Ardal O'Hanlon

• Born — 8 October 1965 • Birthplace — Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Ireland • Education — Blackrock College • Alma Mater — National Institute for Higher Education Dublin • Occupation — * Actor • comedian • Years Active — 1991–present • Father — Rory O'Hanlon • Relatives — Peter Fenelon Collier • Spouse — Melanie O'Hanlon • Children — 3

O'Hanlon was born in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, the son of Fianna Fáil TD and physician Rory O'Hanlon and Teresa (née Ward). He is the third of six children and has three brothers and two sisters. His paternal grandfather, Michael 'Mick' O'Hanlon, was a member of the Fourth Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and assisted members of Michael Collins' 'Squad' on Bloody Sunday. O'Hanlon was raised Catholic. Growing up, he was "watchful [...] shy, weird, awkward" and had a great interest in literature and knowledge. Due to his father working from home as a GP, O'Hanlon and his siblings would often enter the house through the windows to avoid the long queues of patients. His father's political status also meant that the family received multiple death threats, including a bomb scare. Due to the threats, O'Hanlon was afraid to sleep at night if his father was not home. O'Hanlon's father sent him to boarding school at Blackrock College in Dublin, where he began to spend more time writing comedy and poetry. He graduated in 1987 from the National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin (now Dublin City University), with a degree in communication studies. His first job outside of Ireland was in a pea-canning factory in Norfolk when he was 17. He has also worked as a check-in clerk for an airline.

With Kevin Gildea and Barry Murphy, O'Hanlon founded the International Comedy Cellar, upstairs in the International Bar on Dublin's South Wicklow Street. Dublin had no comedy scene at the time. As a stand-up comic, O'Hanlon won the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition in 1994, and was for a time the presenter of The Stand Up Show. For the first fifteen years of his stand-up career, he suffered from debilitating nerves before gigs; "I would get into bed, I'd be sick, I wouldn't be able to eat or read or concentrate on anything — it would go on for hours." O'Hanlon was cast as Father Dougal McGuire in Father Ted (1995–1998), which he said was his "first proper job in television". During filming, O'Hanlon went to buy shoes. Still being in costume, the seller thought he was a real priest and offered the footwear for free. He and Dermot Morgan (Father Ted) often did their own stunts, and he recalled that on one occasion they were dragged through a field behind a tractor. In 1995, he received the Top TV Comedy Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards for this role. In 1995, he appeared as Father Dougal in a Channel 4 ident ("Hello, you're watching... television"), and during Comic Relief on BBC1. This was followed by the award-winning short comedy film Flying Saucer Rock'n'Roll. In a 2019 interview, O'Hanlon said he had attempted to distance himself from Father Ted once the show had finished. He moved into straight acting, alongside Emma Fielding and Beth Goddard, in the ITV comedy-drama Big Bad World, which aired for three series in summer 1999 and autumn 2001. He also had a minor role in The Butcher Boy as Joe's (Francie's best friend) father, and appeared in an episode of the original Whose Line is it Anyway?. In 2000, O'Hanlon starred in the comedy series My Hero, in which he played a naive superhero from the planet Ultron. His character juggled world-saving heroics with life in suburbia. He stayed in the role until the first episode of series 6 in July 2006, when he was replaced by James Dreyfus during the same episode. In September 2001, O'Hanlon appeared on stage alongside Moby at the Slane Festival to perform a duet of My Lovely Horse. O'Hanlon provided the voice of the lead character in the three Christmas television cartoon specials of Robbie the Reindeer. He appeared in the 2005 BBC One sitcom Blessed, written by Ben Elton, which was publicly slated by Jonathan Ross, albeit in jest, at the 2005 British Comedy Awards. Towards the end of 2005, O'Hanlon played an eccentric Scottish character, Coconut Tam, in the family based film, The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby. In 2015, he appeared on the same channel as incompetent angel Smallbone in the sitcom The Best Laid Plans. In 2006, O'Hanlon wrote and presented an RTÉ television series called Leagues Apart, in which he investigated the biggest and most passionate football rivalries in several European countries. Included were Roma vs Lazio in Italy, Barcelona vs Real Madrid in Spain, and Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce in Turkey. He followed this with another RTÉ show, So You Want To Be Taoiseach? in 2007, a political series in which he gave tongue-in-cheek advice on how to go about becoming Taoiseach of Ireland. O'Hanlon appeared in a Doctor Who episode "Gridlock", broadcast on 14 April 2007, in which he played a catlike creature named Thomas Kincade Brannigan. He appeared in series 3 of the TV show Skins playing Kieran, Naomi Campbell (Lily Loveless)'s politics teacher, who attempts to kiss her, and forms a relationship with Naomi's mother (Olivia Colman). O'Hanlon played the lead role in the Irish comedy television programme Val Falvey, TD on RTÉ One. In February 2011, he returned to the Gate Theatre, Dublin, starring in the Irish premiere of Christopher Hampton's translation of Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage, alongside Maura Tierney. Later that year, he appeared in the comedy panel show Argumental. In 2012, he performed in the Edinburgh Fringe O'Hanlon has written a novel, The Talk of the Town (known in the United States as Knick Knack Paddy Whack), which was published in 1998. The novel is about a teenage boy, Patrick Scully, and his friends. His second novel, Brouhaha, a darkly comic murder mystery set in the Irish border country, was published in 2022. In February 2015, he launched the 2015 Sky Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, which took place in Kilkenny from 28 May to 1 June. In 2015, he played the role of Peter the Milkman in the Sky One sitcom After Hours. In February 2017, it was announced that he would play the lead role in the BBC crime drama Death in Paradise, taking the role of DI Jack Mooney following Kris Marshall's departure. He announced his intention to leave the series in early 2020 and was replaced by Ralf Little. Starting in 2024, he has reprised the role in a spin-off series, Return to Paradise. On 25 November 2021, it was announced that O'Hanlon would participate in series 13 of Taskmaster. He found his experience on the show "liberating" and "probably the best fun I ever had doing a job. He finished in 4th place ahead of Judi Love. In 2023, he played Uncle Jack in the National Theatre's production of Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel, alongside Siobhan McSweeney and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor. In January 2024, he presented his first Irish language show, Inis na nIontas, on TG4, exploring the islands around the coast of Ireland. In 2025, he starred in the video for the single Invisible Thread by The Divine Comedy.

