Alison O'Donnell (actor)
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Alison O'Donnell is a Scottish television, stage and film actress from
Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
. She is known for her role as
Detective Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage from the Brit ...
(later DI) Alison 'Tosh' McIntosh in 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 ...
crime drama series ''
Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...
'' (2013–present).


Early life

O'Donnell was born in the early 1980s and grew up in Motherwell with two elder sisters. She initially studied
international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...
at university but dropped out after three months to take up acting.


Career

Early in her acting career O'Donnell mainly worked in theatre, featuring in productions of ''Boys'', ''The Hard Man'', ''Eigengrau'', and ''
Yerma ''Yerma'' is a Play (theatre), play by the Spain, Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. It was written in 1934 and first performed that same year. García Lorca describes the play as "a Tragedy, tragic poem." The play tells the story of a c ...
''. She had small roles in BBC television productions ''
Feel the Force ''Feel the Force'' is a British television police sitcom produced for BBC Scotland by Catherine Bailey Limited. The series is written by Georgia Pritchett; the first episode was broadcast on BBC 2 on 8 May 2006. The series was directed by Tristr ...
'' (2006) and ''
Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a Spin-off (media), spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' ...
'' (2012). She played a lead role in ''My Romantic History'', a play at the
Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...
which won the ''2011 Fringe First'' award. From 2013 to present, she has appeared in the main role of DS Alison 'Tosh' McIntosh, in the Scottish television crime drama ''
Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...
'' made by
ITV Studios ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is ba ...
for 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 ...
. In 2017, she was part of the cast of the
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
play ''Synonymous'', written by her husband, D.C. Jackson.


Personal life

O'Donnell's partner is Scottish playwright D.C. Jackson; they have two children. They met while O'Donnell played the lead role in Jackson's play ''My Romantic History'', at the Traverse in Edinburgh, but only became a couple later.


Filmography


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:ODonnell, Alison Living people Scottish film actresses Scottish television actresses Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Scottish actresses