Deirdre Mullins

Deirdre Mullins

Deirdre Mullins is an Irish film, television & theatre actor and director. In 2017, she won a Scottish BAFTA for Best Actress in Film for The Dark Mile. She is best known for playing series regular Naomi in Channel 4's Man Down opposite Greg Davies and Rik Mayall. Man Down was nominated for Best New Comedy Programme in the British Comedy Awards 2014. Notable theatre roles include Rosalind in As You Like It at Shakespeare's Globe, Lika, in Marina Carr's 16 Possible Glimpses at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin and Jessie Taite in Seán O'Casey's The Silver Tassie at the National Theatre. Her directing debut, a production of Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses, was set in a hotel swimming pool and won her rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe 2006 including The Scotsman's top 5 shows to see at the Fringe. It was in Time Out's top 3 shows at the Fringe; giving it 5 stars, Rachel Halliburton said 'This is the kind of unexpected discovery that critics live for at Edinburgh'. A decade later, Mullins directed her second show, an experimental new play by Bea Roberts, Infinity Pool, which won a Toast of the Fringe Award at Plymouth Fringe Festival and went on to enjoy a place on The Guardian's list of recommended shows at the Edinburgh Fringe & International Festival 2016. The critic Lyn Gardner described it as 'painfully funny' and giving it 5 stars from The Stage, Stewart Pringle said it was 'utterly unique and exceptional in every way, it's a heart-breaking story of a stunted life, told with theatrical verve and palpable compassion'. It was short-listed for the highly prestigious Total Theatre Award. Mullins was continuity announcer for ITV3 from Dec 2012 – Dec 2013. Her most recent audio drama work includes playing Mina opposite Mark Gatiss in Dracula by Big Finish Productions. She is a core committee member of ERA 50:50, a campaign calling for equal representation of women on screen & stage and made an impassioned speech about it when picking up her BAFTA (Scotland). Mullins was head girl at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin. She read Drama & Theatre Studies at Trinity College Dublin before transferring and finishing with a first class degree in English Literature at the University of St Andrews, Scotland in 2006. She trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School from 2006 to 2008 and now lives in London.

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