Jennifer Ann O'Carroll (née Gibney; born 7 July 1964) is an Irish actress. She is best known for playing Cathy Brown in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

, '' Mrs. Brown's Boys'' and its adaptations. She also appeared as contestant on the twelfth series of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

'' in 2014.

Early life

Jennifer Ann Gibney was born on 7 July 1964 in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland. She worked as a civil servant in the Irish tax office for seven years and then joined the

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc () is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the bank occupies a unique position in Irish banking history. At ...

. Gibney studied for a drama degree while at the bank and joined the company's

amateur dramatics Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as f ...

group. She trained to be an actress at Dublin Oscar Theatre School.

Career

Gibney's first professional acting role came in 1996, with a minor part in ''

Some Mother's Son ''Some Mother's Son'' is a 1996 Irish-American film written and directed by Irish filmmaker Terry George, co-written by Jim Sheridan, and based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in the Maze Prison, in Northern Ireland. Provisional Ir ...

'', a film starring

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (; born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov; 26 July 1945) is an English actor. With a career spanning over six decades of Helen Mirren on screen and stage, screen and stage, List of awards and nominations received by Helen Mirre ...

. In 1999, she appeared in the film ''

Agnes Browne ''Agnes Browne'' is a 1999 Irish romantic comedy-drama film directed, produced by, and starring Anjelica Huston, based on the book ''The Mammy'' by Brendan O'Carroll. Plot In 1967 in Dublin, the unexpected death of Agnes Browne's husband sen ...

'' as Winnie the Mackerel. In 2007, she appeared in ''

Prosperity Prosperity is the flourishing, thriving, good fortune and successful social status. Prosperity often produces profuse wealth including other factors which can be profusely wealthy in all degrees, such as happiness and health. Competing notions ...

'' as Linda. Gibney's most prominent role is her portrayal of Cathy Brown, the daughter of

Agnes Brown Agnes Brown(e) or Broun may refer to: *Agnes Brown (17th century), alleged witch of Guilsborough, England *Agnes Broun (1732–1820), mother of Robert Burns *Agnes Brown (19th century), early business owner in Walnut Grove, California Walnut Gr ...

, played by her real-life husband,

Brendan O'Carroll Brendan O'Carroll (born 17 September 1955) is an Irish actor, comedian, director, producer and writer. He is best known for portraying foul-mouthed matriarch List of Mrs. Brown's Boys characters#Agnes Brown, Agnes Brown on stage and in the BBC a ...

, a part she began playing in the 1990's in the original ''Mrs Browne'', and subsequently the

sitcom '' Mrs. Brown's Boys'' since 2011. She also appeared as Cathy in the film adaption ''

Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie ''Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie'' is a 2014 comedy film based on the sitcom ''Mrs. Brown's Boys'' and is co-produced by That's Nice Films, Penalty Kick Films, RTÉ and BocFlix. BBC Films is acting as Sales agents, sales agent and it was distributed ...

'' and the talk show '' All Round to Mrs. Brown's'' between 2017 and 2020. Gibney and O'Carroll reprised their roles as the characters in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

film ''

A Madea Homecoming ''A Madea Homecoming'' is a 2022 American comedy film produced, written, and directed by Tyler Perry and his second film to be released by Netflix. Besides Perry, the film stars Cassi Davis, Cassi Davis-Patton, David Mann (actor), David Mann, Tame ...

'' (2022).

''Strictly Come Dancing''

In 2014, Gibney took part in the twelfth series of ''

''. She was partnered with Irish professional

Tristan MacManus Tristan MacManus (born 23 July 1982) is an Irish dancer and television presenter. He is best known for his professional appearances on ''Dancing with the Stars (American TV series), Dancing with the Stars'', ''Strictly Come Dancing'' and ''Danc ...

. Gibney and MacManus were the second couple to be eliminated in week three of the competition after dancing to

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

's " Mamma Mia" on Movie Week. She competed in the bottom two against

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

star

Simon Webbe Simon Solomon Webbe (born 30 March 1978) is an English singer, rapper and actor. He is best known as a member of the boy band Blue, selling over 15 million records. Webbe released three solo studio albums in 2005, 2006 and 2017 and had five UK ...

and his partner

Kristina Rihanoff Kristina Rihanoff (,: Kristina Pshenichnykh; born 22 September 1977) is a Russian professional ballroom dancer. Early life The daughter of two engineers, Rihanoff was born and grew up in Vladivostok, Russia, and started taking dance lessons ...

. *Note: Donny Osmond was a guest judge for the third week

Personal life

Gibney has been married to Brendan O'Carroll since 2005 and has three stepchildren,

Fiona Fiona is a feminine given name of Gaelic origins. It means white or fair, while the Irish name ''Fíona'' means 'of wine', being the genitive of 'wine'. It was coined by Scottish writer James Macpherson. Initially, the name was confined to ...

and

Danny Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.🖾🖾 People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...

, who also appear in ''Mrs. Brown's Boys'', and Eric.

Filmography

Television

Film

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibney, Jennifer 1964 births Living people 20th-century Irish actresses 20th-century Irish civil servants 21st-century Irish actresses Actresses from Dublin (city) Bank of Ireland people Irish film actresses Irish television actresses