Orla Brady
Birth name:
Place of birth:
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She appeared as a guest actress in the first three episodes ofPicard'sfirst season, was promoted to series regular for thesecond season, and then returned as a guest actress in the first episode of thethird season.
Life and career[]
Brady was born in Dublin and lived in Bray, County Wicklow until age 7. She studied at the Loreto Convent Catholic girls' school in Wicklow and an Ursuline Convent in Dublin. At age 25, she moved to Paris, France for a year and studied atPhilippe Gaulier's acting school andMarcel Marceau's school of mime arts.
Moving back to Ireland, she became a prolific stage actress, first at the Balloonatics Theatre Company, appearing in touring productions ofHamlet andFinnegan's Wake, then at the Dublin's Gate Theatre, where she played Adele inHouse of Bernarda Alba and Natasha inThree Sisters. She debuted on the English stage in the Royal National Theatre's production ofBlinded by the Sun and since developed a career in both Irish and British theatre.
Her first on screen appearances were guest spots on British seriesSo You Think You've Got Troubles,Minder,The Bill,Absolutely Fabulous, andThe Rector's Wife in the early 1990s. She made her feature film debut inWords Upon the Window Pane (1994).
In 1995-96, she starred inOut of the Blue as Detective Rebecca "Becky" Bennett. In 1997-98, she co-starred in the comedy seriesNoah's Ark, and played the female lead inWuthering Heights (1998). She also had a co-starring role in the 1999 Hallmark Channel fantasy miniseriesThe Magical Legend of the Leprechauns where she acted alongsideColm Meaney andWhoopi Goldberg.
She moved to Los Angeles in 2001, where she met English photographer Nick Brandt, whom she married in December 2002. The same year, she had a series regular role as Naoise O'Neill in the second season ofFamily Law, in whichTina Lifford played a recurring part. In 2005, she co-starred inRevelations, alongsideJohn Rhys-Davies andFionnula Flanagan.
Her other television credits include guest appearances in episodes ofHustle (2004),Nip/Tuck (2004), andEmpire (2005, withJames Frain, directed byKim Manners). In 2007-08, she played the recurring role of Claire Stark in four episodes ofShark, which co-starredJeri Ryan.Robert Curtis Brown,Jonathan Banks, andJohn Cothran, Jr. appeared in guest roles in episodes with Brady.
She starred in theBBC'sMistresses (2008-10), and co-starred in the BBC miniseriesThe Deep (2010) and the ITV supernatural seriesEternal Law (2012). Her other British television credits include a guest spot in an episode ofWallander (2008), the role of Tasha Lem in "The Time of the Doctor", the 2013 Christmas special episode ofDoctor Who (withSonita Henry), and that of Countess Vera Rossakoff inThe Labours of Hercules (2013), anAgatha Christie's Poirot TV movie. She is one of several actors to have appeared in both theStar Trek andDoctor Who franchises.
From 2010 to 2012, Brady had a recurring role onJ.J. Abrams'Fringe as Elizabeth Bishop, the wife of main character Walter Bishop, played byJohn Noble. The series was created byJ.J. Abrams,Alex Kurtzman andRoberto Orci, starringJoshua Jackson and also featuredLeonard Nimoy in a recurring guest role.Akiva Goldsman andDavid Straiton both directed an episode Brady guest-starred in.
Brady later starred the BBC'sBanished (2015) and had a recurring role inNBC'sAmerican Odyssey (2015). Between 2015 and 2019, she starred inInto the Badlands, and in 2019, had a recurring guest role in the 9th season ofAmerican Horror Story (withSteven Culp).
In 2020, Brady starred in the Irish drama seriesThe Souther Westerlies. In 2021, she co-starred inBlack Medicine andThe Other Me (2022). Also in 2022, she guested in an episode of the BBC'sDeath in Paradise.
Star Trek: Picard regular cast |
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Star Trek appearances[]
As Laris[]
- PIC:
- "Remembrance"
- "Maps and Legends"
- "The End is the Beginning"
- "The Star Gazer"
- "Fly Me to the Moon"(archive footage)
- "Farewell"
- "The Next Generation"