Inside Amandaland star Siobhan McSweeney’s private life – from boyfriend to family tragedy

Siobhan McSweeney is best known for playing the witty, stoney-faced Sister Michael in Derry Girls, a role that earned her a Bafta and a place in the hearts of comedy lovers for all eternity. But she’s now back on screens as a different character, joining the hotly anticipated Motherland spinoff Amandaland. She graces our screens with her talents and humour alongside Dame Joanna Lumley, Lucy Punch, and Philippa Dunne.

Away from the small screen, the Irish actress, 45, is famously private when it comes to her personal life. Let’s take a look at what we do know about the woman behind Our Lady Immaculate College’s stoic headmistress…. Born in County Cork, Siobhan McSweeney moved to London in 2001, where she attended drama school. From there, she bagged her first role as Julia in the film The Wind That Shakes the Barley in 2006.

Her other roles include 2015’s Mr. Holmes, in which she played Una Gilbert, and Ruth Cheetham in No Offence. She’s also appeared in As You Like It at National Theatre Live and had a part in 2017’s Alice Through the Looking Glass. Of course, her breakthrough came in 2018 when she first played Sister Michael in Lisa McGee’s Derry Girls, a role she fulfilled until 2022 when the series ended. Being Sister Michael catapulted Siobhan to national stardom, as she became a household name and her lines instantly quotable, acting alongside the likes of Nicola Coughlan, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, and, of course, Peter Campion as the priest she loved to hate.

Besides Derry Girls, the award-winning actress has appeared in the TV show Porters and the short film The Widow. She’s also become known for her appearances on various other daytime and evening TV shows, from The Great British Bake Off and Sunday Brunch to The Great Pottery Throw Down. In early 2025, it was announced that Siobhan would host the Irish version of The Traitors on RTE One. The comical star likes to keep her private life exactly that—private.

However, it was ‘confirmed’ in 2023 that she was dating British talent agent Kevin Joseph Brady. While neither party has spoken about the nature of their relationship, they have often posed for photos with one another at events. The much-loved TV star has been dealt her fair share of tragedy and grief, despite being someone who brings laughs to us all with her characters. Her mum, Mary, died when Siobhan was rather young, shortly after she graduated in 2005.

Then her father, Traolach, died after a long illness while Siobhan was filming season 2 of Derry Girls in 2018. Speaking about losing her dad, she previously told Kathy Burke’s podcast, Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake: ‘I was manic for three months after he died. After the manic stopped, I swear to God, Kathy, this outpouring of ideas and of plots and plans. ‘And I started writing, and I had an idea for this, and I had an idea for that, and I want to go for this. It was like a dam had burst. And I think that the best gift my parents gave me was dying.’.

Losing her parents isn’t the only hardship Siobhan has encountered. In 2019, her flat caught fire, and she was left homeless. Caused by a block adapter, the blaze quickly spread—thankfully, Siobhan wasn’t home at the time. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. ‘My flat went on fire, [it was] an electrical fire; one of those cubed adapters fell out of its socket, like by a millimetre and it caused an electrical fire,’ she told Ireland AM.

‘I lost everything. By the time lockdown started, I was technically homeless. I was living in friends’ spare rooms and sofas and things like that, so I entered lockdown in quite an anxious state.’. In Amandaland, Siobhan plays Della Fry. Della is the head chef at Shin, a restaurant Amanda is impressed by. Her character doesn’t exactly have much love for Amanda to begin with, suggesting she’ll be the one bringing drama and tension to the series.

I finally got on the property ladder and it was the biggest mistake of my life. I bought a house with my partner — but when we broke up, he refused to sell. This £575,000 house has a ‘genius’ feature in the most unexpected place. What I Own: I quit London at 48 and bought my first home in Sussex for £325,000. Londoners are flocking to this ‘bustling’ neighbourhood 10 miles from the centre. Watch Amandaland on BBC and BBC iPlayer.