Leah O'Rourke (born 12 November 1988) is an Irish actress. She is best known for her role as Jenny Joyce in the

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 ...

comedy series ''

Derry Girls ''Derry Girls'' is a British teen sitcom created and written by Lisa McGee that premiered on 4 January 2018 on Channel 4. The channel's most successful comedy since ''Father Ted'', the series was inspired by McGee's own experiences growing up ...

.''

Career

O'Rourke rose to prominence in 2018 following her supporting role in the comedy series, ''

.'' Outside of ''Derry Girls,'' O'Rourke has appeared in several short films, including ''Wasted'' (2013), ''Anna'' (2013), and ''Normality'' (2014). In 2016 O'Rourke played the character of Siobhán in the award-winning film ''Half Brothers.'' O'Rourke has spoken about how she auditioned for the role of 'Marianne' in the critically acclaimed drama series, ''

Normal People ''Normal People'' is a 2018 novel by the Irish author Sally Rooney. ''Normal People'' is Rooney's second novel, published after '' Conversations with Friends'' (2017). It was first published by Faber & Faber on 30 August 2018. The book became a ...

'', but lost out to eventual-star,

Daisy Edgar-Jones Daisy Jessica Edgar-Jones (born 24 May 1998) is a British actress. She began her career with the television series '' Cold Feet'' (2016–2020) and ''War of the Worlds'' (2019–2021). Edgar-Jones gained wider recognition for her starring role ...

. Aside from acting professionally, O'Rourke has also worked as a drama tutor in the

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of al ...

School of Music and Performing Arts. In 2023, O'Rourke took part as a contestant on the sixth series of

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

, paired with John Nolan. Leah is also the niece of actor John Lynch and actress

Susan Lynch Susan Lynch (born 5 June 1971) is a Northern Irish actress. three-times an IFTA Award winner, she also won the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 2003 film '' 16 Years of Alcohol''. Her other film appearances in ...

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:ORourke, Leah 1988 births Living people People from Newry