Orla Brady

Real world article
(written from a production point of view)

Orla Brady (born 28 March 1961; age 64) is an Irish actress who played Laris and Tallinn in Star Trek: Picard.

She appeared as a guest actress in the first three episodes of Picard's first season, was promoted to series regular for the second season, and then returned as a guest actress in the first episode of the third season.

Life and career

Brady was born in Dublin and lived in Bray, County Wicklow until age 7. She studied at the Loreto Convent Catholic girls' school in Wicklow and an Ursuline Convent in Dublin. At age 25, she moved to Paris, France for a year and studied at Philippe Gaulier's acting school and Marcel Marceau's school of mime arts.

Moving back to Ireland, she became a prolific stage actress, first at the Balloonatics Theatre Company, appearing in touring productions of Hamlet and Finnegan's Wake, then at the Dublin's Gate Theatre, where she played Adele in House of Bernarda Alba and Natasha in Three Sisters. She debuted on the English stage in the Royal National Theatre's production of Blinded by the Sun and since developed a career in both Irish and British theatre.

Her first on screen appearances were guest spots on British series So You Think You've Got Troubles, Minder, The Bill, Absolutely Fabulous, and The Rector's Wife in the early 1990s. She made her feature film debut in Words Upon the Window Pane (1994).

In 1995-96, she starred in Out of the Blue as Detective Rebecca "Becky" Bennett. In 1997-98, she co-starred in the comedy series Noah's Ark, and played the female lead in Wuthering Heights (1998). She also had a co-starring role in the 1999 Hallmark Channel fantasy miniseries The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns where she acted alongside Colm Meaney and Whoopi Goldberg.

She moved to Los Angeles in 2001, where she met English photographer Nick Brandt, whom she married in December 2002. The same year, she had a series regular role as Naoise O'Neill in the second season of Family Law, in which Tina Lifford played a recurring part. In 2005, she co-starred in Revelations, alongside John Rhys-Davies and Fionnula Flanagan.

Her other television credits include guest appearances in episodes of Hustle (2004), Nip/Tuck (2004), and Empire (2005, with James Frain, directed by Kim Manners). In 2007-08, she played the recurring role of Claire Stark in four episodes of Shark, which co-starred Jeri Ryan. Robert Curtis Brown, Jonathan Banks, and John Cothran, Jr. appeared in guest roles in episodes with Brady.

She starred in the BBC's Mistresses (2008-10), and co-starred in the BBC miniseries The Deep (2010) and the ITV supernatural series Eternal Law (2012). Her other British television credits include a guest spot in an episode of Wallander (2008), the role of Tasha Lem in "The Time of the Doctor", the 2013 Christmas special episode of Doctor Who (with Sonita Henry), and that of Countess Vera Rossakoff in The Labours of Hercules (2013), an Agatha Christie's Poirot TV movie. She is one of several actors to have appeared in both the Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises.

From 2010 to 2012, Brady had a recurring role on J.J. Abrams' Fringe as Elizabeth Bishop, the wife of main character Walter Bishop, played by John Noble. The series was created by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, starring Joshua Jackson and also featured Leonard Nimoy in a recurring guest role. Akiva Goldsman and David Straiton both directed an episode Brady guest-starred in.

Brady later starred the BBC's Banished (2015) and had a recurring role in NBC's American Odyssey (2015). Between 2015 and 2019, she starred in Into the Badlands, and in 2019, had a recurring guest role in the 9th season of American Horror Story (with Steven Culp).

In 2020, Brady starred in the Irish drama series The Souther Westerlies. In 2021, she co-starred in Black Medicine and The Other Me (2022). Also in 2022, she guested in an episode of the BBC's Death in Paradise.

Star Trek appearances

As Laris

As Tallinn

External links

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