Aisling Walsh (born 1958) is an Irish screenwriter and director. Her work has screened at festivals around the world and she has won several accolades, including a

BAFTA TV Award The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards, are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in ...

for '' Room at the Top'' (2012) as well as an Irish Film and Television Award and a

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

for her direction of '' Maudie'' (2016). She is known for her "unflinching honest portrayals of a Catholic Irish society".

Early life

She was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland to Raphael Walsh, a furniture designer and manufacturer from

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Leinster Blackwater, Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the ...

, County Meath. In 1975, when Walsh was 16, she began studies at the

Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (), more commonly known as IADT Dún Laoghaire or simply IADT is an institute of technology with a focus on art and design located in Deansgrange near Dún Laoghaire, Ireland. It was esta ...

in Dublin. She then continued her education at The National Film School in

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The ...

, England, where one of her main influences was Bill Douglas, a Scottish filmmaker who tutored at the school. She later settled in London.

Career

In 1985, Walsh wrote and directed her first short film, ''Hostage''. Her feature film

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

was ''Joyriders'' (1989). She then transitioned into television work throughout the 1990s, including episodes of ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'' (1991–1994), '' Doctor Finlay'' (1993), '' Roughnecks'' (1995), and '' Trial & Retribution'' (1997–2002). In 2003, she wrote and directed her second feature film, '' Song for a Raggy Boy'', which won multiple awards at international film festivals, including Best Film at the Copenhagen International Film Festival. Her third feature, ''The Daisy Chain'', a horror- thriller film, was released in 2008. Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, Walsh also continued working in television, directing series and television films such as the

-nominated '' Fingersmith'' (2005); the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

film ''Sinners'' (2007); ''The Fifth Woman'', a feature-length episode of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

series ''

Wallander Wallander may refer to: TV, film, books * Kurt Wallander, a fictional Swedish police inspector in novels by Henning Mankell :*Wallander (film series), ''Wallander'' (film series), Swedish-language television films of the Wallander stories starring ...

,'' starring

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. List of award ...

(2010); and '' Room at the Top'' (2012), which earned her a

in 2013 for Best Mini-Series. In 2014, she directed '' A Poet in New York'', exploring how Welsh poet

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

died in New York at the age of 39. The film marked the centenary of Thomas' birth on 27 October 1914. Her fourth feature film, the biographical film ''Maudie'' (2016) about Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis, premiered at the

Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado, during Labor Day, Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 51st Telluride Film Festival, 51st edition took place on August 30–September ...

. As someone who studied painting herself, Walsh was drawn to the simplicity and beauty in Lewis's work. The film received positive reviews from critics. ''

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'' called it "an unabashedly intimate portrait of a remarkable woman". It was a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' Critic's Pick; in her review,

Manohla Dargis Manohla June Dargis ( ) is an American film critic. She is the chief film critic for ''The New York Times''. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Career Before being a film critic for ''The New York Times'', Dargis ...

criticized the film's tone and score, but commended the performances and direction. For her work on ''Maudie'', Walsh won a

for Best Director; the film won a total of seven awards at the 6th annual ceremony in 2018. Walsh also won the award for Best Director at the 15th annual

Irish Film and Television Awards The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) is an all-Ireland organisation focused on film and television. It has about 1000 members, and is based in Dublin, with branches in London and Los Angeles. The IFTA now holds separate ceremonies for the ...

in 2018.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Aisling 1958 births Living people Irish film directors Irish women film directors Irish television directors Best Director Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Alumni of Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology Alumni of the National Film and Television School Women television directors Irish screenwriters Irish women screenwriters 20th-century Irish screenwriters 20th-century Irish writers 20th-century Irish women writers 21st-century Irish screenwriters 21st-century Irish writers 21st-century Irish women writers