MARION O'DWYER plays O o n a g h  D o o l e y.
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"I think Oonagh Dooley must sometimes feel like losing her head and going a bit doo-lally just like the rest of her mad family," says Marion O'Dwyer, with a rueful laugh. "I mean, she has to get tired of being the rock of sense all the time - like every Irish mother and housewife, she'll surely get to the point where she wants to live a little herself."

But as the wife of a dubious wheeler-dealer and mother to a pair of headstrong excitable kids, Oonagh would seem to have enough on her plate already. "I'd love to say that Oonagh is something like me, I'd give a lot for her patience," says Marion, now in her second season with Ballykissangel. "She loves her husband but he does push her to the edge sometimes. They have been through a lot and she was right beside him when Paul took his fall from grace - she wants him to be a success but maybe she'd just like him to settle a bit."

Despite her sympathetic portrayal of a character so far denied the drama that her husband and children have enjoyed, Marion feels that Oonagh might surprise everyone by doing something daring herself. "Oonagh would definitely have a mad streak in her - hard not to when you're part of the Dooley household - and I think that side of her is there in the background, waiting for a chance to come out."

Marion's father, Frank, was a radio actor and producer on RTE, so she has always been well-acquainted with theatre and acting. She has appeared in John B Keane's Sive as well as Kevin's Bed and Stella By Starlight by Bernard Farrell on the stage. She also appeared in the extremely successful original stage production of Dancing At Lughnasa at The Abbey Theatre and on tour.

Marion played one of the lead roles, as Angelica Huston's best friend, in the recent feature film Agnes Browne, based on the book by Brendan O'Carroll (in which, coincidentally, she again plays the mother of Ciaran Owens).

Ballykissangel is her first major role on television. "I love both theatre and film. Television work is something relatively new to me - most of my career has been on stage. Ballyk has a great reputation internationally and there's been some great actors associated with it, so I'm certainly proud to be one of them."


 		 

 
 

THE CAST
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