Kelly Thornton (born 13 April 1997) is an Irish actress who began her career as a child actress. She is best known for her roles as Corrina Mallon in the

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

drama '' Clean Break'' (2015) and Emma in the film '' Life's a Breeze'' (2013), which earned her an

IFTA Ifta is a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Al ...

nomination for Best Actress.

Early life and education

Thornton is from

Terenure Terenure (), originally called ''Roundtown'', is a middle class suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It is located in the city's D6 and D6W postal districts. The population of all electoral divisions labelled as Terenure was 17,972 as of the 2022 ce ...

, a suburb in South Dublin and attended

St Louis High School, Rathmines St. Louis High School is an all-girls secondary school located in Rathmines, Dublin. History The school was founded in 1913 by the Sisters of St. Louis, a religious community of nuns which was founded in post-revolutionary France in 1842. The ...

. She has a younger sister Robyn. She was discovered when she was 14 whilst shopping on

Grafton Street Grafton Street () is one of the two principal shopping streets in Dublin city centre — the other being Henry Street. It runs from St Stephen's Green in the south (at the highest point of the street) to College Green in the north (the low ...

with her friends by a casting director who invited her to audition.

Career

Thornton made her screen debut in the 2013 Irish comedy film '' Life's a Breeze''. She played the role of Emma, the main protagonist, alongside fellow Irish actors

Pat Shortt Patrick Shortt (born 12 December 1967) is an Irish actor, comedian, writer, and entertainer. His role in the 2007 film '' Garage'' led to him receiving the IFTA for Best Actor. He is most notably remembered for his role as Tom in the television ...

and

Fionnula Flanagan Fionnghuala Manon "Fionnula" Flanagan (born 10 December 1941) is an Irish actress. Flanagan is known for her roles in the films '' James Joyce's Women'' (1985), '' Some Mother's Son'' (1996), '' Waking Ned Devine'' (1998), '' The Others'' (200 ...

. The film was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Thornton earned an

nomination for her role, as well as receiving the Bingham Ray New Talent Award at the 2013

Galway Film Fleadh The Galway Film Fleadh (; Irish for "festival") is an international film festival founded in 1989 as part of the Galway Arts Festival. Describing itself as Ireland’s leading film festival, the event is held every July in Galway city in Ire ...

. In late 2013, Thornton made her Irish television debut, featuring in the fourth series of the popular

RTÉ Television RTÉ Television is a department of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's public service broadcaster. Its first channel was Telefís Éireann, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961. Since the 1960s, RTÉ Television has added chan ...

drama '' Love/Hate'', playing the part of Kellie in a single episode appearance. Her sister Robyn had a guest role in the drama. In 2015, Thornton got her biggest role to date, starring as Corrina Mallon in the four-part

drama '' Clean Break''. The series, directed by

Gillies MacKinnon Gillies MacKinnon (born 8 January 1948) is a Scotland, Scottish film director, screenplay, writer and painting, painter. He was born in Glasgow and attended the Glasgow School of Art where he studied mural painting. Following this he became an a ...

and Damien O’Donnell, told the story of Frank Mallon, Corrina's father and a car dealer. Struggling to make ends meet, Frank kidnaps the family of his local bank manager and consequently finds himself involved with some notorious local criminals. A second series of the show has yet to be announced by

. The same year, Thornton played the lead role of Molly in the Irish short film ''Battle''. The film was written and directed by Megan K. Fox and told the story of a "teenager finding strength and happiness in music in the face of her battle with depression". This film would later be the focus of an episode of Beyond the Lens in 2016. Thornton gained further recognition for her part in the 2016 film ''

Sing Street ''Sing Street'' is a 2016 coming-of-age musical comedy-drama film written and directed by John Carney from a story by Carney and Simon Carmody. Starring Lucy Boynton, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Aidan Gillen, Jack Reynor, Kelly Thornton and Fe ...

'', playing the role of Ann Lawlor, the older sister of the main protagonist Conor. Set in mid-1980s inner-city Dublin, Sing Street follows the story of Conor "Cosmo" Lawlor, a teenager who is forced to move schools, from a private fee-paying school to the non-fee-paying

Synge Street CBS Synge Street CBS (colloquially Synger) is a boys' non-fee-paying state school, under the auspices of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, located in the Dublin 8 area of Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1864 by Canon ...

. In October 2016, Thornton was featured in the music video for ''Don't Mind Me'' by Irish alternative rock band

Walking on Cars Walking on Cars was a four-piece Irish rock band, whose 2020 line-up consisted of Pa Sheehy (singer/lyricist), Sorcha Durham (pianist), Paul Flannery (bass guitarist) and Evan Hadnett (drummer). Their debut single "Catch Me If You Can", release ...

. Thornton has since starred in three short films: ''Inside I'm Racing'' in 2017,

Jack Reynor Jack Reynor (born 23 January 1992) is an Irish actor. His notable roles include the films '' What Richard Did'' (2012), '' Transformers: Age of Extinction'' (2014), '' Glassland'' (2014), ''Macbeth'' (2015), '' Sing Street'' (2016) and '' Midso ...

's '' Bainne'' opposite

Will Poulter William Jack Poulter (born 28 January 1993) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in '' School of Comedy'' (2009) and then for his role as Eustace Scrubb in the adventure film '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Tread ...

and Ciarán Dooley's ''Twin'', both in 2019.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Kelly Living people 1997 births 21st-century Irish actresses Actresses from County Dublin Irish film actresses Irish television actresses People from South Dublin (county) People educated at St Louis High School, Rathmines