Roisin Gallagher

Gallagher is from Andersonstown,^[1] a suburb of West Belfast, Northern Ireland, and was born to father Daniel (died 2017) from County Tyrone and mother Pat.^[2] She was raised Catholic and has three older sisters and a younger brother.^[3]

Gallagher attended St Genevieve's High School. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).^[4] Gallagher lived in London after graduating from drama school but returned to Belfast as "It just wasn't my time. The work wasn't coming [yet]".^[5]

Gallagher made her television debut as Alicia Hodge in two 2009 episodes of the BBC One medical soap opera Doctors. Her early stage work includes The Bloody Chamber and The Wicked Lady in England, and Be My Baby and Sleep Eat Party in Belfast. She starred as the titular character in The Haunting of Helena Blunden at the Waterfront Hall. This was followed by Dockers and White Star of the North at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. She would return to the Lyric for Weddins, Weeins and Wakes, Demented, Pentecost, Stitched Up, Little Red Riding Hood, Love or Money, Smiley, and Bah, Humbug!.

In 2012, Gallagher played Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. The following year, she made her feature film debut in actor Paul Kennedy's 2013 directorial debut Made in Belfast. She played DC Emer Taylor in the BBC Two crime drama The Fall. At the Belfast Festival at Queen's, she appeared in Belfast by Moonlight and debuted the play The Holy Holy Bus, which she would return to. Her other stage work includes Playhouse Creatures in Lisburn.

Gallagher wrote her first play Natural Disaster to process her grief over losing her father in 2017. After starring in Abigail's Party at the MAC,^[6] Gallagher premiered her play there.^[7] She also returned to A Midsummer Night's Dream, this time playing Hermia at Queen's Hall in Newtownards, went on tour with Is That Too Hot?, and appeared in The Real Housewives of Norn Iron at the Grand Opera House. The following year, Gallagher returned to film in Nowhere Special.

In 2021, it was announced Gallagher would star in her first lead television role as Shiv Sheridan in the BritBox and RTÉ comedy-drama The Dry, which premiered in 2022.^[8] She also appeared in the horror film Mandrake and the television film St Mungo's. She also appears opposite Johnny Flynn in the Sky Atlantic series The Lovers.^[9]

Gallagher is married. The couple met in 2012 while Gallagher was in Edinburgh for A Midsummer Night's Dream.^[10] They have two sons.^[11] Regarding religion, Gallagher considers herself spiritual.^[3]