{"id":629320,"date":"2026-09-19T06:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T06:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/629320\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T06:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T06:54:18","slug":"inside-siobhan-mcsweeneys-life-from-love-to-losing-her-home-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/629320\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Siobh\u00e1n McSweeney’s life from love to losing her home"},"content":{"rendered":"

From her hilarious role as Sister Michael to her all-important role as presenter on The Traitors Ireland, Siobh\u00e1n McSweeney<\/a>\u00a0holds a special place in plenty of hearts around the country.<\/p>\n

In her 48 years, Siobh\u00e1n has been through ups and downs, including becoming homeless for a period and losing her parents.<\/p>\n

As we soak up the last few episodes of The Traitors Ireland season two, here is everything to know about Siobh\u00e1n McSweeney, the face of the hottest show on TV…<\/p>\n

Early life<\/p>\n

\"Siobh\u00e1nSiobh\u00e1n McSweeney. Pic: Mike Marsland\/WireImage<\/p>\n

Siobh\u00e1n was born in 1977 and raised in the village of Aherla. She studied at Scoil Mhuire, a private same-sex school in Cork City Centre, graduating in 1996.<\/p>\n

She went on to study at UCC, earning herself a science degree, before deciding to pursue acting. She has cited her time at the college as ‘the most important time of my life’.<\/p>\n

‘I knew I wanted to act before I had the words to express that, but coming to UCC and getting involved in the Drama crystalised that for me,’ she revealed<\/a> while receiving a UCC Alumni Achievement Award. ‘And my parents knew that if I ever got lost, they could always find me in the Granary Theatre.’<\/p>\n

In 2001, she took a leap of faith and relocated to London, securing a spot at the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama.<\/p>\n

Career<\/p>\n

\"Siobh\u00e1nSiobh\u00e1n McSweeney. Pic: Kate Green\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Siobh\u00e1n managed to secure herself a spot in an iconic film for her first role, although she only appeared in the movie briefly. She played Julia in Cillian Murphy’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley, though only the most eagle-eyed of fans will be able to spot her.<\/p>\n

She had a host of acting gigs before she found her breakthrough role in 2018, including starring as Una Gilbert in the film Mr. Holmes in 2015 and Witzender in Alice Through the Looking Glass in 2016.<\/p>\n

Then came her fan-favourite role as the hilarious Sister Michael in Lisa McGee’s hit series Derry Girls, and it was only up from there.<\/p>\n

Playing a militant school principal and nun who shared a love\/hate (mostly hate!) relationship with the sitcom’s main characters catapulted Siobh\u00e1n’s career, making her a household name.<\/p>\n

\"LisaLisa McGee and Siobh\u00e1n McSweeney after receiving the Scripted Comedy Award for ‘Derry Girls’ at the 2023 BAFTA Television Awards. Pic: Getty Images<\/p>\n

She won a BAFTA for the role in 2023. The BBC was heavily criticised for ‘editing out’<\/a> parts of her acceptance speech, which saw Siobh\u00e1n tell both the UK and British governments to ‘wise up’.<\/p>\n

The Cork woman presented Channel 4’s The Great Pottery Throw Down<\/a>, and most recently has completed a stint as host of The Traitors Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking about her freshly announced role, Siobh\u00e1n said: \u2018Like everyone, I am a huge Traitors fan, so when I was asked to host the Irish version, I jumped at the chance. I\u2019m looking forward to meeting our loyal Faithful and delicious Traitors.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Irish have a charm and ability to deceive while smiling, which will make this version rather special, I think. And I\u2019m the luckiest person in the world to watch them close up.\u2019<\/p>\n

Personal life<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Traitors Ireland host Siobh\u00e1n McSweeney. Pic: RT\u00c9\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Although you would never guess by her quick wit and fun personality, Siobh\u00e1n has dealt with her fair share of tragedy in her personal life. <\/p>\n

The actress lost her mum, Mary, quite young, shortly after she graduated from UCC in 2005. Then her dad, Traolach, passed away after battling a long illness while she was filming the second season of Derry Girls in 2018.<\/p>\n

Recalling the moment she lost her beloved father on Kathy Burke’s podcast, Where There\u2019s A Will, There\u2019s A Wake, Siobh\u00e1n said:<\/a> ‘I was manic for three months after he died. After the mania stopped, I swear to God, Kathy, this outpouring of ideas and of plots and plans.’<\/p>\n

\"Siobh\u00e1nSiobh\u00e1n McSweeney will host The Traitors Ireland. Pic: Phil Sharp \/ RT\u00c9<\/p>\n

‘And I started writing, and I had an idea for this, and I had an idea for that, and I want to go for this. It was like a dam had burst. And I think that the best gift my parents gave me was dying,’ she continued.<\/p>\n

Siobh\u00e1n also had a huge scare of her own when her house caught fire in late 2019, leaving her homeless. The fire that set her flat ablaze was caused by a block adapter. <\/p>\n

Luckily, Siobh\u00e1n wasn’t at home when the fire broke out. <\/p>\n

‘My flat went on fire, [it was] an electrical fire, one of those cubed adapters fell out of its socket, like by a millimeter, and it caused an electrical fire,’ she explained on Ireland AM.<\/p>\n

‘I lost everything. By the time lockdown started, I was technically homeless. I was living in friends’ spare rooms and sofas and things like that, so I entered lockdown in quite an anxious state,’ she recalled.<\/p>\n

Love life<\/p>\n

\"Siobh\u00e1nSiobh\u00e1n McSweeney and Kevin Joseph Brady. Pic: Gareth Cattermole\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Despite maintaining a heavy on-screen presence, Siobh\u00e1n tries to keep certain aspects of her personal life quite private. One such aspect is her love life.<\/p>\n

The funny woman is rumoured to be dating British talent agent Kevin Joseph Brady. In 2023, Grazia<\/a> reported that the star is in a relationship with Kevin, though the pair has never confirmed it themselves.<\/p>\n

They have posed for snaps together at various events, suggesting that they are dating. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From her hilarious role as Sister Michael to her all-important role as presenter on The Traitors Ireland, Siobh\u00e1n…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-629320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}