COMEDIAN and actress Molly Shannon will be among the Irish-American stars presented with an Oscar Wilde Award next month.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Shannon’s maternal grandparents were Irish, with her grandfather hailing from Cloghmore in Achill, Co. Mayo.
The 59-year-old first shot to fame in the comedy sketch series Saturday Night Live, which she spent six seasons on as a member of the repertory company.
Throughout her performances for the show, her Irish-American characters, such as Mary Katherine Gallagher and Sally O’Malley, are widely deemed her most iconic.
In 2000, she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for her work on the show.
That was the first of three Emmy nominations Shannon has received to date.
She received her second Emmy nod in 2013 for her role in Enlightened and her third in 2018 for her work on Will & Grace, both times she was nominated in the Outstanding Guest Acrtress in a Comedy Series.
Molly Shannon will receive an Oscar Wilde Award next monthThe star went on to carve a hugely successful acting career, appearing in drama series such as Other People, for which she won the 2017 Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress, and more recently the likes of The Other Two and The White Lotus.
On the silver screen Shannon recently appeared starred opposite Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman in Zach Braff’s A Good Person.
Other film credits include Tamara Jenkins’ Netflix film, Private Life alongside Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn, the Sundance favorite Wild Nights with Emily and the Academy Award-nominated film, Promising Young Woman, opposite Carey Mulligan.
Trina Vargo, founder of the US-Ireland Alliance, which hosts the annual Oscar Wilde Awards, descrbed Shannon as a “superstar” whom they are “looking forward to honouring”.
“The impact of her Irish ancestry on her life and career comes across in her 2022 New York Times bestselling memoir Hello, Molly!,” Vargo said.
“As well as in the episode of Who Do You Think You Are? which took Molly back to her ancestral home of Achill, in County Mayo,” she added.
“We look forward to honouring this “superstar.”
Next month Shannon will join previously announced Oscar Wilde Award honorees, Pierce Brosnan and Richie Baneham to receive her gong at the ceremony held on March 7.
The event, which will be held at Bad Robot, the production company of JJ Abrams and Katie McGrath, is supported by Screen Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen.
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