Kerry Condon

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Kerry Condon bigraphy, stories - Film

Kerry Condon : biography

9 January 1983 –

Kerry Condon (born 9 January 1983 in Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland) is an Irish television and film actress. Best known for her role as Octavia of the Julii in the HBO/BBC series Rome, she also appeared in HBO’s short-run but well-received series Luck. She is also the youngest actress ever to play Ophelia in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1999 Ballykissangel Mairead Reilly Love’s Labours, With a Song in My Heart
1999 Angela’s Ashes Theresa Carmody
2000 Rat Marietta
2001 How Harry Became a Tree Eileen
2003 Ned Kelly Kate Kelly
2003 Intermission Café Waitress
2004 The Halo Effect Jean
2004 Born and Bred Niamh Copper Something Old
2005 Unleashed Victoria also known as Danny the Dog
2005–07 Rome Octavia HBO series
2008 Anatomy of Hope Jenna HBO
2009 The Last Station Masha
2010 The Runway Grace Thomas
2011 Luck Rosie HBO series
2011 This Must Be the Place Rachel
2013 Dom Hemingway post-production

Film

Condon’s movie roles include Kate Kelly, Ned Kelly’s outlaw sister, in 2003’s Ned Kelly and an appearance in the 2003 Irish independent film Intermission with Cillian Murphy, Kelly MacDonald, and Colin Farrell. She was in a Luc Besson-written 2005 action-thriller starring Jet Li and Morgan Freeman called Unleashed. In 2005 Condon co-starred as Octavia of the Julii, sister of the Roman Emperor Augustus, in the widely acclaimed HBO/BBC series Rome. She then appeared as Masha, a Tolstoian, in The Last Station, a film about the last months of Tolstoy’s life with Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer before playing jockey Rosie Shanahan in 2012’s Luck.

Personal life

Condon has two dogs she adopted from the streets of Los Angeles.

Theater

In 2001, at the age of 19, Condon originated the role of Mairead in the The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh which she performed at The Royal Shakespeare Company and in 2006 at the Lyceum Theatre in New York. For this production she recorded the song "The Patriot Game" with The Pogues. Also in 2001, Condon played the role of Ophelia in Hamlet, making her the youngest actress to ever play that role for the RSC. In 2009, she appeared in another play by Martin McDonagh, The Cripple of Inishmaan, for which she won a Lucille Lortel award and a Drama Desk Award.

Background

Condon’s family in Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland, owned fields and Condon grew up with horses as pets. She left home at 16 to embark upon her acting career.