Ardal O'Hanlon is a comedian and actor,
best known for his role as Father Dougal McGuire in
the comedy television series Father Ted. His father
is Rory O'Hanlon, an Irish politician and doctor.
Ardal O'Hanlon was schooled in Blackrock College
in Dublin and graduated from the National Institute
for Higher Education, Dublin (now Dublin City University)
in Communications Studies in 1987. He started out as
a stand-up comedian, and was spotted by Graham Linehan,
who was to cast him in Father Ted.
He has also had his own television comedy series,
My Hero, in which he plays a superhero juggling the
duties of his heroic role with the ordinary day-to-day
crises of life in the suburbs. Prior to that he had
appeared in the more serious series Big Bad World.
He also provided the voice of the lead character in
a Christmas television cartoon special entitled Robbie
the Reindeer - Hooves of Fire.
Beyond the world of television, O'Hanlon is an accomplished
writer, and has written a novel (The Talk of the Town
- known in the United States as Knick Knack Paddy Whack)
which was published in 1998. |