Karen O'Leary is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. She played Officer O'Leary in ''

Wellington Paranormal ''Wellington Paranormal'' is a New Zealand mockumentary comedy horror television series which first aired on 11 July 2018 on TVNZ 2. The series is a spin-off of the 2014 film ''What We Do in the Shadows'' and first television series in the franc ...

'', which ran for four seasons from 2018–2022.

Early life and education

O'Leary grew up in Miramar, Wellington and attended Wellington High School and

Victoria University Victoria University may refer to: * Victoria University (Australia), a public research university in Melbourne, Australia * Victoria University, Toronto, a constituent college of the federal University of Toronto in Canada * Victoria University of ...

. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in education and was an early childhood teacher in Wellington for 21 years. She got involved in acting when

casting director In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra to land the role of a character in a script, screenp ...

Tina Cleary, the parent of one of the children at her workplace, encouraged her to audition for a part in the 2014 film ''

What We Do in the Shadows ''What We Do in the Shadows'' is a 2014 New Zealand mockumentary comedy horror film written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi and the first installment in the ''What We Do in the Shadows'' franchise. The film also stars Cleme ...

''.

Career

O'Leary played Officer O'Leary in the film ''

'' and reprised the role in the spin-off television series ''

''. In 2018, O'Leary appeared in the comedy film '' The Breaker Upperers''. In 2020, O'Leary presented educational activities on Home Learning TV, a New Zealand television channel dedicated to children learning at home due to school closures during the national lockdown to control the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2023, O'Leary appeared on the panel show ''

Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee ''Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee'' is a New Zealand television comedy panel show on Three, created and presented by Guy Montgomery and co-hosted by Sanjay Patel. The show is loosely based on a spelling bee: each episode, four comedian ...

''. She appeared in series 4 of ''

Taskmaster New Zealand ''Taskmaster New Zealand'' (also known as ''Taskmaster'' or ''Taskmaster NZ'' especially prior to season 4) is a New Zealand comedy panel game show, first broadcast in 2020 on TVNZ 2. The format for the show was created by British comedian Alex ...

''.

Personal life

O'Leary lives in Wellington with her son Melvyn and her partner, Eilish Wilson.

Filmography

Television

Film

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OLeary, Karen Living people 21st-century New Zealand actresses New Zealand women comedians 21st-century New Zealand educators Victoria University of Wellington alumni Year of birth missing (living people) New Zealand LGBTQ comedians New Zealand lesbian actresses Lesbian comedians 21st-century New Zealand women educators 21st-century New Zealand comedians