Norma Sheahan: The life lesson I would like to pass on is work backwards

Norma Sheahan for This Much I Know

I grew up on a farm in Whitechurch, Co Cork, daughter of Joe and Nora Sheahan, with four sisters, Sinead, Blathnaid, Paula and Jan-Marie. Granny Sheahan lived in the farmhouse next door, she made great desserts and puddings. Timmy Foley worked on the farm for decades, he did a lot of the rearing too. He cycled up from Carrignavar every morning on his high nelly. A wonderful man. He’d sometimes chase us with crows and mice. Auntie Fionnuala lived down the field and she was always kind. She’d laugh so hard that she cried. And then up the field were more cousins, the O’Sullivans. Their home was like a farmer’s market long before markets became trendy.

My childhood was busy. Dad trained horses, farmed, and was involved in haulage, so there were always vets, blacksmiths, jockeys, owners, combined harvesters, tractors, trailers, bulk tanks, beet trucks, cattle, calves, cats and dogs. Primary school was in Whitechurch and secondary school was in Cork city, St Angelas. We had no bus route the seven miles from Whitechurch to Cork city but we still got there by lifts or thumbing. My parents somehow gave us every opportunity going — ponies, drama, tap dancing, swimming, guitar, piano, ballet, singing, basketball.

Norma Sheahan pictured at 3Olympia Theatre in Dublin

My earliest memory is getting stitches on my forehead in hospital when I was nearly three. I fell out of my mum’s high heels at home and split my head open on the leg of a chair, while my mum was in the hospital delivering my sister.

I do think I was born to be the person I am. A middle child, “look at me, look at me”. I still have an essay I wrote in primary school about becoming an actress. The other route I considered was winning the Eurovision for Ireland, but my pipes weren’t up to it. I sang Johnny Logan numbers in many Cork pubs when we’d have sing-songs after the point-to-point races.

The greatest challenges I’ve faced so far ... well, Shirley Valentine is in the top 10 definitely. When I opened that in the Gaiety it was colossal. Breastfeeding twins was awkward. Stand-up comedy nearly gave me a stroke. Celebrity Ireland’s Fittest Family challenged mind and body. I’d say if something feels like a challenge it’s all the more reason to do it. And that could be anything from making a phone call to climbing Everest. I keep adding challenges every day. Whether it’s more auditions and rejections, a sprint, or a triathlon.

Nora Sheahan, mother of actress Norma Sheahan (right) with team members Sheena Buckley, Leonard O'Sullivan and Paula Cogan.

My proudest achievement is that my three daughters, Jessica, Isabelle, and Jodi, are great humans. But I’m not sure that’s my achievement. No parent has ever got it completely right, so I just try to get out of their way now and let them be fabulous.

The people I turn to most in life are my four sisters. There’s always one of them to suit a scenario. The only downside is that if you tell one, then you’ve told them all.

The life lesson I would like to pass on is work backwards. You are going to die, now squeeze as much adventure into that life of yours. Possess enough to make life comfortable, but excess is only a headache, and you can’t take it with you.

The greatest advice I have ever been given was from my Dad: “Stop feckin thinking and start feckin doing.” Although now he says to me: “Jesus would you ever shut up.” He’s right, I’ve no filter, especially after a whiskey. Another good one I heard is “worrying is like paying interest on a debt you haven’t even received”, and Mum said before she died: “It’s not hard to die when you know that you’ve lived.”

How would I like to be remembered ... I’d like to have made someone laugh when they needed a boost or have done them a favour when they needed a dig out. Don’t start crying when you remember me. If you met me once or rakes of times, hopefully, we had a bit of craic. Sure even funerals can be craic once the person wasn’t very young.

My greatest skill? I have many. I can say the alphabet backwards. I can play Glenroe on the tin whistle. I can do a cartwheel, crab, headstand and dodgy splits. I can say “terms and conditions” at the speed of light.

What surprises me most in life is how humans forget how horrible hangovers are. And how rarely people spell my name correctly.

What scares me most in life is phone calls from the school. Nightmares at night about the leaving cert, I still get them. Being chased by angry cattle. It happened on the farm growing up. I ran behind an electric fence and waited for hours until the family noticed me gone. My arse was being pricked by thorns, but the blackberries were lovely.

If I could take a different fork in the road... well, when I was driving to Schull recently at 2am I wish I had taken the N71 at the fork, because even though the N22 is great, Google Maps then meandered me through boreens, boglands, and briars.

After I did Little Red Riding Hood in the Cork Opera House at age 12 I was offered the chance to go to a musical theatre secondary school in London. But my mum insisted I go to St Angelas and get a proper degree first. After I finished Commerce, I ended up in a London Drama School anyway. I guess it all swings back around full circle. Like the other night, I did end up in Schull eventually.

• Following its sell-out run at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre, actress, producer, podcaster, and winner of Celebrity Ireland’s Fittest Family, Norma Sheahan, will bring Shirley Valentine to Cork audiences on September 24. Tickets from €22.50, see 
• corkoperahouse.ie.
• Norma will also star in The Matchmaker at the Gleneagle INEC Arena on September 18. Tickets €27.90, see inec.ie.