18 Facts About Aisling Bea

Aisling Bea created, wrote and starred in the comedy series This Way Up on Channel 4.

Aisling Bea appears regularly on light entertainment comedy panel shows such as QI and 8 Out of 10 Cats.

Aisling Bea's father, Brian, was a horse veterinarian who died by suicide when Bea was three years old; she was not told how he had died until she was 13.

Aisling Bea adopted the stage surname "Bea" as a tribute to her father, taking it from a short form of his first name.

Aisling Bea's family was "obsessed" with horses and race meetings.

Aisling Bea's great-aunt was playwright Siobhan Ni Shuilleabhain, and musician Liam O'Flynn was a family friend.

Aisling Bea was educated at Presentation Secondary School, Kildare Town, a Catholic school, and studied French and philosophy at Trinity College Dublin.

Aisling Bea then studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Aisling Bea won the 2014 British Comedy Award for Best Female TV Comic and returned to Edinburgh in 2015 with the live show Plan Aisling Bea.

Aisling Bea has continued to act in television sitcoms including Trollied, The Delivery Man, and Amy Huberman's Irish television series Finding Joy.

Aisling Bea appeared in the ITV drama series Quiz.

Aisling Bea appeared as Sarah in the 2022 Doctor Who New Year's special "Eve of the Daleks".

In June 2024, Aisling Bea announced that she was expecting her first child, with her partner Jack Freeman.

Aisling Bea was a vocal supporter of the Repeal the 8th campaign in the successful 2018 Irish referendum to introduce legal abortion in the Republic of Ireland; she contributed an essay to Una Mullally's Repeal the 8th a month before the vote.

Aisling Bea previously campaigned for same-sex marriage legislation in the successful 2015 Irish referendum.

Aisling Bea has frequently shared posts about the humanitarian situation in Palestine.

In 2024, Aisling Bea participated in the Cinema for Gaza auction, and was a signatory calling for the end of arms sales to Israel.

Since 2016, Aisling Bea has been a team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats, having previously been a guest on the show in 2013 and 2014.