27 Facts About Ryan O'Shaughnessy

Ryan O'Shaughnessy was born on 27 September 1992 and is an Irish singer and former actor from Loughshinny, Skerries, Dublin.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy portrayed Mark Halpin in the popular TV series Fair City for nine years.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Together" finishing 16th.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy has an elder brother named Graham and sister named Apryl.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy studied at Dublin Institute of Technology, undertaking a music course as part of BIMM in Dublin, Ireland.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy joined the Billie Barry Stage School when he was 4, and believes this is where he learnt his craft.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy plays guitar, piano and saxophone while producing and writing for various artists.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy played the role of Mark Halpin, the young son of Marty Halpin and Tess Halpin in the long-running Irish soap series Fair City.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy was introduced into the series at age 9 as a child actor portraying Mark.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy had two siblings in the series, brother Damien played by Maclean Burke and sister Laura Halpin played by Liana O'Cleirigh.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy continued to act as Mark Halpin in Fair City for nine years from 2001 to 2010, when he was retired at age 18.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy was replaced in the series by the actor Cal Kenealy who continued as Mark Halpin, as O'Shaughnessy said he needed to quit preferring to continue with a musical career after nine years of appearing in the series.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy entered The Voice of Ireland in series 1 broadcast on RTE One from January to April 2012.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy received yeses from all three judges, Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams.

At that time, Ryan O'Shaughnessy was contracted to record company Universal Records.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy performed in the last semi-final where he performed another original song entitled "First Kiss".

Ryan O'Shaughnessy received the most votes and was automatically sent through to the final.

On 19 May 2012, it was announced Ryan O'Shaughnessy had signed a record deal with Sony Music.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy then began working on his debut album, which was projected for release in July 2016.

In July 2013, it was announced that Ryan O'Shaughnessy would be one of the artists taking part in the new Irish songwriting competition The Hit, going against his former The Voice coach Brian Kennedy.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy won the chart battle with the single charting at No 3 in the Irish Singles Chart beating Kennedy's song "Try" which charted at No 15.

On 31 January 2018, Ryan O'Shaughnessy was announced as the Irish representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Together".

Ryan O'Shaughnessy's entry was co-written by O'Shaughnessy with Mark Caplice and Laura Elizabeth Hughes.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy's song was censored due to two male dancers dancing together on-stage.

In October 2018, Ryan O'Shaughnessy appeared in the music video for Ireland's Junior Eurovision entry "IOU", performed by Taylor Hynes.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy portrayed the father character in the video while former Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh portrayed the mother character.

RTE announced on 18 May 2021 that Ryan O'Shaughnessy would be the Irish spokesperson for the final of that year's contest, giving the results of the Irish jury vote.