Sinead Keenan is an Irish actress with a wide range of television, film and stage credits. Keenan is best known to Irish viewers for playing Farrah Phelan in Fair City and is best known to UK viewers for playing the role of werewolfNina Pickering on BBC Three's supernatural drama Being Human, which began airing in 2009. Keenan has been a regular cast member since Series 3 began airing in 2011. In November 2011, Keenan's on-screen partner, Russell Tovey announced he would be leaving Being Human to work full-time on his BBC Threesitcom, Him & Her. On 9 January 2012, it was announced by show creator Toby Whithouse and confirmed by Keenan on Twitter that she would not be appearing in the fourth series of the supernatural drama.
Biography
Keenan is the eldest of three children. Her younger brother and sister, Rory and Grainne, are also actors. She grew up in Dublin, Ireland. She attended University College Dublin and has a degree in Sociology and History. As a child, Keenan says she wanted to be a lawyer because she loved the US legal drama, Matlock, but as she got older she realised that she actually just wanted to play the part of the lawyer, not be one.
Career
Keenan's first role was in 1999, when she was cast as the teenage girlfriend of Cillian Murphy in the film, Sunburn. After this, she played the character Farrah Phelan in Irish soap operaFair City for a year. Keenan has stated she would return to Fair City, as another character. Keenan left Fair City amid fears of becoming type-cast, and moved on to film the movie On the Nose with Cracker actor Robbie Coltrane. Her next television role was as Lisa Cassidy in short-lived Irish sitcom The Cassidys. Keenan then went on to have guest roles in Murder City, Taggart and Doctors, along with starring in movies Conspiracy of Silence and Trouble with Sex, before landing the role of Kelly Hawkins in ITV's Moving Wallpaper, which ran for two series. Following this, Keenan played Nina Pickering in Toby Whithouse's Being Human. The actress, and her chemistry with on-screen boyfriend Russell Tovey, was so well liked by Whithouse that he edited the storyline to keep Keenan's character in the show. The character of Nina was retained for the second and third series; in the latter Keenan was upgraded to a main cast member. Following her success in Being Human, Keenan has had guest roles in Victoria Wood's Mid Life Christmas, Agatha Christie's Poirot, Silent Witness and David Tennant's final episodes of Doctor Who. Throughout her career, Keenan has had strong roots in theatre becoming a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing parts such as Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Evie in the original play, The American Pilot. She also starred in Comedy of Errors. In March 2018, Keenan won the Royal Television Society Programme Award for Actor for her role as Melanie Jones in Little Boy Blue. In April 2018, it was announced that she had been nominated for a Leading ActressBAFTA TV Award for the same role. Keenan had a starring role in the Jimmy McGovern and Gillian Juckes drama Care, shown on BBC One on 9 December 2018.
Personal life
Sinead is tall. On 25 September 2011, Keenan announced that she was engaged. Keenan is allergic to chocolate. She married in 2012. Sinead is sister to actress Grainne Keenan.
