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Dublin Live
Dublin Live
Entertainment
Thomas Telford

Derry Girls star Louisa Harland's career from Love/Hate to embarrassing moment working in pub

Dubliner Louisa Harland will return to our tv screens tonight when the final season of Derry Girls airs on Channel 4.

Harland plays quirky teen Orla McCool (Orla herself is actually 29) in the show that has captured the hearts of Ireland both north and south of the border.

The actor grew up in Dundrum and attended the Ann Kavanagh Youth Theatre in Rathfarnham.

Read More: The mid-term break TV shows every '90s child was glued to.

After finishing drama school, Harland then moved to the UK, graduating from the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London.

In 2011 she landed a recurring role in the hit RTE gangland series, Love/Hate as Kayleigh.

However it wasn't until 2017 that Harland would come to international prominence when she was cast as Orla in the Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls.

The show built up a following quickly and soon was a massive hit.

Speaking about the reaction to the series, Harland told the Derry Journal: “We are delighted and surprised. They love it down in Dublin which is great. It’s almost like an Irish upbringing, so much is familiar.”

After finishing the first season of Derry Girls, Harland had to take a pub job over Christmas where by chance her Derry Girls co-stars were having a Christmas party one night.

Having to clear up their champagne glasses led to Harland having "a humiliated cry in the bathrooms."

"It’s just one of those things that happened that’s so real. For the life of an actor that is so normal. We had just done Derry Girls and obviously I went straight back to work because that’s what we do as actors. We have to fill our time doing something."

Like everything else, Covid-19 delayed filming for the final season of Derry Girls.

"We were sad that we didn’t have Season Three for lockdown because Derry Girls would be the absolute perfect tonic for this pandemic,” show creator told the Irish Independent.

Read More: TV producers seek single Dubliners looking for love for unique dating show

Read More: Virgin Media star Simon Delaney targeted by fraudsters who create fake Instagram accounts

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