courier of Dundee's summary of Brady's 2008 Daily Mirror interview.[24]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Philby, Charlotte (5 January 2008). "How Do I Look?: Orla Brady, actress, 46". The Independent. Interview with Orla Brady. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2008.
- ^ a b c d Armstrong, Maggie (3 April 2016). "Gray matters: Actress Orla Brady on playing Irish designer Eileen Gray". Irish Independent.
- ^ O'Callaghan, Miriam (12 January 2014). "Interview with Orla Brady". Sunday with Miriam. Dublin: Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Radio 1.
- ^ a b Clarke, Donald (15 September 2021). "Orla Brady: 'I felt Ireland was a very repressive place to be a woman'". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
When Brady left the nation – first for Paris, where she trained at École Philippe Gaulier – work was thinner on the ground.
- ^ a b Brady, Tara (30 May 2016). "Orla Brady: from Dublin to Hollywood to kicking ass in the Badlands". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
Sure, Brady was already well-travelled: she had trained in performing arts at Marcel Marceau's École Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris and later at the L'École Philippe Gaulier in Paris.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Balfour, Brad (11 June 2020). "Actor Orla Brady Brings Masterful Architect Eileen Gray to Life Through The Price Of Desire — Director Mary McGuckian's Re-Issued Film". The Irish Examiner. Interview with Orla Brady. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Orla Brady: Academy member". The Irish Film & Television Academy. 2022. Archived from the original on 25 February 2023.
- ^ "The House of Bernarda Alba". Playography Ireland. Irish Theatre Institute. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ^ "Three Sisters". Playography Ireland. Irish Theatre Institute. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ^ Wolf, Matt (23 September 1996). "Review: Blinded by the Sun". Variety.com. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Orla Brady Credits". tvguide.com. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ "Orla Brady". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
- ^ "Words Upon the Window Pane (1994), Directed by Mary McGuckian". AllMovie.com. Goshen, NY: Netaktion LLC. 23 September 1996. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
- ^ Hunter, Stephen (21 September 2001). "A Love Divided: In Ireland, The Zeal of Disapproval". Washington Post.
- ^ a b "Brits strike gold at Monte Carlo". Broadcast Now. London: Media Business Insight Limited. 1 March 2000. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
- ^ "BBC One Programmes: Wallander | 'Firewall'". BBC. 30 November 2008. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
- ^ "Meet Mrs. Bishop: Orla Brady Joins Fringe". TV.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
- ^
- Byrne, John (10 January 2012). "Raw Law [Reviewed: Eternal Law]". TV Insider. RTÉ.
- BBC Studios (12 October 2012). "Sinbad: The Complete First Season" (Press release).
- ^ Robinson, Jennifer (9 December 2014). "Agatha Christie's Poirot: Season 13". KPBS Public Media. Archived from the original on 16 December 2023.
- ^ "Watch: Irish actress Orla Brady makes her Doctor Who debut in 'Time of the Doctor' trailer". Entertainment.ie. 11 December 2013. Archived from the original on 15 December 2023.
- ^ "Banished - Cast & Characters". BBC Two. BBC. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023.
- ^ Donaldson, Mark (24 December 2022). "Every Picard TNG Love Interest (Before Laris)". Screen Rant. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
- ^ Parker, Ryan (4 April 2022). "Picard Star Orla Brady Credits Character's Total Sense of Self to 'Reasonably Rare' Female Director". HollywoodReporter.com. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
Brady was thrilled to learn that she would return for the second season of the Paramount+ series in a double role as both Jean-Luc's (Patrick Stewart) love interest, Laris, and also as a new character, Tallinn, a mysterious figure who serves as a guide to Picard in the 21st century.
- ^ a b Brown, Kate (7 February 2023). "The scandal and success behind Fife artist Jack Vettriano's The Singing Butler". The Courier.
Orla later told Mail Online: 'I didn't know about the picture's existence until someone asked me about it a few years ago. As soon as I saw it, it was obvious it was me. I didn't find it weird. The book was designed for artists who couldn't afford life models – and he'd used it as it was intended.'
- ^ Hince, Peter (1987). Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual. Contributions by Mick Dunn, Dick Hatfield; photography by Peter Hince. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-74750-008-7. OCLC 18256305.
- ^ a b
- "Identity of The Singing Butler muse revealed". JackVettriano.com. 1 January 2008. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013.
- "Hollywood Actress, Orla Brady, who modelled over twenty-five years ago for a series of photographs of dancing couples that later inspired Vettriano's most famous painting, The Singing Butler". JackVettriano.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ a b Jones, Sam (4 October 2005). "Vettriano brought to book by illustrator's manual". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ Clarke, Donald; Brady, Tara (13 June 2020). "The 50 greatest Irish film actors of all time – in order". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ O'Doherty, Cara (4 October 2020). "Orla Brady interview: 'I would see certain people walking in the door and blanching'". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
- ^ Allen Smith, Warren (2002). Celebrities in Hell: A Guide to Hollywood's Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Free Thinkers, and More. Barricade Books Inc. p. 130. ISBN 1-56980-214-9.
Brady had a Catholic upbringing but now considers herself an atheist
- ^ French, Philip (15 February 2004). "If it's bad in Afghanistan, it's abysmal in Hollywood". The Observer.
- ^ Brady, Tara; Clarke, Donald (2 May 2020). "The 50 best Irish films ever made, in order". The Irish Times.
- ^ "BBC One London Schedule, Wed 25th Dec 1996, 22:00 Regional Variations – The Vicar of Dibley, 'The Christmas Lunch Incident': Contributors". BBC Programme Index | Genome. BBC. December 1996.
Further reading
[edit]- "Biography". Orla Brady, The Unofficial Fan Website. Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2008.
- Biordi, Jordan (20 January 2016). "Speaking with the Baroness: Interview with Orla Brady". CGM | Backlot Magazine.
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Orla Brady at IMDb
- Orla Brady at AllMovie
- Orla Brady on X
- 1961 births
- Living people
- 20th-century Irish actresses
- 21st-century Irish actresses
- Irish atheists
- Irish expatriate actresses in the United States
- Irish film actresses
- Irish stage actresses
- Irish television actresses
- Actresses from County Wicklow
- Actresses from Dublin (city)
- People from Bray, County Wicklow
- Former Roman Catholics