Aisling Clíodhnadh O'Sullivan (born 16 March 1984), known professionally as Aisling Bea ( ), is an Irish comedian, actor and writer. She created, wrote and starred in the comedy series '' This Way Up'' on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. As a stand-up comedian, she won the "So You Think You're Funny?" award at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

in 2012, being only the second woman to win the award in its then twenty-five year history. She also regularly appears on

light entertainment Light entertainment encompasses a broad range of television and radio programming that includes comedies, variety shows, game shows, quiz shows and the like. In Great Britain In the early days of the BBC virtually all broadcast entertainment wou ...

comedy

panel show A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

s such as '' QI'' and ''

8 Out of 10 Cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' is a British comedy panel show broadcast on Channel 4 and its sister networks, airing since 3 June 2005. The show is hosted by Jimmy Carr; the current team captains are Rob Beckett and Katherine Ryan. The show is based on ...

''.

Early life and education

Bea was born in

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional cen ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Her father, Brian, was a horse

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...

who died by suicide when Bea was three years old; she was not told how he had died until she was 13. She adopted the stage surname "Bea" as a tribute to her father, taking it from a short form of his first name. Bea and her younger sister, Sinéad, were raised by their mother, Helen (née Moloney), a secondary school teacher who had previously trained jockeys at the

Racing Academy and Centre of Education The Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE) is a jockey training school at the Irish National Stud Her family was "obsessed" with horses and race meetings. In her youth, Bea worked as a tour guide at the

Irish National Stud The Irish National Stud (official name: ''Comhlacht Graí Náisiúnta na hÉireann Teo.'') is a Thoroughbred horse breeding facility in Tully, Kildare, County Kildare, Ireland. It was formally established by incorporation on 11 April 1946 ...

, but knew from a young age that she was not interested in the horse racing industry and instead loved performing. Her great-aunt was playwright

Siobhán Ní Shúilleabháin Siobhán Ní Shúilleabháin (31 August 1928 – 21 May 2013) was an Irish dramatist and writer. Biography Siobhán Ní Shúilleabháin was born in Ballyferriter, County Kerry. She was one of six children of Séamus Ó Súilleabháin and Máir ...

, and musician

Liam O'Flynn Liam Óg O'Flynn ( ga, Liam Ó Floinn, 15 September 1945 – 14 March 2018) was an Irish uilleann piper and Irish traditional musician. In addition to a solo career and as a member of Planxty, O'Flynn recorded with: Christy Moore, Dónal Lun ...

was a family friend. Bea was educated at Presentation Secondary School, Kildare Town, a

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

, and studied French and philosophy at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. While there, she was part of a student sketch comedy group. She then studied at the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. LAMDA's Principal is ...

(LAMDA).

Career

After graduating from drama school, Bea spent two years trying to get work in theatre as a dramatic actress. Instead, she was cast mainly in comedic television series including ''

Cardinal Burns ''Cardinal Burns'' is a British television sketch show starring Seb Cardinal (born 1973 or 1974) and Dustin Demri-Burns (born July 1978). After a pilot on BBC Three, the first series began on 8 May 2012 on E4, before moving to Channel 4 for th ...

'' and ''

Dead Boss ''Dead Boss'' is a British sitcom which was shown on BBC Three in 2012. Writing The writers, Sharon Horgan and Holly Walsh met through Jo Caulfield, a stand-up comedian who had a show on Radio 4. Horgan and Walsh both worked on the show, Horgan ...

'' (both 2012). While filming ''Dead Boss'' in 2011, Bea decided to try stand-up comedy. In 2012, she won

The Gilded Balloon Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August. The company has its origins in a venue kn ...

So You Think You're Funny So You Think You're Funny? (SYTYF) is an annual stand-up comedy competition for new acts. The competition began in 1988 in the United Kingdom. The finals are held every August at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past wi ...

award at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

and, in 2013, was nominated for Best Newcomer at the

Edinburgh Comedy Awards The Dave (TV channel), Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival ...

for her show ''C'est La Bea''. The exposure brought by these awards and festival appearances marked a "turning point" in Bea's career and she began to appear as a regular guest on panel shows including '' QI'' and ''

Insert Name Here ''Insert Name Here'' is a British comedy panel game show presented by Sue Perkins. The programme made its debut on BBC Two on 4 January 2016. In each episode two teams of three compete to answer questions about famous people, past and present, ...

