Nicola Coughlan Trivia | 30 facts about the actress

Nicola Coughlan is an Irish actress known for her roles as Clare Devlin in Derry Girls, and Penelope Featherington in Netflix period drama Bridgerton.

Let’s find out more about the actress!

1. Her middle name is Mary Coughlan.
2. She was born on 9 January 1987.
3. She’s a Capricorn.
4. She is an Irish actress known for her roles as Clare Devlin in Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls (2018–2022) and Penelope Featherington in Netflix period drama Bridgerton (2020–present).
5. Nicola hails from Galway, in the west of Ireland where she has been acting since childhood. She trained at both The Oxford School of Drama and Birmingham School of Acting.
6. She made her on screen debut in the controversial short The Phantom Cnut directed by Tom Collins; director of the Oscar nominated Kings. As a teenager she appeared in animated series such as The Fairytaler, and the title role in France 3’s The Little Vampire.
7. In 2008 she was awarded the ‘Outstanding Individual Performance Award’ in ‘Acting Up’ the National Improvisation Competition; judges were former head of the Irish Film Board Leila Doolin and eminent actor/director Alan Stanford.
8. At Drama School she worked with Dana Andersen of The Second City and was directed by the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Vik Sivalingam and Gemma Fairlie.
9. In Mill on the Floss at Birmingham Hippodrome, one reviewer commented: “Coughlan has the rare advantage of being able to play a vast age span of character…largely due to her small stature and dainty features (she) was able to play Maggie at aged nine years so convincingly well”
10. The Stage Newspaper nominated her as ‘One to Watch’ following her graduation showcase, Susan Elkin commented; “Coughlan is very small in stature but uses her diminutiveness to striking effect. Her stage presence shone through in the monologue using her native Irish accent.”
11. Nicola then went on to appear in BBC’s Doctors (2011).
12. Following this Nicola played Kirsty in Luke Barnes’ (Game of Thrones) Chapel Street directed by Bryony Shanahan, to rave reviews:
13. She has appeared in rehearsed readings for The National Theatre (New Playwright’s Workshop 2011), Duck directed by Stella Feehily and Max Stafford-Clark for Out of Joint at The St James’ Theatre. and Nadya by Chris Jury at The Park Theatre, which featured Phyllis Logan, Stephen Thompkinson, Michelle Terry, Shaun Prendergast & Dominic Mafham.
14. Most recently Nicola was chosen from 1,150 hopefuls to be one of seven emerging actors featured in the ‘Old Vic New Voices Festival’ last Summer at The Old Vic. She appeared as Jess in the two-hander Jess and Joe Forever by Zoe Cooper which received huge acclaim and a standing ovation on its first performance.
15. Although her character Clare in Derry Girls is at least 15 years old, she was already 30 at the time of filming the first season.
16. Named as “One to Watch” by The Stage newspaper upon graduating from Drama School.
17. Trained at Birmingham School of Acting and The Oxford School of Drama.
18. Nicola was nominated for ‘Best Female’ in The Off West End Awards, 2016 , for her role in ‘Jess and Joe Forever’.
19. Nicola has appeared in the West End in ”Jess and Joe Forever” by Zoe Cooper at The Old Vic, “Duck” by Stella Feehily for Out of Joint, and also the UK tour of “Chapel Street” by Luke Barnes.
20. She once revealed that she was broke during most of her 20’s. Because of that, she moved to Galway where she worked at an optician clinic.
21. In 2018, while Coughlan was appearing on stage in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at London’s Donmar Warehouse, she wrote a piece for the Guardian calling out unfair scrutiny of women’s bodies in theatre criticism. In the following year, she made headlines again for rebutting the Daily Mirror‘s comment on her 2019 British Academy Television Awards look: “Not the most flattering”. She tweeted “I mean incorrect @DailyMirror I look smokin’, sorry bout it”.
22. Following the 2021 Golden Globe Awards, she retorted against other comments on her weight on Twitter.
23. In February 2019, 28 women with their suitcases led by Coughlan crossed London’s Westminster Bridge to demand the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland. They represented the estimated number of women a week who had to travel to England to access abortion.
24. On 26 June 2020, Coughlan and her fellow Derry Girls co-stars performed a sketch with Saoirse Ronan for the RTÉ fundraising special RTÉ Does Comic Relief.
25. The night’s proceeds went to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
26. In July 2020, she auctioned off an Alex Perry dress and raised €5,000 towards the Laura Lynn Hospice, an Irish children’s hospice which provides specialist palliative and supportive care services.
27. On 12 April 2022 upon the release of the third series of Derry Girls, Coughlan protested the attempted privatisation of Channel 4, posting a picture of herself holding up a middle finger on Instagram and linking to a change.org petition.
28. In response to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Coughlan was one of over two thousand to sign an Artists for Palestine letter calling for a ceasefire and accusing western governments of “not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them.
29. Coughlan portrayed Queen Victoria in the 2023 Dodger Christmas special on BBC One and CBBS.
30. She has an upcoming lead role in the Channel 4 sitcom Big Mood opposite Lydia West.