Aisling Clíodhnadh O'Sullivan , known professionally as Aisling Bea, is an Irish comedian, actor, and screenwriter.
Early life and education
Bea was born in Kildare, Ireland. Her father, Brian, was a horse veterinarian who killed himself when Bea was three years old; she was not told how he had died until she was 13. She adopted the stage surname "Bea" as a tribute to her father, taking it from a short form of his first name. Bea and her younger sister, Sinéad, were raised by their mother, Helen, a secondary school teacher who had previously been a horse jockey trainer and professional jockey. Her family were "obsessed" with horses and race meetings. In her youth, Bea worked as a tour guide at the Irish National Stud, but knew from a young age that she was not interested in the horse racing industry and instead loved performing. Her great-aunt was playwright Siobhán Ní Shúilleabháin, and musician Liam O'Flynn was a family friend. Bea was educated at a Catholic school, and studied French and philosophy at Trinity College Dublin. While there, she was part of a student sketch comedy group. She then studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Career
After graduating from drama school, Bea spent two years trying to get work in theatre as a dramatic actress. Instead, she was cast mainly in comedic television series including Cardinal Burns and Dead Boss. While filming Dead Boss in 2011, Bea decided to try stand-up comedy. In 2012, she won The Gilded BalloonSo You Think You're Funny award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and, in 2013, was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards for her show C'est La Bea. The exposure brought by these awards marked a "turning point" in Bea's career and she began to appear as a regular guest on panel shows including QI and Insert Name Here. Bea and Yasmine Akram co-wrote and co-hosted the BBC Radio 4 comedy folklore series Micks and Legends ; it was nominated for a Chortle Award in 2013. Bea won the 2014 British Comedy Award for Best Female TV Comic and returned to Edinburgh in 2015 with the live show Plan Bea. In 2016, she became a team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats and was a cast member on Taskmaster in 2017. Having had small roles in several Irish and British television series since 2009, she began her career as a stand-up comedian in 2011. By 2012, she was regularly appearing on sketch comedy shows and sitcoms. After winning an award at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, she began to be booked regularly for various panel shows, where she has become a fixture. From 2016 to 2017, she was a team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats and is a frequent contestant on the spinoff 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Bea appeared in the Sky One comedy series Trollied and co-starred with Amy Huberman on her Irish television series Finding Joy. She stars in the Netflix comedy-drama series Living with Yourself and is the star and head writer of the Channel 4 comedy series This Way Up. She also appeared in the ITV drama series Quiz. Bea has continued to act in television sitcoms including Trollied and The Delivery Man, and the crime dramas The Fall and Hard Sun. In 2018, she and Sara Pascoe began to co-host the BBC Radio 2 comedy chat show What's Normal? She recorded a 15-minute stand-up special that was aired on Netflix in late 2018. In August 2018, Bea was cast to co-star with Paul Rudd in Netflix's comedy series Living with Yourself. The series premiered on 18 October 2019. In 2019, Bea wrote This Way Up, in which she starred as teacher Aine. It was produced by Sharon Horgan, who plays her older sister. The series premiered on Channel 4 on 8 August 2019.
Since 2016, Bea has been a team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats, having previously been a guest on the show in 2013 and 2014. She has made guest appearances on many other panel shows, including:
