Maria McDermottroe was born in Sligo Town and her acting career has spanned a wide range of distinguished work in theatre, film, television and radio. In John Huston’s film of The Dead she played the feisty Molly Ivors. Among her other film credits are In the Name of the Father, The Boxer, Angela’s Ashes, Blackwater Lightship, Bogwoman, Trojan Eddie, Veronica Guerin and Swansong. She has created two of the most memorable roles in Irish television in her characters of Venetia in Glenroe and the hilarious and irrepressible Mrs. Gilhooley in Pat Shortt’s Killinascully (for which she was nominated as Best Comedy Actress at the Monte Carlo TV Festival). Her theatre work started with Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir in The Gate Theatre and has embraced playing in most Irish theatres in an acclaimed career as one of our finest actors in notable productions of Dancing at Lughnasa, Carthaginians, Philadelphia Here I Come, The Risen People, The Field, Moll and Baglady.
