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Move over boys - a new generation of leading Irish ladies is taking centre stage in the global TV industry. Renowned homegrown movie stars such as Oscar-nominated Saoirse Ronan and Bafta-nominated Jessie Buckley are being credited with inspiring the fresh crop of female acting talent. Among those making waves are Niamh McCormack in Netflix's smash House of Guinness, Ruth Bradley in Apple TV's Slow Horses, Niamh Algar in Sky's The Iris Affair and Jamie-Lee Donnell in the RTÉ/BBC co-production Leonard and Hungry Paul. Veteran casting director Maureen Hughes said this weekend that, while there has been a steady stream of breaking Irish talent for the last 25 years, Irish female actors are now hoovering up major roles in the film and TV industry. She said established film stars such as Ronan, Buckley and Oscar and Bafta-nominated Ruth Negga 'led the dance'. Hughes told the Irish Mail on Sunday: 'With their arrival in the industry, US, European and UK producers and casting directors suddenly went, "Let's flip to Ireland and see what is there". 'There must be something happening there after these three amazing women came through. They then established interest in making sure casting directors and producers from America, the UK and Europe were looking to Ireland for talent and they're finding it here. 'We were all talking about Barry Keoghan and Paul Mescal and now we have got a wave of female actors.' And the list of young Irish female actors in international productions doesn't stop there. Nicola Coughlan has ruffled ball gowns in Netflix's Bridgerton, Ella Lily Hyland's breakout role was alongside Kiera Knightley in the Netflix thriller, Black Doves, and Alison Oliver sent chills down spines in the Oscar-nominated Saltburn. 'Sometimes it just happens, a seam of talent breaks out,' said Hughes. 'All of these actresses are aged in their 20s or 30s, and it is a particularly buoyant time.' Asked what Irish actors have to offer that separates them from other nationalities, Hughes straight away says: 'DNA'. 'When we were growing up there was a great ability to feel sorrow and know what sorrow is. Ireland culturally is interesting. The way the Irish deal with death, the funeral, the wake, everything becomes very organic and natural. 'Grief and emotions are easily accessed here. In other countries, death can be parcelled away and dealt with privately and nobody talks about it much. Whereas the Irish throw it out there in front of you and say you're just going to have to live with my emotions until I feel finished with my grief.' Irish actors can tap into this emotion and offer a great ability to story-tell on screen, according to the casting agent. 'Storytelling has always been such a massive part of the position here in Ireland. And so naturally, Irish actors lend themselves to storytelling, whether it is funny, dramatic or emotional stories.' Louise Ryan of Screen Ireland also noted the resurgence of young Irish female actors on the global stage. 'Ireland definitely has international eyes on the industry,' she told the MoS. 'You are looking at a generation of female talent coming out of Ireland that really is unbelievable.' The acknowledgment of Irish female talent has been helped by a 'huge increase' in production activity in Ireland over the last 15 years. 'It goes back to having local stories from independent filmmakers across film and TV, as well as major international projects filming on location this year.' This was shown with the casting of teenage Irish actor Alisha Weir in the horror comedy film Abigail, which was filmed in Ireland in 2023. The production wanted a young actor to join the cast from Ireland - which led them to Dublin-born Weir. 'Alisha Weir's casting in Abigail was a huge breakout role for her with major Hollywood filming in Ireland,' says Ryan. 'They cast an Irish actor because it made sense for them.' Weir is now starring alongside Niamh Algar and Ruth Bradley in Jim O'Hanlon's adaptation of Anna McPartlin's The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes - which recently wrapped up production in Dublin.
