Jamie-Lee O'Donnell

Jamie-Lee O'Donnell is an Irish actress from Northern Ireland. She is best known for portraying Michelle Mallon in the Channel 4 Northern Irish sitcom, Derry Girls.

Jamie-Lee O'Donnell
O'Donnell appears for the National Lottery in 2019
Born
Derry, Northern Ireland
OccupationActress
Known forDerry Girls

Early life and career

O’Donnell was born in Derry, Northern Ireland.[1] O'Donnell comes from a large family[2] and has enjoyed acting since childhood. After graduation, O’Donnell decided to pursue acting[3] despite not being able to afford to attend acting school.[2] From 2011, she began to present herself at various castings, dividing her time between Ireland and England. She subsequently took part in various theatrical performances, and worked as a dancer both for promotional activities and for pantomime performances.[2]

Between 2012 and 2015, she got her first significant role playing Eva Maguire, one of the protagonists of the BBC2 NI series 6Degrees,[4] after the end of which she took part in the film Urban & the Shed Crew, by Candida Brady.

In 2018, she played in a theater production I Told My Mum I Was Going on an RE Trip, by Julia Samuels, playing an underage girl who decides to undergo an abortion.[2]

In 2019 she joined the cast of Girls and Dolls, a play by the Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee.[5] Also in 2019, she acted in Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan at the Gaiety Theatre.[6]

Derry Girls

In 2018, she landed the role of Michelle Mallon in Derry Girls, a sitcom by Channel 4 which gained international fame.[7] Of her role as Michelle, she says, "Michelle really thinks she’s maybe just a bit too big for the place she was born in and she’s ready to take on the world one swearword at a time. She’s really feisty, really ballsy, doesn’t really care about authority, just sort of up for anything and up for a laugh."[8]

O’Donnell and her fellow Derry Girls costars participated in the RTÉ fundraising special RTÉ Does Comic Relief, performing a sketch alongside Saoirse Ronan. All proceeds from the night went towards those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.[9]

Personal life

O'Donnell lives in Derry with her partner, DJ Paul McCay.[7]

She is a patron of the Liverpool-based youth theatre company 20 Stories High.[4]

Filmography

Cinema
  • Urban & the Shed Crew, directed by Candida Brady (2015)

Television
  • 6Degrees - TV series, 18 episodes (2012–2015)
  • Doing Money, directed by Lynsey Miller - TV film (2018)
  • Derry Girls - TV series, 12 episodes (2018–present)

References
  1. "Derry Girls cast in real life: See Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Nicola Coughlan & Jamie-Lee O'Donnell out of character". HELLO!. 26 March 2019.
  2. "People expect me to be wild. They keep buying me shots! Derry Girls' Jamie-Lee O'Donnell on overnight fame". independent.ie. 26 August 2018.
  3. "Series 3 Cast Interview: Jamie-Lee O'Donnell". YouTube. 29 April 2015.
  4. "Jamie-Lee O'Donnell: pipe dreams and punchlines". Big Issue North. 3 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  5. "Nick Hern Books - Girls and Dolls By Lisa McGee".
  6. "'Derry Girls' Star Jamie-Lee O'Donnell Signs With Gersh (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  7. Ganatra, Shilpa (4 December 2018). "Derry Girl Jamie-Lee O'Donnell: 'I didn't realise I'd be so intimidated by fame'". The Irish Times.
  8. "Jamie-Lee O'Donnell interview (who plays Michelle) | Channel 4". www.channel4.com. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  9. "Derry Girls cast fangirl over Ronan in hilarious sketch". 26 June 2020. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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