Donal O'Kelly (born 1958) is an Irish

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 ...

and actor.

Early life

O'Kelly was born in

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 ...

in 1958. He worked in the Irish Civil Service as a computer programmer, before quitting to become active in theatre and politics.

Career

O'Kelly's first play was ''Silicon Sweethearts'' (1984). In 1993, he co-founded Calypso Productions, dedicated to staging work that deals with

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

. He is a longtime activist and an associate director of

Afri (singular ) was a Latin name for the inhabitants of Africa, referring in its widest sense to all the lands south of the Mediterranean ( Ancient Libya). Latin speakers at first used as an adjective, meaning "of Africa". As a substantive, it den ...

. O'Kelly was elected to

Aosdána Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association of artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers with support from the country's Arts Council. Membership, which is by invitation from current member ...

in 2007; he resigned in 2011 after

Dunamaise Arts Centre Dunamaise Arts Centre () is an arts and cultural centre located in Portlaoise, Ireland, opened in 1999. History Maryborough Gaol was built in a Neoclassical style. It is a seven- bay, two-storey building over a concealed basement with a thr ...

refused to hang one of

Mannix Flynn Mannix Flynn (born Gerard Mannix Flynn, 4 May 1957) is an Irish independent politician who has served as a Dublin City Councillor since May 2009.censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

by Aosdána; O'Kelly did not agree. Donal O'Kelly's 1995 play ''Catalpa'' won a ''Scotsman'' Fringe First Award at the 1996

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 ...

and the Critics' Prize at the 1997 Melbourne International Festival in 1997. In 1999 he won the Irish American Cultural Institute Butler Literary Award. In 2014 his music-drama serial ''Francisco'' won the gold medal for Best Drama Special at the New York Festivals Radio Awards. O'Kelly's film appearances include ''

Jimmy's Hall ''Jimmy's Hall'' is a 2014 drama film directed by Ken Loach. The film tells the story of the deportation to the United States in 1933 of Irish Communist Jimmy Gralton, who led the Revolutionary Workers' Group, a precursor of the Communist Par ...

'', '' The Van'' and ''

Kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

'', for which he was nominated for an

IFTA Ifta is a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it has been part of the town Treffurt Treffurt () is a small town in the western region of the Wartburgkreis district which belongs to the f ...

. On TV, he has appeared on ''

Paths to Freedom ''Paths to Freedom'' was a popular comedy on the Irish television network RTÉ Two. The shows stars two characters, Jeremy (Brendan Coyle) and Rats (Michael McElhatton), who have both recently been released from a Dublin prison. The show takes ...

'', ''

Ballykissangel ''Ballykissangel'' is a BBC television drama created by Kieran Prendiville and set in Ireland, produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland. The original story revolved around a young English Roman Catholic priest as he became part of a rural comm ...

'' and '' The Clinic''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:OKelly, Donal 1958 births Living people Irish male dramatists and playwrights Aosdána members People from Dublin (city) 21st-century Irish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Irish actors 21st-century Irish actors Actors from Dublin (city) Irish stage actors Irish film actors Irish television actors