Ardal O'Hanlon

Ardal O'Hanlon (born 8th October 1965) is an Irish comedian and actor, best known for his roles in television sitcoms as Father Dougal McGuire in Father Ted and George Sunday in My Hero. He played Thomas Kincade Brannigan on Doctor Who.

Biography

Early life

O'Hanlon was born in 1965 at Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Ireland, the son of Rory O'Hanlon, a well-known Irish politician and doctor, and has five siblings.

O'Hanlon was schooled in Blackrock College in Dublin and graduated, in 1987, from the National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin (now Dublin City University) with a Degree in Communications Studies.

Career

O'Hanlon first found fame as a stand-up comedian, winning the prestigious Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition in 1994. For a period he was the presenter of The Stand Up Show.

He was spotted by Graham Linehan, who was to cast him in Father Ted. In 1997, he appeared (as Father Dougal) in a Channel 4 ident, and during Comic Relief on BBC1. This was followed by the more serious Big Bad World and the award winning short comedy film Flying Saucer Rock'n'Roll.

In 2000, O'Hanlon starred in the comedy series My Hero, in which he played a superhero who was naive to Earth and juggled his world-saving duties with the crises of suburban living. He stayed in the role until early 2005 and was replaced by James Dreyfus for series 6 in 2006.

He also provided the voice of the lead character in two Christmas television cartoon specials of Robbie the Reindeer. He appeared in the 2005 BBC One sitcom Blessed, written by Ben Elton; at the 2005 British Comedy Awards, it was publicly slated by Jonathan Ross, albeit in jest. He later made an appearance in Doctor Who, in April 2007, donned in a cat outfit as a figure in the future.

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. The novel is about a teenage boy called Patrick Scully and his friends in strange jobs and aspirations.

Personal life

He is a massive football fan, and is a proud supporter of the 2006 European champions F.C. Barcelona, as well as English side Leeds United and Scottish champions Celtic FC as well as the Irish national side.