Carrie Crowley

Carrie Crowley (born 23 May 1964 in Waterford) is an Irish actress, Gaeilgeoir and former radio and television presenter. She has been described both as a "gay icon" and "RTÉ's Miriam O'Callaghan for the late 1990s".^[1][2] She appeared on television shows such as The Morbegs and Echo Island for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). She also had her own chat show, Limelight, and co-presented Eurovision Song Contest 1997 with Ronan Keating. More recently she has had acting roles in shows such as The Clinic, School Run and An Crisis. She currently appears as the character Jackie Ferguson in the RTÉ soap opera Fair City.

Early life

Crowley was born and raised in Waterford, Ireland. Her mother Nodhlaig (originally from The Rosses, County Donegal) was a teacher and her father Con (originally from Cork) was a garda, while she also has one sister, Bríd.^[1] She first went on stage in a local production of Oliver!.

Broadcasting career

Before she began a career in television, Crowley was a primary school teacher. She first started in RTÉ on the children's TV show The Morbegs starring as the character Liodain.

Crowley began her broadcasting career on local radio in her home city of Waterford on WLR FM and presented several different shows between 1991 and 1996 before moving to RTÉ.^[3] She started out in children's programming, co-presenting the Irish language versions of Echo Island with comedian Dara Ó Briain, and starring in the pre-school series The Morbegs as the character Liodain.

In 1997, Crowley was offered the role as presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 (hosted by RTÉ) with Ronan Keating. She appeared in the Eurovision Song Contest again in 1998 before it began, speaking to Terry Wogan and wishing him and Ulrika Jonsson well before they started presenting the show.^[3]

After presenting the Eurovision, Crowley became one of the biggest stars on RTÉ in the 1990s. According to her this was a major problem at the time, she was working on several shows on RTÉ. She presented Potluck Mondays to Fridays at 5:30, on a Thursday night she had her own health show called Pulse and on Sundays she had her own prime-time chat show called Limelight.^[3] Limelight ran for two seasons.^[2] A female industry commentator later said: “Carrie was seen as the kind of safe bet that RTÉ management always go for a nice girl up from the country who wouldn't offend anyone. They're still doing it to their female presenters, making them look mumsy and safe, sending them out in awful concoctions.”^[2]

She later left television presenting to return to radio presenting, co-presenting Fandango with Ray D'Arcy on RTÉ Radio 1. She appeared on RTÉ Radio 1 every Sunday night.

Crowley has since distanced herself from her RTÉ career, describing herself as an "accidental tourist" at the station.^[2]

Acting career

In 2008 she appeared in the TG4 drama The Running Mate and TV3's School Run in 2009. She appeared in The Clinic also in 2009. She has starred in Irish language short films including An Gaeilgeoir Nocht and has appeared in an episode of the Irish language television series An Crisis. She is currently working on a new drama series for TG4 called Anseo. In 2010 she teamed up with actors, Sorcha Fox, Jamie Carswell, writer/director Dónal O'Kelly and Kíla to work on a play called The Adventures of the Wet Senor. In October 2014 she appeared as a cast member in Fair City.^[4]

See also

• List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters

References

• Carrie Crowley went from small town primary school teacher to touring the country as a singer before cutting her teeth in local radio and becoming RTE's golden girl in the Nineties

Preceded by Morten Harket & Ingvild Bryn	Eurovision Song Contest presenter (with Ronan Keating) 1997	Succeeded by Terry Wogan & Ulrika Jonsson