Fiona Taheny (born 16 July 1963), commonly known as Fiona O'Loughlin, is an Australian comedian. O'Loughlin has made television performances on ABC TV's '' Spicks and Specks'', and

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

's ''

Rove Live ''Rove'', also titled ''Rove Live'', is an Australian television variety show that featured live music performances and interviews with local and international celebrity guests. The program premiered on the Nine Network on 22nd September 1999, b ...

'', ''

Good News Week ''Good News Week'' is an Australian satirical panel game show hosted by Paul McDermott that aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and 11 February 2008 to 28 April 2012. The show's initial run aired on ABC until being bought by Network Ten in ...

'', '' All Star Family Feud'', '' The Project'', ''

Studio 10 ''Studio 10'' was an Australian morning talk show on Network 10 which aired from 4 November 2013 to 22 December 2023. Its final hosts were Angela Bishop, Narelda Jacobs and Tristan MacManus. It aired between 10am and noon on weekdays and a hi ...

'', ''

Show Me the Movie! ''Show Me the Movie!'' was a weekly Australian television comedy panel show, which premiered on Network 10 on 22 March 2018 and ran until 28 March 2019. The program was hosted by Rove McManus who, with team captains Joel Creasey, Jane Harber (2 ...

'' and '' Hughesy, We Have a Problem'' and a series of advertisements for

Heinz The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz Company and commonly known as Heinz (), is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. ...

soups. She has performed as a headline act in the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the largest international comedy festival in the world. First held in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starti ...

and 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 ...

festival. In 2011 a book of her short stories, ''Me of the Never Never: The (Chaotic) Life and Times of Fiona O'Loughlin'' was published by Hachette Australia.

Career

In the early 1990s O'Loughlin was writing a column for the ''

Centralian Advocate The ''Centralian Advocate'' was an Australian regional online newspaper based at Alice Springs, Northern Territory. The ''Centralian Advocate'' is part of News Corp Australia, and serves under the ''Northern Territory News'' banner, containing ...

'', and emceeing cabaret shows at the Araluen Arts Centre. By 1994 she was doing a weekly radio segment on the ABC. In 2000 she appeared at the

Adelaide Fringe Festival Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is Australia’s biggest arts festival and is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between ...

. In 2001, she won the award for Best Newcomer at the

with her show, ''Fiona and her sister (and some weird guy)''. In 2007, she was the "funny woman" in the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

's ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

''. In 2009, she was a contestant on the Australian version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''. In 2012, O'Loughlin was a candidate on the second series of ''

The Celebrity Apprentice Australia ''The Celebrity Apprentice Australia'' is an Australian reality television series which aired on the Nine Network. Based on NBC's '' The Apprentice'', it first aired on 24 October 2011 and originally featured Mark Bouris, the founder and chair ...

''; she was the first to be fired from the series. In 2014, she appeared on the ABC TV’s ''

Australian Story ''Australian Story'' is a national weekly current affairs and documentary style television series which is broadcast on ABC Television (Australian TV network), ABC Television. It is produced specifically by the ABC News and Current Affairs, AB ...

'' discussing her career and her alcoholism. In 2018, she was a contestant on fourth season of the Australian version of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!''. She won the series and donated the prize of $100,000 to her chosen charity,

Angel Flight Angel Flight is the name used by a number of groups whose members provide free air transportation for passengers in need of medical treatment far from home and perform other missions of community service. Such a non-profit organization may be l ...

. In 2018, she appeared as herself in the comedy film ''

That's Not My Dog! ''That's Not My Dog!'' is a 2018 Australian comedy film written and directed by Dean Murphy and starring Shane Jacobson. Each of the cast members in the film are portraying themselves. The film had a limited cinematic release from 15–18 March ...

'' She appeared as a guest quiz master on ''

Have You Been Paying Attention? ''Have You Been Paying Attention?'' (abbreviated as HYBPA?) is an Australian panel game television quiz show on Network 10. The series, which is produced by Working Dog Productions, is a mix of news and comedy which sees host Tom Gleisner quiz ...

'' In 2021, O'Loughlin appeared as a guest on episode #23 of Riley Dyson’s ''Aussies with Stories!'' podcast. O'Loughlin appeared as leader of the negative team on Australia Debates.

Personal life

Fiona Taheny was born into an Irish-Australian family at Warooka, South Australia, and is herself a single mother of five children. She lived in

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

for 27 years but relocated to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 2012. She was married to Chris O'Loughlin from 1985-2012. Her family, and attitude towards children, make up a large component of her act. In 2009, O'Loughlin collapsed during a performance in Brisbane. She subsequently announced that she suffers from

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

. Her younger sister,

Emily Taheny Emily Taheny is an Australian comedian, actress, and singer. She is known for her multiple appearances on the sketch comedy television series '' Comedy Inc.'' from 2003 through 2007, her role as "Kat" on the 2009 series '' The Jesters'', and as ...

, is also a comedian and formerly a regular cast member of '' Comedy Inc.'' O'Loughlin's daughter, Biddy O'Loughlin, is a comedian, and toured Ireland in 2011–12.

References

External links

Fiona's bio and photo
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oloughlin, Fiona 1963 births Living people Australian people of Irish descent Australian women comedians People from Alice Springs I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (Australian TV series) winners