The last few years have been something of a whirlwind for Deirdre O’Kane.  A co-founder of Comic Relief in Ireland, she fronted the critically and audience acclaimed RTÉ Does Comic Relief which raised more than 6 million euros to help those most in need as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and reached in excess of 1.4 million viewers across Ireland. She recently fronted her own talk show - Deirdre O’Kane Talks Funny - in the primetime Saturday night slot on RTÉ One and will debut a brand new series, The Deirdre O’Kane Show, with Sky in 2021. Deirdre will appear alongside Boy George, Aston Merrygold and Vogue Williams on the new Fox-developed talent show, The Big Deal, premiering later this year on Virgin Media Television.

Deirdre is also known as the voice of smash-hit Gogglebox on Virgin Media which returns for a seventh season in 2021. In recent years she has hosted the revamped IFTA Film & Drama Awards for RTÉ and Virgin Media Television, and reached the finals of the national broadcaster’s fan-favourite Dancing with the Stars in its third season in 2018. One of Ireland’s favourite comedians, Deirdre never strays too far from her live stand-up roots; a box fresh hour of side splitting laughs is in the works for a new tour slated to start in 2022.

A six-time Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA) nominee, Deirdre was awarded Best Lead Actress (Film) 2015 for her role as Christina Noble opposite Liam Cunningham, Sarah Greene and Brendan Coyle in Stephen Bradley’s feature Noble. Released in September 2014, Noble won Jury and Audience awards at the Boston Film Festival, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Newport Beach Festival, Nashville and Dallas Festivals.

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Mary-Ellen trained as an actor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama before studying Drama and Theatre Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast, and started her professional career as an actor.

Her passion for casting came about in the active and diverse Northern Irish Short film scene. From Cathy Brady’s, ‘Wasted’, Stacey Gregg’s ‘Mercy’, Andrea Harkin’s ‘The Party’ (BAFTA Nominated) to Mike Lennox’s ‘Boogaloo & Graham’ (BAFTA Winner & Oscar Nominated), Mary-Ellen has been championed for her contribution towards finding, working with and continuing to develop new and emerging talent.

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Eva-Jane Gaffney is an actor & voiceover artist from Dublin. Her screen and stage experience ensure her voice-over work ranges from the sincere to upbeat. Eva-Jane is also a fluent Irish speaker. She has spent years working in casting and worked on projects like Red Rock, Wolfwalkers & Dating Amber.

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Aoife Kavanagh is an accomplished producer, researcher and journalist with 20 years’ experience researching, writing and producing quality content. Aoife has excellent instincts for compelling stories and characters and her work consistently focuses on human rights, social affairs and extraordinary personal stories. She has developed a number of projects for Frontline Films and has worked as producer on most of the company’s productions.

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Craig Rogalski is the owner of CK Talent Management, one of the most esteemed talent management companies in the nation. Rogalski and his team work with athletes, influencers, models, and actors who have worked on diverse projects from the award-winning film Ladybird and cultural-phenomena The Bachelor. Though originally an agency based in the United Kingdom, CK Talent Management has recently purchased the largest talent agency in Africa and expanded into Australia to truly become an international talent management company.

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Andrew Benvenuti is the Artistic Director at The Drama Company NYC. He is a trained actor having attended American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) and has been cast in numerous plays and musicals, including off-Broadway productions!

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Edwina Forkin is a highly respected producer and founder of Zanzibar Films/ She is well known for producing films including 'Sanctuary', 'Royalty Ever After' and also works with large international companies like Halmark. Zanzibar Films was founded in 1998 and has produced over 41 award-winning film and TV productions. Edwina is influential in helping foreign filmmakers get finance to film in Ireland. 

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Louise is an actor, writer, director & producer (wow!). She is Dublin born but moved to America and lived there for 10 years working both behind and in from of the camera with stars like Catherine Zeta-Jones, Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy, Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton , Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson to name but a few! She has since moved to the UK and starting her Acting School and production company, Emmeline Productions. their recent short, LEAP, was received on the festival circuit to critical acclaim.

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Stephen Bradley is a writer, director & producer known for Sweety Barrett, Boy Eats Girl and Noble. Stephen ahas also directed documentaries, TV series and live audience performances. Most recently after his move back to Ireland from the UK he wrote and released his memoir, 'Shooting & Cutting", a must read for aspiring filmmakers. Stephen has a number of projects in the works and we are very excited for you to hear his wisdom today!

Shooting and Cutting by Stephen Bradley: https://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Cutting-Survivors-Film-making-Diseases/dp/1781176760 

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Hello and welcome to Take2 Actors Agency, The Podcast!

We are the podcast that strives to breakdown the apparent barriers between 'us' and 'them', between the aspiring and those working in the TV & Film industry. We chat with actors, casting director, casting agents, directors & producers to find our the best pieces of advice that have helped them succeed in the industry.

Our guest this week on Take2 Actors Agency the podcast is very interesting - Clare McGinley. Clare's background is in casting for film, RTE Drama & Druid Theatre Company. She has worked alongside industry leaders like Maureen Hughes and John Carney. Clare now brings her industry knowledge to Spotlight, as a professional development consultant, where she is helping to expand Spotlight to Ireland and the USA. Clare has an interesting perspective on the casting world and we are very excited to have her on the podcast.

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