Name: Ardal O'Hanlon
Date of Birth: 8 October 1965
He is the third child of six. He has 3 brothers and 2 sisters.
Educated in Black Rock College; Dublin University where he studied communications
His father, Rory O'Hanlon TD is an Irish MP, former minister of the Irish Government, and was Cheann Comhairle, (Speaker) of D?il ?ireann from 2002-2007. He remains a senior Fianna Fail politician.
Ardal supports The Aisling Project which helps homeless Irish people in London, and has also done work for the Irish Cancer Research Campaign.
... Ardal loves football (soccer) and supports Leeds United. His follow up novel will be called "Ragweed" and will be published July 2002.
Mother, Teresa Ward, is a teacher and devout Catholic.
He was a co-founder of the famous comedy cellar club in Dublin Ireland in 1988.
He started on the UK Comedy circuit in 1994
He inspired fellow Irish Comic Dylan Moran to start in stand up comedy when he saw him at the Comedy Cellar in Dublin.
Began his career as a stand-up comedian.
Never had stage experience prior to stand-up comedy.
His parents were somewhat dismayed and bewildered when he told them he wanted to go into showbusiness, particularly comedy, because they had hoped he would follow their other children into medicine and accounting professions. However,nowadays, his parents are fans of his.
Admitted that he nearly quit life as a professional comedian because his audiences, though grateful for them, only came to his stand-up shows to meet him as his dopey priest persona Father Dougal. Ardal was doing stand-up comedy before "Father Ted" (1995) came along and wanted to be accepted as a stand-up comedian in his own right. He also admitted he gets slightly frustrated when people want him to say Father Dougal lines and sing "My Lovely Horse", after he spent years of hard work trying to come up with good material for his stand-up shows.
Resigned from "My Hero" (2000) because he felt 5 series was far enough for him to go with it and wanted to be free to do different things.
Proposed to wife Melanie, his childhood sweetheart, just before Ireland played in a World Cup match.
Previous jobs prior to becoming a full-time actor include hotel porter, pig farmer, employment in a Norfolk pea-canning factory, shop sandwich-maker, and a check-in clerk for Aer Lingus airlines.
Daughters: Emily and Rebecca. Son: Redmond.
Spent six months in a seminary studying the young priests in action as research for the "Father Ted" (1995) role Father Dougal McGuire. Said, "About 90% of the priests in the seminary were a bit like Dougal."
His lycra Thermoman costume for "My Hero" (2000) took him about ten minutes to get in and out of it, making him quite sore around the arms and everywhere throughout his body. The costume especially caused complications on recording nights because he had to be in and out of it about 20 times a night. He was also uncomfortable wearing the thong underwear. Wearing the visor blinded his sight, except for seeing a few dark shapes. This became very difficult for him to act and play off other actors because he needed to see their faces and their reactions. Delivering funny lines was harder than usual because much of that is done with facial expressions, which couldn't be done with a visor on.
His older brother is Rory O'Hanlon II.
Met his wife when they were teenagers.
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