Denise Gough Explained

Birth Date:	28 February 1980
Birth Place:	Wexford, Ireland
Education:	ALRA
Occupation:	Actress
Relatives:	Kelly Gough (sister)

Denise Gough (born 28 February 1980)^[1] is an Irish actress. On television, she is best known for her roles in the BBC Two crime drama Paula (2017), the ITV miniseries Too Close (2021) and the Disney+ series Andor (2022–). Her films include Colette (2018), The Other Lamb (2019), Monday (2020), and Martyrs Lane (2021). She has received a number of accolades, including two Laurence Olivier Awards as well as a nominations for a Tony Award and a British Academy Television Award.

Early life

Born in Wexford and raised in Ennis, County Clare, daughter of an electrician, Gough is the seventh of eleven siblings.^[2] One of her younger sisters is the actress Kelly Gough.^[3] She trained as a soprano before leaving Ireland for London at 15.^[4] She was awarded a grant to study at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) in Wandsworth aged 18, and graduated from ALRA in 2003.

Theatre

In 2012, she was nominated for the Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for her performances in Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms at the Lyric Hammersmith and Nancy Harris Our New Girl at the Bush Theatre.^[5] In January 2014 she was Julia in The Duchess of Malfi, the inaugural production at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London.^[6] At the National Theatre, London, in September 2015 she presented an "electrifying" performance as a recovering substance user in Duncan Macmillan's People, Places and Things, directed by Jeremy Herrin.^[7] She reprised the role when the production transferred to the Wyndham's Theatre in March 2016, and subsequently won the Olivier Award for Best Actress. She returned to the National Theatre in April 2017 playing the role of Harper in Marianne Elliot's revival of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America, for which she won the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Gough then returned to People, Places & Things for its New York transfer. In February 2018, Gough returned to the role of Harper in the Broadway transfer of the National Theatre's production of Angels in America, alongside the majority of the London cast.^[8]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Outlanders	Barmaid
2010	The Kid	Patsy
	Robin Hood	Village Mother
2014	The Quiet Roar	Research Assistant
	Jimmy's Hall	Tess
2018	Juliet, Naked	Gina
	Colette			^[9]
2019	The Kid Who Would Be King	Mary
	The Other Lamb	Sarah
2020	Vores mand i Amerika	Charlotte Kauffmann
	Monday	Chloe
2021	Martyrs Lane	Sarah

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Casualty	Susan Parish	Episode: "Three's a Crowd"
2007	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Christine Faraday	Episode: "Limbo"
2008	The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall	Michelle	Documentary dramatization
2009	The Bill	Liz O'Halloran	Episode: "Lost Soul"
	Waking the Dead	Kathleen	Episodes: "Magdalene: Part I" and "Magdalene: Part II"
2010	Silent Witness	Danielle Boyce	Episodes: "Run: Part I" and "Run: Part II"
2011	Holby City	Mona Cadogan	Episode: "Culture Shock"
2012		Emily Hill	11 episodes
2013	What Remains	Liz Fletcher	4 episodes
	Complicit	Lucy	Television film
2014	Stella	Collette Jensen	8 episodes
2015	The Duchess of Malfi	Julia	Television film
2016	Apple Tree Yard	DS Johns	1 episode
	The Fall	Dr Alison Walden	2 episodes
2017	Guerrilla	Fallon	6 episodes
	Paula	Paula	3 episodes
2021	Too Close	Connie Mortensen	Miniseries, 3 episodes
2022	Under the Banner of Heaven	Dianna Lafferty	Miniseries; Main role
	Andor	Dedra Meero	Main role, 9 episodes	^[10]
2023	Who Is Erin Carter?	Lena	Main role, 6 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Studio	Notes
2013		Catherine		Voice
2015		Yennefer of Vengerberg		Voice
				Voice
2016	Dragon Quest Heroes II			Voice

Stage roles

Year	Title	Character	Theatre
2004	By the Bog of Cats	Caroline Cassidy	Wyndham's Theatre London, England
	The Kindness of Strangers	Cheryl	Liverpool Everyman Liverpool, England
2006	Everything is Illuminated	Brod	Hampstead Theatre London, England
	O Go My Man	Elsa	Royal Court Theatre London, England
2007	Someone Else's Shoes	Mary	Soho Theatre London, England
2009	The Grouch	Celia	West Yorkshire Playhouse Leeds, England
	Six Characters in Search of an Author	Stepdaughter	Chichester Festival Theatre Chichester, England
			Gielgud Theatre London, England
2009	The Birds	Julia	Gate Theatre Dublin, Ireland
2010	The Plough and the Stars	Nora Clitheroe	Abbey Theatre Dublin, Ireland
	Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train	Mary Jane Hanrahan	Trafalgar Studios London, England
2011	The Painter	Jenny Cole	Arcola Theatre London, England
2012	Our New Girl	Annie	Bush Theatre London, England
	Desire Under the Elms	Anna Putnam	Lyric Hammersmith London, England
2014	Adler and Gibb	Louise	Royal Court Theatre London, England	^[11]
	The Duchess of Malfi	Julia	Sam Wanamaker Playhouse London, England
2015	People, Places and Things	Emma	Dorfman Theatre National Theatre London, England
2016			Wyndham's Theatre London, England
2024			Trafalgar Theatre London, England	^[12]
2017
	Angels in America	Harper Pitt	Lyttleton Theatre National Theatre London, England
People, Places and Things	Emma	St. Ann's Warehouse New York City, NY, U.S.
2018	Angels in America	Harper Pitt	Neil Simon Theatre New York City, NY, U.S.
2022	Portia Coughlan	Portia Coughlan	Abbey Theatre Dublin, Ireland

