Derry Girls star Siobhán McSweeney on UCC and 'her dirty little secret'

'My time at UCC was the most important time of my life', the Cork native said while accepting an award at the university

Born in 1979 and raised in Aherla, Siobhán McSweeney graduated from UCC in 2001 with a Bachelor in Biological Science, before she moved to London to study at the Central School of Speech and Drama. File picrture

BAFTA winning Derry Girls star and tv presenter Siobhán McSweeney says playing Sister Michael in the hit sitcom changed her life, but she won't let the role define her.

And she credited University College Cork's drama society, Dramat, for crystalising "her dirty little secret" — this burning desire she had as a science student to pursue acting full-time.

“When I left here in 2001, the last thing I expected was to be invited back for something like this. It’s far from biological science I’ve ended up,” she said as she arrived on campus to be presented with a UCC Alumni Achievement Award on Thursday.

“But my time at UCC was the most important time of my life.

“I knew I wanted to act before I had the words to express that but coming to UCC and getting involved in the Dramat crystalised that for me.

I met people there who shared the same dirty little secret I had, and we all thought that maybe if we were lucky, and found other people with the same dirty little secret, we could do this more often.

“And my parents knew that if I ever got lost, they could always find me in the Granary Theatre.

“The most creative people I met in UCC were the scientists and physicists, they were the most imaginative, always dreaming and wondering.”

Accompanied by her younger brother, Traolach Óg at the event, she said: “I’m feeling very nostalgic being back here and genuinely, I find it quite moving that they have given me this award.” 

Born in 1979 and raised in Aherla, Siobhán graduated from UCC in 2001 with a Bachelor in Biological Science, before she moved to London to study at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

She played Julia in Ken Loach’s 2006 film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, starring Oscar winner Cillian Murphy, and went on to star in a range of other stage and tv roles before she landed the role for which she is best known — the caustic eye-rolling headmistress, Sister Michael, in the Channel 4 hit sitcom, Derry Girls — a role she played from 2018 until the show’s emotional finale in 2022.

She won the Bafta award for best female comedy performance in 2023 for her portrayal of the character.

Asked if she worries about that role defining her, she said: “I’m a science graduate, so facts are facts. It is a fact that I played Sister Michael and Sister Michael changed my life.

Siobhán McSweeney in Derry Girls. She won the Bafta award for best female comedy performance in 2023 for her portrayal of the character. File picture

“But to reduce my future work and past work to just that role, would not be factual, and that’s all I’ll say about that.” 

A regular guest on British tv shows, Siobhán has been presenting The Great Pottery Thrown Down tv show since 2021 and has just finished recording the fifth series.

And after a really intense period of work, she said she’s really looking forward to putting her feet up and doing nothing for the next few weeks.

“I plan to put my feet up, turn the phone off and watch tv — like reruns of Poirot, with David Suchet, and Murder She Wrote, with Angela Lansbury.” 

She was among the nine to receive alumni achievement awards from UCC on Thursday. The other awardees were Food Safety Authority of Ireland chief executive Pamela Byrne, Trinity College Dublin Provost Linda Doyle, Ei Electronics founder and CEO Michael Guinee, UCC Rugby Football Club volunteers Len Harty and Noel O’Mahony, Cork Migrant Centre programme director Naomi Masheti, businessman and strategic advisor to the university David Merriman, and sustainability and climate expert Ruairí O’Mahony.

UCC president professor John O’Halloran commended them all. “Each awardee brings immense pride to the university, embodying our values and demonstrating our global impact,” he said.

The UCC Alumni Achievement Awards were introduced in 1998 to celebrate the university’s alumni.

Some 125 graduates have been honoured since, including Olympic gold medallist rowers Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, author Doireann Ní Ghríofa, RTÉ broadcaster Marty Morrissey, psychologist Maureen Gaffney, and Michelin-starred chef Ross Lewis.