Caitlin O'Heaney is an American television, film and stage actress. O'Heaney has worked extensively in live theater, but is best known for playing Sarah Stickney White, the female lead on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting
* Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
series ''
Tales of the Gold Monkey
''Tales of the Gold Monkey'' is an American adventure drama television series broadcast in prime time on Wednesday nights by ABC from September 22, 1982, to June 1, 1983. Debuting the year following the release of ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', ...
'' in the early 1980s. She also played Snow White Charming in the first season of ABC's ''
The Charmings'' in 1987.
Early life
O'Heaney was born in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
, and raised in
Whitefish Bay
Whitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of Lake Superior between Michigan, United States, and Ontario, Canada. It is located between Whitefish Point in Michigan and Whiskey Point along the more rugged, largely wilderness Canadian Shield ...
, where she attended
Whitefish Bay High School
Whitefish Bay High School is a comprehensive public secondary school located in the village of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, United States. Enrollment is around 950 students, in grades 9 through 12.
The school newspaper, the ''Tower Times'', and the ...
.
O'Heaney was raised
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
.
[
She won a full scholarship to the ]Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
when she was 17. Then known as Kathleen Heaney, she was a member of the Juilliard Drama Division's ''Group 3'' (1970–1974). She has two older sisters.
Stage career
O'Heaney made her off-Broadway debut as Loretta in ''The Hot House'' at the Chelsea Theatre, then remained at the Chelsea to play Finkel in '' Yentl'' and to understudy
In theatre, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to ap ...
Tovah Feldshuh in the title role. She moved to Broadway to understudy the role of Elizabeth in '' A Matter of Gravity'', starring Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage, career as a Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong ...
and co-starring her Juilliard friend and colleague Christopher Reeve
Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, activist, director, and author. He amassed Christopher Reeve on stage and screen, several stage and screen credits in his 34-year career, including playin ...
.
She relocated to Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
to appear as Celia in ''As You Like It
''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wil ...
'', Gwendolyn in ''Travesties
''Travesties'' is a 1974 play by Tom Stoppard. It centres on the figure of Henry Wilfred Carr, Henry Carr, an old man who reminisces about Zürich in 1917 during World War I, the First World War, and his interactions with James Joyce when he w ...
'', and Eylie in ''Ladyhouse Blues'' at ACT/Seattle, then returned to New York to play the double roles of Belle and Mrs. Cratchit in ''A Christmas Carol
''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...
'' at Playwrights Horizon. When ''A Christmas Carol'' closed, O'Heaney moved to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, and five weeks later she was cast as Anna Marie Hollyhock in the 1978 ABC comedy series ''Apple Pie'', which was produced by Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear (July 27, 1922December 5, 2023) was an American screenwriter and producer who produced, wrote, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear created and produced numerous popular 1970s sitcoms, including ''All in the Family'' (1 ...
, directed by Peter Bonerz
Peter Roman Bonerz (, born August 6, 1938) is an American actor and director.
Early life
Bonerz was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Elfrieda (née Kern) and Christopher Bonerz. He grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he attended Marquet ...
, and starred Rue McClanahan
Eddi-Rue McClanahan (February 21, 1934 – June 3, 2010) was an American actress. She was best known for her roles on television sitcoms, including Maude (TV series)#Characters, Vivian Cavender Harmon on ''Maude (TV series), Maude'' (1972–78), ...
, Dabney Coleman
Dabney Wharton Coleman (January 3, 1932 – May 16, 2024) was an American actor. He was recognized for his roles portraying egomaniacal and unlikeable characters in comedic performances. Throughout his career, he appeared in over 175 films and ...
, Jack Gilford
Jack Gilford (born Jacob Aaron Gellman; July 25, 1908 – June 4, 1990) was an American Broadway, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Save the Tiger'' (1973).
Early life and ...
, Derrel Maury, Mike Binder
Mike Binder (born June 2, 1958) is an American filmmaker, stand-up comedian, and actor.
Life and career
Binder, descended from Russian-Jewish immigrants, grew up in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham. During the summers of 1966 through 1975, he a ...
and Richard Libertini
Richard Joseph Libertini (May 21, 1933 – January 7, 2016) was an American stage, film and television actor.
He was known for playing character roles and his ability to speak in numerous accents. His films include '' Catch-22'' (1970), '' The ...
. This was a highlight of O'Heaney's career. She says with regard to the experience, "It was pure magic and incredible fun working every day with these wonderful people!"
