Sharon Horgan

Sharon Lorencia Horgan (born 13 July 1970) is an Irish actress, writer, director, producer, and comedian.

At the age of 27, Horgan started a degree in English and American Studies at Brunel University in west London, graduating in 2000.

Around that time, Horgan met British writer Dennis Kelly, while they were both working in youth theatre, and they started writing together, producing material they then sent to the BBC, for which they won the BBC New Comedy Award in 2001 for Sketch Writing and Performance.

Horgan has appeared on stage, television and screen.

Her first credited appearances on television were in The State We're In (2002) and Monkey Dust (2003), two sketch shows based on news and current affairs.

She also contributed material to Monkey Dust.

Her first named acting role on television was as Theresa O'Leary in Absolute Power (2003), a comedy set in the world of public relations and starring Stephen Fry.

Horgan has appeared in films, such as Valiant (2005), Imagine Me & You (2005), Death of a Superhero (2011), Man Up (2015), Game Night (2018), Military Wives (2019), Dating Amber (2020), Together (2021), Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021), and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022).

In 2005 she made her big-screen debut as Beth in Imagine Me & You, a British-American romantic comedy with Lena Headey directed by Ol Parker.

She starred in two series of Pulling, which she also co-wrote with Dennis Kelly.

She is best known for creating and starring in the comedy series Pulling (2006–2009), Catastrophe (2015–2019), and Bad Sisters (2022–present).

Horgan appeared as a guest booker in two series of Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive (2006–07), also on the BBC, a spoof comedy set behind the scenes of a chat show presented by Rob Brydon.

She won a British Comedy Award in 2007 for Best Female Newcomer for her performance.

Horgan won the 2008 British Comedy Award for Best TV Actress for Pulling, while the show's 2009 hour-long final episode won the British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Drama.

In 2010 Horgan appeared in The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret.

The US/UK comedy series was written by David Cross, who also appeared as the title anti-hero, an incompetent American who takes a job leading the London sales team for an energy drink.

She played Alice Bell, the café owner on whom he developed a crush.

In September 2011 she appeared in the world premiere of Saul Rubinek's play Terrible Advice at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London.

The play was set in Los Angeles and she played Delila, one half of its two warring couples.

In June 2012 Horgan was part of the ensemble cast for the pilot episode of Psychobitches, shown as part of Sky Arts 1's Playhouse Presents strand.

In the sketch show, famous women from history are psychoanalysed by Rebecca Front's therapist; she played the novelist Jane Austen in the pilot, and later characters included Eva Peron, Cleopatra, Boudicca and Carmen Miranda.

Two series of Psychobitches followed; the first was shown in May 2013, and the second in November 2014.

She is well known for her role in Catastrophe, alongside Rob Delaney, a show which they co-created for Channel 4 and Amazon.

She also created the comedy series Divorce (2016–2019), Motherland (2016–present), and Shining Vale (2022–2023).

A seven-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, she won the 2016 BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Writer for Catastrophe (with Rob Delaney).

Horgan played a supporting role in the 2018 dark comedy film Game Night as Sarah, a newcomer to the group of friends unwittingly roped into the game.

She stars in and executive produces Channel 4 comedy-drama series This Way Up (2019–present).

Catastrophe was also nominated for Scripted Comedy in the 2020 BAFTA TV Awards and for the 2016 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

She has also won five Irish Film and Television Awards in both acting and writing for her work on Catastrophe.

For her performance in Dating Amber, Horgan won an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2023, Horgan earned two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Bad Sisters, including Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

The series also won her the BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Series that same year.

Horgan was born in Hackney, London, England.

Her mother is Irish and her father is from New Zealand.

Her maternal grandparents were from Midfield, County Mayo.

When she was four years old, her parents moved the family to Bellewstown, County Meath, Ireland, to run a turkey farm.

One of five siblings, Horgan later used her childhood experiences for the semi-autobiographical short film The Week Before Christmas for Sky Arts 1.

Horgan went to the Sacred Heart convent school in Drogheda.

As a young actress struggling to make ends meet she took a series of odd-jobs.

Horgan also appeared in 2020’s second series of Criminal UK, BBC’s The Borrowers (2011), Dead Boss (2012) and Channel 4’s Free Agents (2009) and Bad Sugar (2012).