Maria McDermottroe

Maria McDermottroe
Born	1952 or 1953 (age 72–73)[1] Sligo, County Sligo, Ireland[2]
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1971 – present
Partner	John Costigan

Maria McDermottroe is an Irish actress, best known for portraying Molly Ivors in John Huston's The Dead, and Bridey Hannon in Alan Parker's Angela's Ashes.

From 1995 to 2000 McDermottroe portrayed Venetia in the long-running RTÉ drama serial Glenroe. From 2004 to 2009 she portrayed Mrs. Gilhooley in the RTÉ comedy series Killinaskully, earning a nomination for the Golden Nymph Award for Best Actress in a Comedy at the 2009 Monte-Carlo Television Festival.

Her stage career began with Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir at the Gate Theatre in the 1970s. She was the first Irish woman to appear nude on stage in the Irish premiere of Peter Shaffer's play Equus.^[2][3][4]

McDermottroe was born in Sligo town in the 1950s, one of four children (including writer/director Conor)^[2] of Eddie and Nora McDermottroe.^[2][1][5]

McDermottroe's first theatre role was in a production of The Merchant of Venice featuring Micheál Mac Liammóir and Hilton Edwards.^[6]

Her character in Glenroe was introduced in 1995, as, Venetia, the matriarch of the Crosby family. Venetia later divorced and married divorcé Dick Moran.^[7][8]

In Pat Shortt's rural sitcom, Killinaskully, McDermottroe portrayed Mrs. Gilhooley, known for repeatedly not being "in the habit of repeating" herself.^[2][9]

She played crime figure John Gilligan's wife in 2003's Veronica Guerin, a film in which her daughter Gina Costigan portrayed the wife of criminal figure John Traynor.^[2]

In 2010, McDermottroe's performance in an Eska Riada production of Frank McGuinness's one-woman play Baglady in the Focus Theatre, was described by Jesse Weaver of Irish Theatre Magazine as a "measured, taught, and ultimately arresting ... portrait of an identity nearly dissolving itself".^[10]

In 2017, she played Carmel in Isobel Mahon's Boom?.^[11]

Her film credits include John Huston's The Dead,^[12][13] John Erman's The Blackwater Lightship,^[14] and The Winter Lake.^[15]

McDermottroe was named "Best Actress", at the 2023 Milan Gold March Awards, for her role in The Carer.^[16]

McDermottroe married John Costigan, future Executive Director of Dublin's Gaiety Theatre, in 1979,^[1] having first met in 1977.^[17] They have two children including writer Nora Costigan and actress Gina Costigan.^[18][19] They live in Dún Laoghaire.^[20]

• Maria McDermottroe at IMDb