Shape I’m In: Maura O’Connell, musician

THOUGH a legend in folk music circles on both sides of the Atlantic, singer Maura O’Connell was “thrilled” to accept a minor role in the Martin Scorsese’s award-winning Gangs of New York in 2002.

“It was a wonderful experience and having seen how the film was made, by just being there, was very interesting. It certainly made me empathetic to actors because it is a very dreary process.”

Cast as an Irish street singer, she spent four weeks on set in Rome, rubbing shoulders with Cameron Diaz, Leonardo di Caprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson and Brendan Gleeson along the way. And when it came to opening night in her adopted home town of Nashville, she did it in style. “I wasn’t invited to the other premieres. A friend of mine brought a red bath mat so I could have a red carpet.”