Nicola Coughlan

Nicola Mary Coughlan is an Irish actress born on 9 January 1987 in Galway, Ireland. She is best known for her television roles as Clare Devlin in the Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls and Penelope Featherington in the Netflix period drama Bridgerton. She has also achieved critical recognition for her leading role as Maggie Donovan in the Channel 4 comedy series Big Mood.

Coughlan grew up in Oranmore, Ireland, as the youngest of four siblings. Her father served in the Irish Army, and her mother was a stay-at-home parent. At five years old, she decided to become an actress after watching her sister perform in a school play. She attended Scoil Mhuire Primary School and Calasanctius College before earning a degree in English and Classical Civilisation from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She subsequently trained in England at the Oxford School of Drama and the Birmingham School of Acting.

Coughlan began her acting career with minor screen appearances, including an uncredited role in the 1997 film My Brother's War and a role in the 2004 short film The Phantom Cnut. Over the following years, she performed voice roles in animated series and films such as The Fairytales, Summer of the Flying Saucer, and Thor: Legend of the Magical Hammer. Following drama school, financial difficulties forced her to return home to Ireland multiple times, during which she worked part-time at an optician. In 2016, she secured the main role of Jess in the stage production Jess and Joe Forever at London's The Old Vic and The Orange Tree Theatre.

In 2018, Coughlan achieved her breakthrough starring as Clare Devlin in Derry Girls, a sitcom set in Northern Ireland during the 1990s that gained widespread international popularity on Netflix. That same year, she played Hannah Dalton in the period drama Harlots, made her West End debut in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and was named one of the Rising Stars of 2018 by the Evening Standard.

Coughlan gained further international recognition after joining Netflix's Bridgerton as Penelope Featherington in 2020. Her lead role in the show's third season earned her nominations at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the IFTA Film & Drama Awards, and the Astra Awards. In 2024, she starred as Maggie Donovan in Big Mood, receiving a British Academy Television Award nomination and a TV Choice Award. Her other acting credits include roles in Barbie, Seize Them!, the Doctor Who Christmas special "Joy to the World", and her Royal National Theatre debut in The Playboy of the Western World.

Beyond acting in screen and stage productions, Coughlan co-created and starred in the scripted comedy podcast Whistle Through the Shamrocks, presented History's Youngest Heroes on BBC Radio 4, hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live UK, and narrated several audiobooks. She has also starred in commercial campaigns for brands such as Pat McGrath Labs, Skims, Kate Spade New York, Neutrogena, Olaplex, and Kerrygold.

Coughlan is active in charitable work and political advocacy. As an ambassador for LauraLynn Ireland's Children's Hospice, she has raised funds by auctioning personal wardrobe items from her show sets. She has also advocated for abortion decriminalisation in Northern Ireland, released a charity single supporting LGBTQ+ organisations, raised funds for Urgent Gaza Relief, and signed the Artists for Palestine ceasefire letter.