Philippa Dunne: 'Someone once saw me in a play and said that I was disgusting'

Born in Dublin and 44, Philippa Dunne trained at the Gaiety School of Acting and co‑founded the comedy group Diet of Worms. Her television credits include Derry Girls and This Is Going to Hurt. Since 2016 she has played Anne Flynn in the BBC sitcom Motherland and its spin‑off Amandaland, now in its second series, and her performance won her a Bafta nomination this year.

She is married with a daughter and lives in London. She says she is happiest in rehearsals and has a phobia of statues that goes back to a childhood visit when her parents took her to look at a French church late at night. Her earliest memory is drawing stick men on little wooden blocks with a blue marker.

She describes herself as a 'Funny Irish woman', deplores laziness in herself and narcissism in others, and is trying not to focus on disliking anything about her appearance.

Ireland, Dublin

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