Agnes O’Casey makes her TV debut on Sunday night in the eagerly anticipated BBC drama Ridley Road.
The 25-year-old actress is the great-granddaughter of playwright Sean O’Casey whose renowned works about working-class Dublin include the celebrated The Plough and the Stars, Juno and the Paycock and The Shadow of a Gunman.
His plays have been performed in the West End, on Broadway and have even been adapted into films by the likes of Alfred Hitchcock.
Now, previously unknown actress Agnes O’Casey is starring alongside Game of Thrones star Tom Varey as Vivien Epstein, a Jewish hairdresser travelling to London in a bid to track down a former lover.
Tom Varey described Ridley Road as “about the universal message of standing up for what you believe.”
Cast as Vivien in the four-part Sixties drama, Ridley Road is Agnes’ first role for television.
Known to her friends as Aggi, Agnes said that “the idea that my first job would be so perfectly in line with everything I believe in is a dream come true.”
“I was drawn to Vivien for many reasons. She's clever without realising she's clever.
“She's not particularly eloquent but she is truthful and principled. You watch her on this journey as she discovers her own ability," the young star said recently.
Agnes was chosen to play Vivien while still in drama school at the prestigious Lir Academy where Normal People star Paul Mescal once studied.
In fact, Agnes’ on-screen lover Tom Varey is actually the former boyfriend of Daisy Edgar-Jones who plays Normal People’s Marianne.
While still studying, Agnes found herself accepting the role of Vivien after attending auditions via Zoom.
“I didn't have to go into a big, strange, intimidating building and wait in reception,” she explained.
“I just opened my own laptop in my own student bedroom... and the stars aligned.”
Ridley Road starts tonight on BBC1 at 9pm.
