This much I know: Aoibheann McCaul, Actor
I don’t leave things to chance. I am very driven. I believe you have to go out and look for opportunities and work for them.
My biggest fault is that I’m indecisive. The only thing I always felt definite about is acting. It is the one thing I am drawn to and it makes me sick and upset at the thought of not doing it. It is what I have to do to be happy. It’s a vocation.
I always knew I wanted to act, my earliest memory is being asked to introduce a song we were doing in our play in Junior Infants.
Both my parents work in education and there is no history of acting in the family. By the time I got to my Leaving Cert I suppose they’d had 15 years to get used to the fact that I wanted to pursue a career in acting, rather than to become a teacher.
I have no idea why I was drawn to it, it happened at such a young age.
As a teenager I enjoyed the escapism of it, how it allowed me to discover different characters.
I grew up in Malahide, the second of four girls. I was quite an all-rounder, interested in sports as well as drama. I’d describe myself as outgoing, but sensitive.
I did Drama and Theatre Studies at Trinity and got a scholarship to Orange County in California for a year which was like stepping into another world. They have so much money, the theatres on campus were like The Abbey or The Gate.
On Fair City we work about three weeks in advance. We absolutely don’t know what the future story line is for our characters. You have to play what you are given and not knowing makes it interesting, it makes sure you don’t anticipate what is going to happen down the line.
The best advice I have received is to trust your instincts and to make brave choices.
Of course I have felt nerves, especially at auditions. Even if I’m in the same show for three months I will still have the script in my hand beforehand as a security blanket even though I know the lines inside out. Luckily, once I step on stage I’m fine and I have never suffered from stage fright.
I’ve had lots of other jobs — promotional work, working on the breakfast shift in hotels, the late night shift in bars — I’ve even been an elf. I am also a qualified fitness trainer so that’s always another option.
I work out all the time. I can set goals and have control over my training, which I can’t have over my acting life. I’m not into cardio or long distance running, but intense short spurts of weight training and I support Cycle against Suicide.
If I could change one thing in our society, I’d change the silence and stigma surrounding mental health, the fact that people can’t express feelings and emotions around it.
I used to get down from other people’s negativity but I’ve learnt that we should all be kinder to one another — you never know what situation someone else is in.
I don’t take things for granted. You suffer so many blows and are knocked back so much in this business, it can be devastating but I’ve learnt to handle the rejection. I just keep focussing on other positives — or else just blow off stress in the gym.
I believe in ghosts, I’ve had some funny experiences. I don’t know about heaven and hell and all of that but I’d like to think there is something after this life, I’d hate to think that when you’re dead, you’re just dead.
My idea of happiness is very simple: a barbecue in the sunshine on a cliff overlooking a beach with good friends, my puppy Bailey — and to be going into the job of my dreams.
Aoibheann McCaul plays Caoimhe Dillon in Ireland’s most popular soap Fair City; Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on RTÉ One. Fair City will celebrate its 25th anniversary on September 18.
