Dearbhla Molloy

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Dearbhla Molloy (born Dublin, 1946) is an Irish actress of the stage and screen.

Dearbhla is the eldest of seven children, one of whom, her brother Dara, is well-known in Ireland as a priest and education expert. As a little girl she was taken to see the plays at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, particularly enjoying the 'uniquely Irish' pantomimes. She left school at 16 and claims that, while she had no burning ambitions to act, she was too young for university entry and so her parents allowed her to appear in plays being performed in the Irish language, which she had learnt at school, at the Abbey.

Over the next few years she consolidated her stage reputation at both the Abbey and the Gate theatres, coming to England to tour with an Abbey production. She was invited to join the [[Royal Shakespeare Company[[, has played Gertrude to Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet in the West End, and has lived in London ever since. In 1991 she was in the company that performed [[Brian Friel[['s [[Dancing at Lughnasa]], about the sad lives of a group of sisters in pre-war rural Ireland, on Broadway, and was nominated for a Tony award, though her role went to the non-Irish Kathy Burke in the cinema version. While her reputation is justly high as a stage actress, she has appeared in many television plays and series, notably as Michael Palin's wife in the hard-hitting GBH and also in more populist fare like New Tricks - as a murderer - and [[Midsomer Murders[[ - as a murder victim as well as the American [[Sex and the City[[.

Among her many theatrical credits are: Doubt: A Parable (Tricycle Theatre); In Celebration (Duke of York's Theatre); Dancing at Lughnasa, Juno and the Paycock, A Touch of the Poet (on Broadway); Juno and the Paycock (Donmar Warehouse); The Cripple of Inishmaan, On the Ledge, Hinterland (National Theatre); Arcadia (Haymarket); The Life of the World to Come (Almeida|); The Hostage (Royal Shakespeare Company); and The Plough and the Stars (Young Vic).

Molloy has appeared extensively in the plays of Irish playwright Brian Friel.

On television, she has appeared in Waking the Dead, Foyle's War, Midsomer Murders, New Tricks, and the 1960s RTE soap operaTolka Row, etc. Her film credits include Tara Road, Blackwater Lightship, This is the Sea, etc.