Aisling O’Neill, the actress who has played Carol Foley in Fair City for 25 years, talks to Janice Butler about how her famous father inspired her to be an actor, being completely different to the character and being happy with getting older.
Fair City star Aisling O’Neill is a personification of summer when I arrive at the studio where she’s doing our cover shoot. With sun-kissed blonde hair and a relaxed pink jumper teamed with jeans and a pair of very on trend Birkenstocks, she’s a million miles from Carol Foley, the character she’s played for an astonishing 25 years.
She not only looks completely different to tough nut Carol, but her personality is much softer, quieter and as she says herself, "more of an introvert. I would be a very different person to Carol, I’m much quieter," she laughs. "I’ve enjoyed getting glammed up for this shoot", she remarks. "I don’t do it very often."
Staying on the theme of sunshine, Aisling has been living in Gorey in the sunny southeast for 20 years "on and off", with her son Christopher (16) who she describes as an "easy kid". Originally from Dalkey in south Dublin, she says there’s an attraction to living by the sea and she’s been sea swimming long before dry robe-clad influencers started telling us how good it makes them feel.
"I’ve always swam in the sea and my mother, Eleanor, did it when I was growing up. I didn’t do it every day or anything like that, but the sea has always been a part of my life. My mother would have swam in Sandycove a lot. She did it all year round and I used go with her. Then when I was growing up, my friends and I would go down to the Vico. I’m very attached to the sea."
When the character of Carol first arrived in the fictional suburb of Carrigstown 25 years ago, she was looking for her son Lorcan. Since then, she’s been an integral part of the show, with stories spanning everything from domestic abuse to parenting issues, the loss of her son and the loss of her partner, all while having a generally tumultuous love life.
"When you’ve a main story line, they’re heavy weeks," she says of the show’s rhythm. "I’ve been very lucky over the years with my storylines. I’ve had a lot of intense ones and I really appreciate getting them. I put my all into them. I also enjoy when I’m in the background; you couldn’t be in a main storyline all the time," she laughs.
Twenty-five years might seem a long time to play a character, but Aisling explains that she has grown with Carol and it’s been a rewarding experience to see that evolution on screen. "I know her so well and she’s been so interesting to play – she's come so far. She was such a troubled, volatile young woman at the start and eventually it was uncovered that she’s had a horrific past. I loved the way the writers did that; they didn’t unveil what she had gone through as a child all at once. They peeled it off like the layers of an onion and every few years we’d learn something new about her," she says.
"She’s mellowed with age, like all of us. She’s grown and matured and become more humble as she’s got to know herself better," Aisling adds.
Fans of the show will know that Carol is involved in a few key storylines at the moment, from dealing with her teenage son, Jack, to helping Anna after a racist attack, and just now, there’s sparks flying between Carol and Liam. Is another dramatic love story on the cards?
"They had a relationship during Covid. There was a spark there and they had a frisson. Then he arrives back in town and she’s pretending to herself that she doesn’t have any attraction to him, but she does. Then he drops the bomb that he has someone else in his life over in England. She figures there’s no point in pursuing it, but there’s still a bubbling attraction between them. We have to wait and see if it develops into something bigger," she says, not giving much away.
"I like the fact that the character of Carol is a real alley cat. She’s well able to go it alone, which is great to play as an actress. She doesn’t need a man to prop her up; she can have her stories with men, but a lot of Carol’s main stories have been about herself and her own development as a woman and a person. Of course, I would like to see her have a relationship at some point, but I appreciate that the character is very much a lone wolf and it takes a very strong man to be with her," Aisling adds.
Soap actors are experts at not giving away future storylines. There’s absolutely no budging Aisling on what’s to come for Carol. All she will say is that Carol has something meaty coming up that she’s excited for people to see.
"I’ve started a storyline and of course, I can’t give anything away, but I’m very excited about it. It’s very interesting to play but this is a completely new chapter for Carol and I’m finding that extremely interesting as an actress. It’s something I’ve given a lot of thought to because I want to do it right," she reveals.
While a large chunk of Aisling’s career has been with Fair City, her CV is also sprinkled with critically acclaimed theatre work and other TV projects, most recently, the Magdalen laundry drama, The Woman in the Wall. She says Fair City has given her a stability over the years that’s hard to find in the industry, especially when she had her son Christopher. "As an actor it gave me more security than a lot of others have, because there was some sort of regularity to it. But at the end of the day, it’s an actor's life. You know what you’re signing up to and there’s no guarantees."
She was recently the recipient of the Best Actress award at the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival for her role in the short film, Whistling Past the Grave. She’s humbled about the recognition: "It’s just part of the job. I, just take it as it comes and appreciate that people are watching and liking what I do."
Aisling says she remembers being bitten by the acting bug from a young age. No surprise, given that her dad was Chris O’Neill, a successful stage, film and TV actor (he played Michael Riordan in rural drama The Riordans in the 1960s and ’70s).
"I have memories of being on a chest of drawers in the hall, performing or looking for attention. But I was actually quite an introverted little girl. I wasn’t one of those showbiz kids, I was quiet," she recalls. "But we used to do plays in a neighbour’s garage and I’d get really into it. I loved it. So, I think there was a part of me that knew I liked acting, liked going into a different world. I had a big imagination."
She says her acting training came from her father, learning on the go and performing on stage with him in various parts of the world. "I think my father was very happy that I chose that route.
"I used do plays with my father – I did Waiting for Godot when I was only 11, in the Focus Theatre with Mannix Flynn. Then when I was 19, I was doing Peg O My Heart in New York, that my father put me in and in Lovers by Brian Friel. I did that with him too in Buffalo, New York and New York City. I have amazing memories with him. He trained me as I went along, just by getting me up and doing it," she recalls of her father, who passed away in 1997.
Does she think her son Chris will continue the family trade?
"When he was younger, I thought he might be interested, but at the moment, no. It doesn’t seem to be the direction he’s heading in," she answers.
It was reported last year that she had given up working in theatre but she’s quick to dispel that, explaining that she’s open to returning to the stage if the job is right. "I said that at the time because Chris was younger and you can’t be doing everything, being a mum and working. But of course, I’ll do theatre and go back to it when the job is right, especially now he’s getting older. If everything falls into place with Fair City and other work, I’m always open to theatre."
Has she any acting itches she’d love to scratch? "I love comedy, which people might not believe since I’ve played a lot of tragedy, so I’d love to do more comedy in the future. I get a buzz from it and it makes me happy," she laughs.
There’s a sense from Aisling that she’s content; happy with her life, her Fair City work: maybe living by the sea helps her to have a sunny disposition, but she reckons it comes with age. "I’m in a very good place, I really am. It’s nice getting older."
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