O'Heaney remained in Los Angeles to play fourteen-year-old Bianca in ''White Marriage'' at the Odyssey Theatre and won a Drama-Logue Award for Best Actress for the role. She then returned to the East Coast to star as Ersilla Drei in Pirandello's ''Naked'' at the Syracuse Stage, and performances in ''Ape Watch'' at the Mark Taper Forum Lab and in ''The Brides'' at the Lenox Art Centre soon followed. She appeared off-Broadway as Olive Lashbrook in '' The Voice of the Turtle'', for which she received a very positive review in ''The 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 ...
'', and in ''Scenes and Revelations''.
Film and television work
O'Heaney appeared in the television movie ''The Seeding of Sarah Burns'' in 1979 and as waitress Lurleen Hamett in ABC's ''One Life to Live
''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...
''. She played the female lead, Amy, in the horror feature '' He Knows You're Alone'' (1980), which was Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
' first feature film. In 1982, she was cast in the lead female role of Sarah Stickney White in ABC's Tales of the Gold Monkey
''Tales of the Gold Monkey'' is an American adventure drama television series broadcast in prime time on Wednesday nights by ABC from September 22, 1982, to June 1, 1983. Debuting the year following the release of ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', ...
, also starring Stephen Collins
Stephen Weaver Collins (born October 1, 1947) is an American former actor. He is known for playing Eric Camden on the WB/ CW television series '' 7th Heaven'' from 1996 to 2007. Afterwards, Collins played the roles of Dayton King on the ABC ...
, Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 3 October 1998) was a British-American actor whose career spanned over 270 screen and stage roles across over 60 years. Born in London, he began his acting career as a child in his n ...
and Jeff MacKay. She also appeared as 1930s Hollywood actress Dolores Farrar in Woody Allen
Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...
's 1983 film ''Zelig
''Zelig'' is a 1983 American satirical mockumentary comedy film written, directed by and starring Woody Allen as Leonard Zelig, a nondescript enigma, who, apparently out of his desire to fit in and be liked, unwittingly takes on the characteris ...
'', and Allen would cast her again in ''The Purple Rose of Cairo
''The Purple Rose of Cairo'' is a 1985 American period fantasy romantic comedy film, written and directed by Woody Allen. Set in Depression-era New Jersey, it stars Mia Farrow as a film lover who flees her abusive husband (Danny Aiello) after ...
'' in 1985. She played Miss Farmer in the 1987 film '' Three O'Clock High''.
Although she was active in television until 1993, O'Heaney did not appear in any feature films for nearly two decades, then returned in 2002 as Mrs. Woodbridge in ''The Emperor's Club
''The Emperor's Club'' is a 2002 American drama film directed by Michael Hoffman and starring Kevin Kline. Based on Ethan Canin's 1994 short story "The Palace Thief", the film follows a prep school teacher and his students at a fictional Eas ...
'' with Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. In a career spanning over five decades, he has become a prominent leading man across both Kevin Kline on screen and stage, stage and screen. List of awards and nominations recei ...
, O'Heaney's colleague and friend at Juilliard. She also played Aunt Fran in the 2005 film '' Brooklyn Lobster'', and most recently appeared in the 2007 independent feature ''Asylum Seekers''.
O'Heaney wrapped the feature film '' Late Phases'', a thriller directed by Adrian Garcia Bogliano, in June 2013 in which she played the role of Emma.Late Phases – Go Behind the Scenes of the Werewolf Action
/ref>
Other work and interests
In the mid-1970s, Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...
offered Caitlin the opportunity to model for him, but Gala, his wife, was not in favor of the project so it was canceled.
In 2006-2007, O'Heaney performed on radio with Air Pirates Radio Theater.
In February 2008, she wrote the music and lyrics for an anti-war environmentalist song titled "Who Have We Freed?" which she recorded with Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...
. She and Seeger have performed "Who Have We Freed?" at various environmental/anti-war festivals in and around New York.
O'Heaney is involved with independent playwrights at Manhattan Theatre Source and the National Arts Club
The National Arts Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and members club on Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1898 by Charles DeKay, an art and literary critic of the ''New York Times'', to "stimulate, foster, and promote publi ...
, both in New York City.
Filmography
;Film
;Television
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oheaney, Caitlin
Actresses from Wisconsin
American film actresses
American television actresses
Juilliard School alumni
People from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
Living people
21st-century American women
Year of birth missing (living people)