- Maria Doyle Kennedy
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Maria Doyle Kennedy Born Maria Josephine Doyle
September 25, 1964
Clontarf, Dublin, IrelandOther names Maria Doyle Occupation Actor
SingerYears active 1980s–present (Singer)
1991–present (Actress)Spouse Kieran Kennedy (1988–present) Website http://www.mariadoylekennedy.com Maria Doyle Kennedy (born Maria Josephine Doyle on 25 September 1964) is an award-winning Irish actress and singer. She is possibly best known for her roles as Natalie, in cult film The Commitments , Queen Katherine of Aragon in the award winning The Tudors and as the title character's wife Frances in The General.
Contents
Biography
Early life
She is an honours graduate of Trinity College Dublin (Joint Honours Politics and Business) faculty of E.S.S.
Musical career
In 2001, Maria released music on Mermaid Records, a label she founded herself. Her debut solo album Charm was released in 2001. She coordinated Sirens which is a compilation album of female artists and which was released in 2003. She released an album Skullcover consisting of cover versions in 2005, and Mütter in 2007. Maria’s new album with her husband Kieran is called The Storms Are On the Ocean. A collection of Appalachian standards dressed in darned gowns, its spiritual siblings are Plant's Band of Joy, PJ's White Chalk and Gillian Welch's stark daguerreotypes. Here are courtly tunes, murder ballads, child ballads and death fugues all backlit by Kieran Kennedy's acoustic guitar, banjo and piano. Both of her solo albums have been nominated for Meteor awards and her forthcoming project sees her teamed with U.S. country music legend John Prine Damien Rice and Paul Brady.
Musical History
Maria joined a band while still in college in the mid-80s. They formed originally to enter a Slogadh competition (which they won) but music quickly became a motivating force in her life. She has spent the best part of 20 years performing live all over the world to audiences ranging from the many thousands who have enjoyed her show at festivals (Glastonbury, Oxegen, Cambridge Folk Festival etc.) to the more intimate theatre concerts.
One must include in Maria Doyle's musical history her appearance as Natalie, one of a trio of backup singers in the 1991 film the Commitments. The Commitments documents the rise and fall of an Irish "Soul" band in Dublin.
Maria released her first album “When Justice Came” in 1989 with The Black Velvet Band. Recorded in Los Angeles in 1989 It reached No.4 in the Irish charts and is ranked among the best Irish albums of the Late 1980s. She then united with producers Clive Langer and Allen Winstanley to record her second Black Velvet Band album "King Of Myself" in 1992. Irish music magazine Hot Press later called her "The finest voice this country has ever produced."
'The Lady Sings The Blues' a compilation Album featuring Maria alongside Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Annie Lennox, followed and proved to be a best selling album in 1994. It also established Maria in new markets in Europe the US and Japan. Touring Europe for the first time, she got rave reviews from The Guardian, The Times and others.
Maria produced a documentary -Golden Boy- based on the life and work of Irish artist Patrick Scott and has appeared as a broadcaster on Irish television filling in for John Kelly on his Mystery Train show and for Tom Dunne on Pet Sounds.[1]
Acting career
In 2007 and 2008, Maria played Queen Katherine of Aragon (King Henry VIII's first wife and mother of Mary I of England) on The Tudors.[2] She was rumoured to have returned as Katherine of Aragon in a dream sequence to The Tudors for the fourth and final season in mid 2010,and this was confirmed when the first promotional picture of the season showed Katherine (along with King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr) on the cover. Kennedy will appear on Irish screens early in 2011 on TG4's Corp & Anam in her first Irish language acting role. Kennedy portrayed Sonya, a nanny to Dexter Morgan's son Harrison in the fifth season of Showtime's Dexter.[3] It was announced on February 18th, 2011 that Kennedy had signed on for series 2 of ITV period drama Downton Abbey, appearing as Vera Bates.[4]
Personal life
In 1988, she married musician Kieran Kennedy, and they have four sons, Louis, Jesse James, Daniel and Salvador. Kennedy speaks fluent Irish.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes 1991 The Commitments Natalie Murphy 1995 Nothing Personal Ann 1996 Moll Flanders Alice 1997 A Further Gesture Roisin The MatchMaker Sarah Kelly 1998 Father Ted Patsy TV series (1 episode: "Night of the Nearly Dead") The General Frances 1999 I Could Read the Sky Maggie Gregory's Two Girls Bel Miss Julie Christine DDU Emma Pearson TV series (2 episodes) Oliver Twist Irish Shop Assistant TV mini-series (1 episode: "Wherein It Is Shown How Oliver Twist Came to Be Born in Such Sad Circumstances") Queer as Folk Marie Threepwood/Marie Jones TV series (2 episodes: 1999-2000) 2000 Queer as Folk 2 Marie Jones TV movie 2001 J.J Biker 2002 No Tears Kitty Fogarty TV mini-series Home for Christmas Cora Quirke TV movie 2003 Thursday the 12th Nina Bannister TV movie Mystics Foxy Nominated—IFTA Award for Best Actress in a Film 2005 Spin the Bottle Anastasia Tara Road Rosemary 2006 Hide & Seek Emma Holden TV series Sorted Roisin TV series (6 episodes) 2007 The Tudors Queen Katherine of Aragon TV series (18 episodes: 2007-2010)
IFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress in Television 2008
IFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress in Television 2009
Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series2010 (She Owns) Every Thing Object of Affection short Dexter Sonya TV series (8 episodes) 2011 Corp & Anam Mairéad Mhic Iarnáin TV series Albert Nobbs completed Downton Abbey Vera Bates TV series
series 2Awards and nominations
- In 2003, Maria Doyle Kennedy was nominated for the IFTA award.
- In 2008, Maria Doyle Kennedy won both the Gemini award and the IFTA award.
- In 2009, Maria Doyle Kennedy won the IFTA award.
Notes
- ^ Maria Doyle Kennedy at The Headline Agency
- ^ Maria Doyle Kennedy Joins 'Dexter' Season
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (June 10, 2010). "Maria Doyle Kennedy Joins ‘Dexter’ Season". Deadline.com. http://www.deadline.com/2010/06/maria-doyle-kennedy-joins-dexter. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
- ^ Blackburn, Jen (September 23, 2011). "I love playing the most hated woman in Britain". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/3830681/I-love-playing-the-most-hated-woman-in-Britain.html. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
External links
Dexter cast Main cast Michael C. Hall · Julie Benz · Jennifer Carpenter · Desmond Harrington · Erik King · C.S. Lee · Lauren Vélez · David Zayas · James RemarSpecial guest stars Supporting cast
(actors with 5+ appearances)Dave Baez · Preston Bailey · Jesse Borrego · Julia Campbell · Christian Camargo · Keith Carradine · Valerie Cruz · Kristin Dattilo · Maria Doyle Kennedy · Brando Eaton · Courtney Ford · Daniel Goldman · Devon Graye · April Hernandez Castillo · Maxwell Huckabee · Dominic Janes · Sage Kirkpatrick · Liza Lapira · Vanessa Marano · Margo Martindale · Jonny Lee Miller · Jaime Murray · Jason Manuel Olazabal · Mark Pellegrino · Rick Peters · Geoff Pierson · Anne Ramsay · David Ramsey · Christina Robinson · Judith Scott · Tasia Sherel · Peter WellerCategories:- Irish film actors
- 1964 births
- People from County Dublin
- Living people
- Music from Dublin (city)
- Irish-language singers
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