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2015	Evening Standard Theatre Award	Best Actress	People, Places and Things		^[13] ^[14]
	Critics' Circle Theatre Award	Best Actress			^[15]
2016	Laurence Olivier Award	Best Actress			^[16]
	WhatsOnStage Award	Best Actress in a Play			^[17]
2018	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actress in a Play			^[18]
	Obie Award	Performance			^[19]
	Tony Award	Best Featured Actress in a Play	Angels in America		^[20]
	Laurence Olivier Award	Best Actress in a Supporting Role			^[21]
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play			^[22]
	Theatre World Award				^[23]
2022	Peabody Award	Entertainment	Andor		^[24]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Jay Taylor on Instagram: "I usually only post pictures of her looking weird or crazy, but as it's her birthday I think we can allow one of her looking just Happy…". https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/BREM8uxjGf_ . 2021-12-24 . limited. Instagram. en. 2018-11-30.
2. Web site: Bright young things . Evening Standard . en-GB . 20 November 2012 . 30 August 2019.
3. Web site: Twins' kitchen sync drama . Irish Independent . en . 18 November 2007 . 30 August 2019.
4. News: Denise Gough: the extraordinarily gifted actress on being the toast of New York. Clapp. Susannah. 2017-11-19. The Guardian. 2019-08-30. en-GB. 0261-3077.
5. News: London Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2012 – Longlist revealed . Evening Standard . en-GB . 29 October 2012 . 25 September 2015.
6. Web site: Coveney . Michael . 16 January 2014 . The Duchess of Malfi (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) . What's On Stage . 27 May 2014.
7. News: Clapp . Sussannah . 6 September 2015 . People, Places & Things review — a career-changing performance . The Observer . en-GB . 22 September 2015.
8. News: Emmrich . Stuart . 3 May 2018 . Actress Denise Gough Pays Homage to Bygone Angels . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331 . 30 August 2019.
9. News: Orlova-Alvarez . Tamara . Alvarez . Joe . 6 October 2018 . Denise Gough on Toxic and Progressive Masculinity at Toronto Film Festival . Ikon London Magazine . 7 October 2018.
10. Web site: Crossan . Ash . 24 August 2022 . Denise Gough & Kyle Soller Interview: Andor . ScreenRant . en-US . 27 August 2022.
11. News: Billington . Michael . 20 June 2014 . Adler and Gibb review – a high-concept satire on the cult of the artist . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077 . 30 August 2019.
12. News: Marlowe . Sam . People, Places & Things review at Trafalgar Theatre, London with Denise Gough . . 15 May 2024 . London . En.
13. Web site: 2 November 2015 . Evening Standard Theatre Awards: Full list of nominees . Evening Standard . en-GB . 6 December 2020.
14. Web site: 23 November 2015 . Evening Standard Theatre Awards: Who won and why . Evening Standard . en-GB . 6 December 2020.
15. Web site: 28 November 2016 . 2015 Results . Critics' Circle Theatre Awards . en-GB . 6 December 2020.
16. Web site: Olivier Winners 2016 . Olivier Awards . en-GB . 6 December 2020.
17. Web site: Whatsonstage Awards – Winners 2016 . West End Theatre . 22 February 2016 . en-GB. 6 December 2020.
18. Web site: Lefkowitz . Andy . 3 June 2018 . SpongeBob SquarePants & More Win 2018 Drama Desk Awards . Broadway . en-US . 6 December 2020.
19. Web site: 19 May 2018 . 2018 Obies Winners and Performances . Obie Awards . en-US . 6 December 2020.
20. Web site: Nyren . Erin . 11 June 2018 . Tony Award Winners 2018: The Complete List . Variety . en-US . 6 December 2020.
21. News: 9 April 2018 . Olivier Awards 2018: Winners in full . BBC News . en-GB . 6 December 2020.
22. Web site: Lefkowitz . Andy . 7 May 2018 . SpongeBob SquarePants, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, My Fair Lady & More Win 2018 Outer Critics Circle Awards . Broadway . en-US . 6 December 2020.
23. Web site: Lefkowitz . Andy . 8 May 2018 . Bravo! Winners Announced for the 2018 Theatre World Awards . Broadway . en-US . 22 April 2021.
24. Web site: Voyles . Blake . September 13, 2023 . 83rd Peabody Award Winners . September 13, 2023.