''. Bea and

Yasmine Akram Yasmine Akram (born 11 March 1981) is an Irish-Pakistani actress, writer and comedian. She has written comedy sketches for the BBC and Channel 4, and played Janine Hawkins in the third series of '' Sherlock''. Early life and education Akram was ...

co-wrote and co-hosted the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

comedy folklore series ''Micks and Legends'' (2012, 2015); it was nominated for a

Chortle Award The Chortle Awards were set up in 2002 by the comedy website Chortle to honour the best of established stand-up comics currently working in the UK. A panel of reviewers draw up a shortlist, which is presented for public vote at the Chortle websit ...

in 2013. Bea won the 2014

British Comedy Award The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

for Best Female TV Comic and returned to Edinburgh in 2015 with the live show ''Plan Bea''. In 2016, she became a team captain on ''

'' and was a cast member on '' Taskmaster'' in 2017. Bea has continued to act in television sitcoms including ''

Trollied ''Trollied'' is a British sitcom about employees in a fictional supermarket named "Valco", which debuted on Sky One on 4 August 2011 and ended on 23 December 2018. The series was filmed in a purpose-built replica supermarket in the Bottle Yard ...

'' (2014–2015), ''

The Delivery Man ''The Delivery Man'' is the 21st studio album by Elvis Costello, released on Lost Highway Records, B0002593-02. It was recorded with the Imposters at Sweet Tea Studio in Oxford, Mississippi. It peaked at No. 40 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboar ...

'' (2015), and

Amy Huberman Amy Huberman (born 20 March 1979) is an Irish actress and writer, which is known for her role as Daisy in the RTÉ drama series '' The Clinic''. In 2018, she began writing and starring in the comedy series ''Finding Joy''. Early life Huberman g ...

's Irish television series ''Finding Joy'' (2018). Additionally, she has acted in the crime dramas '' The Fall'' (2016) and ''

Hard Sun ''Hard Sun'' was a pre-apocalyptic British television, British crime drama series, created and written by Neil Cross, starring Agyness Deyn and Jim Sturgess as the principal characters, DI Elaine Renko and DCI Charlie Hicks. The series is a BBC ...

'' (2018). In 2018, she and

Sara Pascoe Sara Patricia Pascoe (born 22 May 1981) is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has appeared on television programmes including ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' for Channel 4, '' QI'' for BBC and '' Taskmaster'' for the digital chan ...

began to co-host the

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

comedy chat show ''What's Normal?'' She recorded a 15-minute stand-up special that was aired on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

in late 2018. She stars in the

comedy-drama series ''

Living with Yourself ''Living with Yourself'' is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Timothy Greenberg that premiered on October 18, 2019, on Netflix. It stars Paul Rudd and Aisling Bea. Rudd also serves as an executive producer, alongsi ...

'' (2019), and is the star and head writer of the

comedy series '' This Way Up'' (2019–present). She also appeared in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

drama series ''

Quiz A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several specific topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief Educational assessment, assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth ...

'' (2020). For her work on ''This Way Up'', Bea won the BAFTA 2020 British Academy Television Craft Award for Breakthrough Talent. She appeared as Sarah in the 2022 ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' New Year's special "

Eve of the Daleks "Eve of the Daleks" is the first of the Doctor Who (2022 specials), 2022 specials of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', which was broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2022. It was written by Chris Chibnall, and directed ...

Activism

Aisling Bea at Secret Comedy Podcast August 2013

Bea was a vocal supporter of the

Repeal the 8th A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...

campaign in the successful 2018 Irish referendum to introduce legal abortion in the Republic of Ireland, including her contribution of an essay to Una Mullally's ''Repeal the 8th'' a month before the vote. She previously campaigned for same-sex marriage legislation in the successful 2015 Irish referendum.

Filmography

Acting

Stand-up comedy

Panel show appearances

Since 2016, Bea has been a team captain on ''

'', having previously been a guest on the show in 2013 and 2014. She has made guest appearances on many other panel shows, including:

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bea, Aisling 21st-century Irish actresses 21st-century Irish women writers Irish television actresses Irish stand-up comedians Irish women comedians Irish comedy writers Irish women activists Irish abortion-rights activists LGBT rights activists from Ireland Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Actresses from County Kildare 1984 births Living people People from Kildare (town) Women civil rights activists