Dervla Kirwan

In 1998, Devla Kirwan became engaged to Stephen Tompkinson, her co-star in Ballykissangel; but the relationship soon broke down.

In 2001, while working in ‘Dangerous Corner’, she met actor Rupert Penry-Jones. They became engaged in 2004 and got married in 2007. The couple has two children; a daughter named Florence Penry-Jones, born in 2004 and a son named Peter Penry-Jones, born in 2006.

Dervla Kirwan was born on 24 October 1971 in Churchtown, a residential suburb on the Southside of Dublin, Ireland. Her father, Peter Kirwan, was an insurance broker while her mother, Maureen Collins nee O'Driscoll, was a language teacher. She taught English and Latin.

Dervla was born the youngest of her parents’ three children, having two elder sisters named Blanaid and Paula. Although they were not rich she had a happy childhood. Like the younger children of most middleclass families, she grew up wearing her sisters’ old clothing.

As a child, she longed to have blond hair, may be because blonds were considered beautiful. She never thought herself as one. But early in her life, she learned to accept the way she was.

Her aunts had a farm in the countryside. At the age of six, she went there for a visit and her aunt served a huge cow’s tongue for dinner. Always a sensitive child, she found it very repulsive and thought, "Sweet Jesus, must we eat this?" She later mentioned the incident in an interview.

She was a bright student. But unlike other girls of her time, she did not have much chance of reading magazines because they were considered frivolous by her mother, who preferred to read more serious books.

At the age of fifteen, Dervla Kirwan landed her first role in BBC’s TV series ‘Trouble’. In the following year, she moved to London to take part in ‘A Handful of Stars’, the first part of Billy Roche's ‘Wexford Trilogy’, which was to be staged at the Bush Theatre.

Since it meant that she would have to live in London for some time, she was forced to leave her school. Although young and homesick, she did very well, receiving acclaim for her role as Linda, a factory girl, in ‘A Handful of Stars’.

The play ran at the Bush Theatre, London from 15 February to 19 March 1988, effectively launching her career. Thereafter, she returned to Dublin, to complete her schooling from the Sandymount High School, a non-religious school.

Also at the age of sixteen, for about a week, she worked as a waitress in a restaurant in Dublin. She had expected to overhear couples talking to each other or make romantic gestures. But she was highly disappointed, having to run about the entire day.

In 1990, she was offered a role in ‘The Lilac Bus’, a television movie, based on Maeve Binchy’s story. She did not have to look back thereafter, being offered one role after another.

'Ballykissangel', a BBC television drama, is one of Devla Kirwan’s most well-known works. Appearing in the role of Assumpta Fitzgerald, the landlady of the town’s only pub, she worked in it for twenty-three episodes between 1996 till 1998.

Devla Kirwan is also famous for her role in ’Goodnight Sweetheart’, a British sitcom that ran on BBC One from 1993 to 1999. In it, she enacted the role of Phoebe Bamford and became hugely popular. However, after completing the first three series, she left it in 1996.