Niamh Cusack is an Irish actress. Born to a family with deep roots in the performing arts, Cusack has been involved as a performer since a young age. She has served with the UK’s two leading theatre companies, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre and has performed in a long line of major stage productions since the mid-1980s.
She has made numerous appearances on television including a long-running role as Dr Kate Rowan in the UK series Heartbeat (1992–1995) which made her a household name and favourite.
She has often worked as a voice actress on the radio, and her film credits include a starring role in In Love with Alma Cogan (2011).
In April 2020, Cusack was scheduled to make her long-awaited début at the Abbey Theatre in Brian Friel’s Faith Healer opposite Aidan Gillen and directed by Joe Dowling. Due to COVID-19, production has been temporarily postponed. She will start as Gertrude in Hamlet by Bristol Old Vic along with her real-life husband Finbar Lynch.
Niamh Cusack Parents: Meet Cyril Cusack and Maureen Cusack
Maureen was married to Irish actor Cyril Cusack and they had five children Sinéad, Sorcha, Niamh, Paul and Pádraig.
Sinéad, Sorcha and Niamh are all actresses and Pádraig is a theatre producer. Her grandsons are actors Max Irons and Calam Lynch, and the politician Richard Boyd Barrett. Her granddaughter is the actress Megan Cusack.
Maureen was a leading actress at Dublin’s Gate Theatre with transfers to London’s West End in the late 1940s, she also was part of the Abbey Theatre Dublin in 1948 as a visiting company member with The Lyric Theatre Company where she appeared in The Viscount of Blarney 1948.
She died on 18 December 1977, in Dublin and is buried in Saint Fintan’s Cemetery, Sutton, County Dublin, Ireland.
Cyril Cusack was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years.
During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland’s finest thespians and was renowned for his interpretations of both classical and contemporary theatre, including Shakespearean roles as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and over 60 productions for the Abbey Theatre, of which he was a lifelong member.
In 2020, Cusack was ranked number 14 on The Irish Times‘ list of Ireland’s greatest film actors. n October 1993, Cusack died at home in Chiswick, Greater London, from MND.