Sharon Horgan

Sharon Lorencia Horgan is an Irish actress, writer, director, producer, and comedian. She gained widespread recognition for co-creating and starring in television comedy series such as Pulling, Catastrophe, and Bad Sisters. In addition to her starring roles, she has written and created several other high-profile projects, including Divorce, Motherland, and Shining Vale.

Horgan was born on 13 July 1970 in Hackney, London, to an Irish mother and a father from New Zealand who was of Irish descent. When she was four years old, her family relocated to Bellewstown, County Meath, Ireland, to run a turkey farm. Raised alongside four siblings, she attended the Sacred Heart convent school in Drogheda. Her childhood experiences on the family farm later served as material for her semi-autobiographical creative work.

Before breaking into comedy, Horgan worked various odd jobs to support herself. At age 27, she enrolled at Brunel University in west London to study English and American Studies, graduating in 2000. Around that time, she met writer Dennis Kelly while working in youth theatre. The duo began collaborating on sketch comedy material sent to the BBC, winning the BBC New Comedy Award for Sketch Writing and Performance in 2001. Her early screen work included appearances in sketch shows before securing her first named television acting role in Absolute Power in 2003.

Horgan's major career breakthrough arrived with the comedy Pulling, which she co-wrote with Kelly and starred in from 2006 to 2009. She subsequently achieved critical acclaim co-creating, co-writing, and starring alongside Rob Delaney in Catastrophe. Her writing work expanded internationally when she created the HBO series Divorce starring Sarah Jessica Parker, co-created the BBC series Motherland, and developed the dark comedy-drama Bad Sisters, as well as the horror-comedy series Shining Vale.

Throughout her career, Horgan has appeared in numerous feature films, including Imagine Me & You, Death of a Superhero, Man Up, Game Night, Military Wives, Dating Amber, Together, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. She has also voiced characters in animated shows such as Adventure Time, BoJack Horseman, Disenchantment, and Bob's Burgers. In 2014, she co-founded the independent production company Merman alongside Clelia Mountford, producing series such as This Way Up and Frayed, as well as the feature film Herself.

Horgan's work has earned substantial industry recognition. She won a British Comedy Award for Best TV Actress for Pulling in 2008 and received a BAFTA TV Award in 2016 for co-writing Catastrophe. Her role in Dating Amber earned her an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Supporting Actress. For Bad Sisters, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Series in 2023 and received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.