O'Hanlon met his wife Melanie as a teenager. They have a son who lives in Houston, Texas, and two daughters. O'Hanlon is a supporter of Leeds United and is a club tennis player.

O'Hanlon is a Catholic. Since childhood, he has distanced himself from his father's right-wing political views. He is critical of the Trump administration, and a supporter of Palestine in the Gaza war. In response to Father Ted writer Graham Linehan's anti-transgender views, O'Hanlon stated that he is "baffled" by Linehan's stance and "feels sorry" for him. He went on to say, "I don't know why he feels the need to do it. I mean, what transgender issues have to do with Graham I really can't for the life of me figure out," and "like most human beings, you just want everyone to be happy."

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1995–1998 — Father Ted — Father Dougal McGuire — Series 1–3 (25 episodes) • 1996 — Whose Line Is It Anyway? — Himself — Series 8; Episode 7 • 1997 — Top of the Pops — Himself - Guest Presenter — Series 34; Episode 5 • 1999 — Hooves of Fire — Robbie the Reindeer (voice) — Television film • The Comedy Trail: A Shaggy Dog Story — George Sunday / Thermoman — Television Special • 1999–2001 — Big Bad World — Eamon Donaghy — Series 1–3 (16 episodes) • 2000–2006 — My Hero — George Sunday / Thermoman — Series 1–6 (45 episodes) • 2002 — Legend of the Lost Tribe — Robbie the Reindeer (voice) — Television film • 2005 — Blessed — Gary Chandler — Episodes 1–8 • 2006 — Leagues Apart — Himself - Presenter — Episodes 1–6 • 2007 — Close Encounters of the Herd Kind — Robbie the Reindeer (voice) — Television film • Doctor Who — Thomas Brannigan — Series 3; Episode 3: "Gridlock" • 2008 — Who Do You Think You Are? — Himself — Series 1; Episode 4: "Ardal O'Hanlon" • 2009 — Val Falvey, TD — Val Falvey — Episodes 1–6 • Skins — Kieran — Series 3; Episodes 1 & 6: "Everyone" and "Naomi" • 2010 — Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow — Himself — Series 2; Episode 6: "Leeds" • 2013 — London Irish — Chris 'Da' Lynch — Mini-series (4 episodes) • 2014 — Lily's Driftwood Bay — Bull Dozer — Series 1; Episode 24: "Stop! Watch" • 2015 — Celebrity Mastermind — Himself - Contestant — Series 14; Episode 1 • Cucumber — Brian McCoy — Mini-series; Episode 4 • Nelly & Nora — Dad (voice) — 24 episodes • After Hours — Peter Hannigan — Episodes 1–6 • 2016 — Ireland with Ardal O'Hanlon — Himself - Presenter — Episodes 1–3 • 2017–2020 — Death in Paradise — DI Jack Mooney — Series 6–9 (24 episodes) • 2019 — Showbands: How Ireland Learned to Party — Himself - Presenter — Television film • 2019–2022 — Derry Girls — Eamonn — Series 2; Episode 4: "The Curse" and Series 3; Episode 7: "The Agreement" • 2020 — Irish Pickers — Narrator • 2021 — Would I Lie to You? — Himself - Panellist — Series 15; Christmas Special • 2022 — Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything — Conall — Series 1; Episodes 1–5 • Ardal O'Hanlon: Tomb raider — Himself - Presenter — Documentary • Taskmaster — Himself - Contestant — Series 13; Episodes 1–10 • Countdown — Himself — Dictionary Corner. Series 86 & 88 (10 episodes) • 2023 — The Woman in the Wall — Dara — Episodes 2 & 3: "Show Thyself" and "Knock Knock" • 2023–2024 — Extraordinary — Martin (voice) — Series 1 & 2 (8 episodes) • 2024 — Celebrity Catchphrase — Himself - Contestant — Series 9; Episode 9: "Chris Bisson, Ruth Madeley and Ardal O'Hanlon" • 2024–present — Return to Paradise — DI Jack Mooney — Episodes: "R.I.P. Tide", "Oh Mine Papa" & “Apex Predator” • 2024 — Richard Osman's House of Games — Himself - Contestant — Series 8; Episodes 51–55 (Week 11) • 2025 — Sherlock & Daughter — Mr. Halligan — Series regular • 2026 — How to Get to Heaven from Belfast — Seamus — Series regular