Aisling Bea, 39, was born Aisling O’Sullivan in Kildare. After training at Lamda and landing comic roles in the likes of Cardinal Burns and Dead Boss, she became an award-winning standup and panel-show regular. She took the stage name Bea in tribute to her late father, Brian. She created and starred in the comedy-drama series This Way Up, about mental health and sisterhood, for which she won a Bafta, and has appeared in The Fall, Quiz, Doctor Who and Smothered. She now appears in Channel 4’s romantic drama Alice & Jack, starring Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson.
What appealed to you about Alice & Jack?
It was exactly what I was in the mood for. On my first day on the job, Andrea Riseborough [who stars in the show and is its executive producer] had put Post-Its all over the inside of my car saying: “Good luck!” “We love you!” “We can’t believe we have you!” I was like, how does this incredible, Oscar-nominated actress have the time to write me notes? It came along at a point when I needed a boost, work-wise. Also, I’d just done the all-singing, all-dancing Take That movie Greatest Days and I liked the idea of sitting down for a lot of my scenes [laughs].
