Barunka Sarah G. O'Shaughnessy (born August 1973) is a British actress, writer and producer. She is best known for playing Sacha Merrion on '' Bo! in the USA'' and for her appearances in ''

The Mighty Boosh The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows, The Mighty Boosh (1998 stage show), ''The Mighty Boosh'', Arctic Boosh, ''Arctic Boosh'' (1999) and Autoboosh, ...

''.IMDB
Entry for Barunka O'Shaughnessy, retrieved 24 February 2011

Early life

O'Shaughnessy was born in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

, Greater London. She is of Irish and Czech parentage. She began performing comedy while a student at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Career

After graduating from Cambridge, O'Shaughnessy collaborated with university friends Lucy Montgomery and James Bachman to write and perform shows at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

, forming the Population 3 Theatre company. She has appeared in ''Mr and Mrs Fandango'' for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

as part of the ''

Comedy Lab ''Comedy Lab'' is a British television series which showcases pilots of experimental comedy shows. Series have been aired irregularly on Channel 4 and E4 since 1998. Several pilots first shown on ''Comedy Lab'' have gone on to spawn full seri ...

'' series and has also appeared in E4's comedy sketch show ''Beehive''. Other notable television credits include ''

That Mitchell and Webb Look ''That Mitchell and Webb Look'' is a British sketch comedy television series starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb that ran from 2006 to 2010. Many of its characters and sketches were first featured in the duo's radio show '' That Mitchell an ...

'', '' Bremner, Bird and Fortune'' and '' Extras''. She has also appeared in the yearly

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

TV adverts for

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

. On radio, she has starred in ''Sasha's Best of British'', a comedy pilot for

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

which was broadcast on 12 May 2007. She plays Ping in 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 ...

sitcom ''

Ed Reardon's Week ''Ed Reardon's Week'' is a sitcom on BBC Radio 4 recorded semi-naturalistically in the style of a radio drama. It concerns the story of a curmudgeonly middle-aged writer described in the show's publicity material as an "author, pipesmoker, cons ...

'' (Series 2 and 5 onwards). As a writer, she has worked on '' Katy Brand's Big Ass Show'', ''

'', ''Beehive'', '' School of Comedy,'' ''

Hunderby ''Hunderby'' is a British black comedy television series produced by Sky (United Kingdom), Sky and written by Julia Davis. It was first broadcast on Sky Atlantic in 2012. The series won two awards at the British Comedy Awards in 2012; it also ...

'', '' Timewasters'' and ''

Motherland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic natio ...

''. In 2001 she produced two seasons of the British television series '' Fanorama'', starring David Mitchell, Rhys Thomas,

Claudia Winkleman Claudia Anne Irena Winkleman (born 15 January 1972) is an English broadcaster and writer. She has been nominated three times for the British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance for co-presenting the BBC One dancing compet ...

and

Lauren Laverne Lauren Cecilia Fisher (née Gofton; born 28 April 1978), known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, model, television presenter, author and singer. She was the lead singer and guitarist in the alternative rock band Kenicki ...

. She also co-wrote and produced the Channel 5 drama '' The Teacher'', starring Sheridan Smith. As herself, she has guested on '' The Law of the Playground'', ''The Story of Light Entertainment'', and ''

Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first host ...

''.

References

External links

Her character Sasha on Myspace
*
Interview for Comedy Lab – Channel 4
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oshaughnessy, Barunka Living people 1973 births Actors from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Alumni of the University of Cambridge British television producers English comedy writers English women comedians English people of Irish descent English people of Czech descent British women television producers Comedians from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames