Briga Heelan (pronunciation ) (born April 2, 1987) is an American actress and comedian. She is known for her work on the sitcoms ''

Cougar Town ''Cougar Town'' is an American television sitcom that ran for 102 episodes over six seasons, from September 23, 2009, until March 31, 2015. The first three seasons aired on ABC, with the series moving to TBS for the remaining three seasons. ABC ...

'', ''

Ground Floor A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). T ...

'', ''

Undateable ''Undateable'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from May 29, 2014, to January 29, 2016, and originally premiered as a mid-season replacement. The series was created by Adam Sztykiel, based on the book ''Undateable: 311 T ...

'', ''

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

'', ''

Great News ''Great News'' is an American sitcom television series created and written by Tracey Wigfield, and executive produced by Wigfield alongside Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, and David Miner for 3 Arts Entertainment, Little Stranger and Universal Televis ...

'', and ''

B Positive ''B Positive'' is an American television sitcom created by Marco Pennette, who is also the show's executive producer along with Chuck Lorre for Chuck Lorre Productions and Warner Bros. Television. The multicamera series premiered on CBS on Nov ...

''.

Early life and education

Heelan was born in

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

, the daughter of actress and

Lowell Public Schools Lowell Public Schools is a school district headquartered in the Henry J. Mroz Central Administration Offices at the Edith Nourse Rogers School in Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1987 Mary Jane Mullen, a guidance counselor at the school district, sta ...

teacher Kimball Heelan and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Kevin Heelan. She has a brother named Conor. Heelan's father, as well as being a

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, has been a faculty member at

Phillips Andover Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

since 1983. Heelan attended Walnut Hill School for the Arts and studied for a year at the

Cincinnati Conservatory of Music The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music was a conservatory, part of a girls' finishing school, founded in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It merged with the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1955, forming the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, wh ...

, before transferring to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. She graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 2009. At graduation, Heelan received the James B. Pendleton Award for outstanding contributions to the

USC School of Dramatic Arts The USC School of Dramatic Arts (commonly referred to as SDA)—formerly the USC School of Theatre, is a private drama school at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is ranked one of the top 10 dramatic arts schools ...

Career

Heelan intended to focus on

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

. She met her ''

'' co-star,

Skylar Astin Skylar Astin Lipstein (born September 23, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He became known for portraying Jesse Swanson in the musical films ''Pitch Perfect'' (2012) and ''Pitch Perfect 2'' (2015). He originated the role of Georg in the Broa ...

, at a musical theatre convention. Heelan's break-out TV role was on ''

.'' She was credited as a

recurring character A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who frequently appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in more than one episode, sometimes being the main foc ...

on ''

'', appearing in three episodes plus the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

. She was able to shoot both Bill Lawrence-helmed ''

'' and ''

'' simultaneously because both comedies are

multi-camera The multiple-camera setup, multiple-camera mode of production, multi-camera or simply multicam is a method of filmmaking and video production. Several cameras—either film or professional video cameras—are employed on the set and simultaneous ...

, which require fewer production days than single-camera shows. She also guest starred in the first episode of Season 10 of ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...

''. Regarding Heelan's role in ''Ground Floor'', TV critic

Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He th ...

said Heelan is "simply terrific as Jenny: warm and quirky while always feeling like a strong and independent character". The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' said Heelan "makes ''Ground Floor'' watchable", describing her as "remarkably alive and in the moment; she makes real all that she touches. I could easily recommend tuning in just to watch her work and hereby do."

Personal life

Heelan lives in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. On her unusual name, she said, "It's an Irish name. In fact, my last name was O'Heelahan back in the day. And Briga, I read somewhere, is some pagan

Celtic goddess The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Celtic peoples are known from a variety of sources, including ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects and place or personal names. The ancient Celts appear to have had a pantheon ...

, which sounds great, so I really like saying that. But I was named after my grandmother's best friend, who was Irish and came from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

." On October 16, 2014, Heelan became engaged to her ''

'' co-star

Rene Gube Rene Gube is an American comedian, actor and writer. He played Threepeat on the TBS sitcom ''Ground Floor'', and was executive story editor and a writer for the CW show ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' where he also had a recurring role as "Father Brah." ...

. They were married on May 8, 2015. On October 31, 2016, they announced they were expecting their first child, a daughter, due in March 2017. Heelan gave birth to their daughter Bennet Alejandra Gube on March 23, 2017.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heelan, Briga 1987 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Massachusetts American people of Irish descent American television actresses American women comedians Living people People from Andover, Massachusetts University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music alumni USC School of Dramatic Arts alumni 21st-century American comedians