Irene Kelleher is a Cork born actor and writer. Gone Full Havisham, directed by Regina Crowley and designed by Cormac O’ Connor is Irene’s second play. It enjoyed a sell-out run in the Cork Midsummer Festival this summer and a critically acclaimed run at the Gilded Balloon as part of the Edinburgh
Irene Kelleher is a Cork born actor and writer. Gone Full Havisham, directed by Regina Crowley and designed by Cormac O’ Connor is Irene’s second play. It enjoyed a sell-out run in the Cork Midsummer Festival this summer and a critically acclaimed run at the Gilded Balloon as part of the Edinburgh Fringe in August and in Bewley’s Theatre in January 2020. Her first play, Mary and Me, directed by Belinda Wild is published by Oberon, toured extensively to critical acclaim and is also an RTÉ produced radio play. The third play The Misfit Mythology was selected as one of the Arts Council Emerging Artists Award and enjoyed a two week run at the Cork Arts Theatre in October 2019.
Irene holds a degree and Masters in Drama and Theatre Studies from University College Cork. She went on to further training at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. Irene was awarded the ‘Best Actress Award’ for her performance of Aoibhe in the film The Trouble with Aoibhe at the BlackBird Film Festival in NYC and was nominated for a S.O.F.I.E Award. Irene’s most recent film credit was as Joanna in The Other Lamb, (Dir. Malgo Szumowska) which co-starred Denise Gough and Michiel Huisman. Her first venture into writing was the short film Outside the Box which won ‘Best Irish Short Film’ at the Fastnet Film Festival, 2013.
Irene’s extensive theatre credits include: Maria in Stars in the Morning Sky; Kitty Kiernan in Pat Talbot’s A Great Arrangement; the title role in Katie Holly’s Sharon; Mrs Shakespeare by Ian Wild; The Turn of the Screw; the role of ‘Orlaith’ in the Irish Premiere of Ailís Ni Riain’s play Desolate Heaven; Playhouse Creatures by April De Angelis; The Playboy of the Western World; Disco Pigs; A Whistle in the Dark; Lovers; The Collecto;, Pied a Terre; Lipstick; The Maids; Hollander; Much Ado about Nothing; Shakers Re-stirred and The Glass Menagerie.
Her film and TV credits include: Game of Thrones (HBO); Reign (CBS); Fair City (RTE); When We’re Gone; Dig; Redline; the role of Lucy in the Award Winning Feature Beyond the Woods; Hatch; Spellbound; The Gingerbread Men and the Award winning feature Dead Dogs (Nominated Best Actress – London Film Festival.)
