Kin star Clare Dunne: I'm not afraid of death, but I just have so much I want to do

Clare Dunne currently stars in Kin on RTÉ One. Picture: Naoise Culhane.

I grew up in housing estates in south Dublin. I have five sisters, so it's always great craic around the table. Especially as we get older. We don't find as much to fight about as we did when we were younger. I lived in London for about six years but I ended up moving back to Dublin when the pandemic hit. I had been dividing my time between the two anyway, a lot of my work has just ended up being in Ireland over the past few years, but last year when I landed my role in Kin I bit the bullet and got my stuff shipped over.

I do think I was born to be in my line of work. I'm a storyteller and that's it. My mam asked what I liked doing when I was about 12 years old and I said that I loved making my friends laugh and she sent me to a drama group. That was the first step. I used to be more into telling stories and singing to make people laugh and I eventually ended up acting and writing.

The most challenging part of it all was deciding to commit to writing Herself. I had to go out on my own and do everything with no money for a long time. Making the decision to commit to something when you're not guaranteed that it's going to happen is always huge and to give up so much time and energy with no promise you'll make any money is also scary. It was one of the biggest challenges of my life.

Clare Dunne in Herself

The lesson I would like to pass on is to be kind to yourself because I had to learn how to do that in order to write Herself. I knew I had a good story but the writing wouldn't come out. I learned that I had to be kinder to myself and just see it through. It's so important. When you're kind to yourself it sends a way better energy out to the world. There's no point banging your head off the wall.

Just keeping it together on any level is a big achievement in this industry but I would say my biggest achievement is that I'm now making money doing what I love. When you get to the stage where you don't need to rely on other side jobs — I used to be a receptionist and a waitress — it's a huge marker. And that was only a few years ago for me.

I remember when I was going to drama school and I couldn't figure out where I wanted to go and I was so freaked out. My granny was dying and she just said: "no matter what you decide, it's going to be okay". It was some of the greatest advice ever. My dad also knew I was afraid of making a big leap and moving away and he told me: "Go and chase your life because it's yours".

It was really simple but it's so true. You should just always go on the adventure. I think we all have those moments where we're overthinking something and can't make a decision like that and you need to just realise that it's your life and you have a choice.

Clare Dunne as Amanda in Kin

I have an irrational amount of faith that everything will work out. I think it's my greatest quality. People will say something can't be done, and I won't know how to do it, but I'll always say that I bet it can be done. It's an incoherent and stupid faith. I just always think it's all going to work out. I think I'm best at pushing through, no matter what's in front of me. 

I also don't mind doing the odd boring task. It's always worth it if it helps the creative process, which still fascinates me. Once something's a good idea and you've got the right team it just falls into place in this weird magical way. The synchronicity still surprises me. It's the beauty of film and TV.

It's hard to pick who I turn to most because I have my mates, my boyfriend, and my sisters. I'm going to say Jack, Jo, Niamh, and my 'Irish civvies' as I call them, they're my civilian friends who aren't in the industry but I've known them since I was 15. I've got a huge support team.

I'd like to be remembered as someone who was really sound and fun and always treated people equally. I also hope I made people laugh. I'm actually really scared of sudden death because I've experienced it in my family. To be the person that goes through it really scares me. I'm not afraid of death, but I just have so much I want to do. 

If I took a different fork in the road I think I'd be in activism. I originally wanted to be a lawyer but then I realised that was more about making the passionate speeches. When you're a lawyer you actually have to read and write loads, which funnily enough is what I ended up doing — and I love it.