Deirdre Mullins is an Irish actress, director and activist. In 2017, she won a

Scottish BAFTA BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1986, the branch holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, televis ...

for Best Actress in Film for her role in ''The Dark Mile''.

Early life and education

Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Mullins grew up in Stoneybatter on the city's Northside. Her family moved to the suburb

Howth Howth ( ; ; non, Hǫfuð) is an affluent peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and includes ...

when she was 10. She was head girl at

Mount Temple Comprehensive School Mount Temple Comprehensive School is a secondary school in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under the patronage of the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, and has, as a primary objective, the provision of state-funded second-l ...

in Clontarf. She began her studies in Drama and Theatre 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 ...

. She then transferred to the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

where she studied Anthropology and later graduated with a degree in English Literature in 2006. She participated in the Trinity Players and the St Andrews Mermaids. She went on to train at the

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is a drama school in Bristol, England. The institution provides training in acting and production for careers in film, television and theatre. BOVTS is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. ...

from 2006 to 2008 before moving to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Career

Mullins starred as Naomi in the

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

series '' Man Down''. Her theatre work includes playing Rosalind in '' As You Like It'' at

Shakespeare's Globe Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. The original theatre was built in ...

, Lika in

Marina Carr Marina Carr is an Irish playwright who has written almost thirty plays, including '' By the Bog of Cats'' (1998). Early life and education Carr was born in Dublin, Ireland, but spent the majority of her childhood in Pallas Lake, County O ...

's ''16 Possible Glimpses'' at the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the p ...

, and Jessie Taite in

Seán O'Casey Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes. ...

's '' The Silver Tassie'' at the National Theatre. Mullins' directing debut, a production of Mary Zimmerman's ''Metamorphoses'', was set in a hotel swimming pool and won her rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe 2006 including ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

''s top 5 shows to see at the Fringe. It was in ''Time Out''s top 3 shows at the Fringe; giving it 5 stars, Rachel Halliburton said 'This is the kind of unexpected discovery that critics live for at Edinburgh'. A decade later, Mullins directed her second show, an experimental new play by Bea Roberts, ''Infinity Pool'', which won a Toast of the Fringe Award at Plymouth Fringe Festival and went on to enjoy a place on ''The Guardian''s list of recommended shows at the Edinburgh Fringe & International Festival 2016. The critic

Lyn Gardner Lyn Gardner is a British theatre critic, children's writer and journalist who contributes reviews and articles to ''The Stage,'' '' Stagedoor'' and has written for ''The Guardian''. Theatre critic and educator A graduate in drama and English from ...

described it as 'painfully funny'. Giving it 5 stars from ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

'', Stewart Pringle said it was 'utterly unique and exceptional in every way, it's a heart-breaking story of a stunted life, told with theatrical verve and palpable compassion'. The play was short-listed for the highly prestigious Total Theatre Award. Mullins is a core committee member of ERA 50:50, a campaign calling for equal representation of women on screen and stage. She made an impassioned speech about this when picking up her BAFTA (Scotland).Interview in The Guardian about the ERA 50:50 campaign
/ref>

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Stage

Audio

Radio

Drama

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mullins, Deirdre Living people 21st-century Irish actresses Actresses from Dublin (city) Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Alumni of the University of St Andrews Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Irish film actresses Irish stage actresses Irish television actresses Irish voice actresses People educated at Mount Temple Comprehensive School People from Howth People from Northside, Dublin Year of birth missing (living people)