Sharon Rooney

Scottish actress

Sharon Rooney
Born	(1988-10-22) 22 October 1988 (age 35) Glasgow, Scotland
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2012–present

Sharon Rooney (born 22 October 1988) is a Scottish actress. She is known for her roles as Rae Earl in My Mad Fat Diary,^[1]^[2] Sophie in Two Doors Down, Dawn in Brief Encounters, Miss Atlantis in the 2019 remake of Dumbo and Lawyer Barbie in the 2023 film Barbie.

Early life

Rooney was born in Glasgow. She left school at the age of 16 to pursue a career in acting, and enrolled on a 3-year performing arts course followed by a degree in drama at Hull University.^[3]

Career

Rooney began performing stand-up comedy,^[4] and toured with a play in various schools across Britain.^[5] Her first television role came when she was cast as Rae Earl, a young woman who is released from a psychiatric facility after four months, in the E4 teen comedy-drama series My Mad Fat Diary (2013–2015).^[6] The show was a success and earned Rooney a BAFTA nomination at the British Academy Scotland Awards.^[7]^[8] The Guardian's Sam Wollaston called Rooney's performance "natural, effortless and utterly believable".^[9] The role also saw her nominated for a Royal Television Society award in 2014.^[10] She was also nominated in the Entertainment category at the 2014 Young Scot Awards.^[11]

Rooney played a small part in the Sherlock episode "The Empty Hearse" in 2014.^[12] In July 2016, she appeared in the ITV drama series Brief Encounters, set in 1982 and revolving around four women who become involved in Ann Summers party planning.^[13] She played Miss Atlantis in the 2019 film Dumbo,^[14] in which she performed the song "Baby Mine".^[15] She played Nicola Walsh in Finding Alice in 2021.^[16]

Filmography

Key
†	Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role
2013	Under the Skin	Party Girl
2015	Hector	Young Mother
2019	Dumbo	Miss Atlantis
2021	The Electrical Life of Louis Wain	Josephine Wain
2023	Barbie	Lawyer Barbie^[17]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013–2015	My Mad Fat Diary	Rae Earl	16 episodes
2014	Sherlock	Laura	Episode: "The Empty Hearse"
2014–2015	Mountain Goats	Jules	7 episodes
2016	Brief Encounters	Dawn	6 episodes
2016	Stag	Brodie	Miniseries
2013, 2016–2017	Two Doors Down	Sophie
2016–2018	Zapped	Barbara	15 episodes
2017–2018	The Tunnel	Kiki Stokes	4 episodes
2018	No Offence	Faye Caddy	4 episodes
2019	The Capture	Becky	6 episodes
2019–2023	Jerk	Ruth	8 episodes^[18]
2021	Finding Alice	Nicola	6 episodes
2021	McDonald & Dodds	Doreen Warren	Episode: "We Need To Talk About Doreen"^[19]
2022	The Teacher	Nina	4 episodes
2022	The Control Room	Breck	3 episodes
TBA	Nightsleeper †

Awards and nominations

Year	Awards	Category	Work	Result
2013	British Academy Scotland Awards	Best Actor/Actress (Television)	My Mad Fat Diary	Nominated
2014	British Academy Scotland Awards	Best Actor/Actress (Television)	My Mad Fat Diary	Nominated
2014	Royal Television Society	Best Actress	My Mad Fat Diary	Nominated
2014	Broadcasting Press Guild	Breakthrough Award	My Mad Fat Diary	Nominated
2014	Young Scot Awards	Entertainment Award	My Mad Fat Diary	Nominated
2015	British Academy Scotland Awards	Best Actor/Actress (Television)	My Mad Fat Diary	Won
2021	British Short Film Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Do No Harm ^[20]^[21]	Won

References

^ "My Mad Fat Diary". Channel 4. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
^ Davies, Sophie (21 January 2013). "Rae Earl on My Mad Fat Diary". The Daily Telegraph.
^ Orr, Gillian (31 January 2014). "Unexpected agony aunt: How My Mad Fat Diary star Sharon Rooney transformed teen TV". The Independent. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
^ "Interview: Sharon Rooney on 'My Mad Fat Diary". Time Out London. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
^ "Sharon Rooney up for actress award". Native Monster. Archived from the original on 29 December 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
^ "'Sherlock' Series Three To Feature 'My Mad Fat Diary' Star Sharon Rooney?". Huffington Post. 1 May 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
^ "Tom Holland and Sharon Rooney among BAFTA's Breakthrough Brits". IndieLondon. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
^ Christie, Janet (16 November 2014). "Sharon Rooney has 'won already' with Bafta nod". The Scotsman.
^ Wollaston, Sam (14 January 2013). "TV review: My Mad Fat Diary; Girls". The Guardian.
^ "Scottish My Mad Fat Diary Star Sharon Rooney nominated for RTS award". STV Shows. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
^ Greenaway, Heather (13 April 2014). "Video: Young Scots 2014 Roll of Honour". Daily Record. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
^ Pook, Lizzie. "Girl meets world: Sharon Rooney". Stylist. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
^ Durrant, Sabine (11 July 2016). "Brief Encounters: the thief, his mistress and the birth of Ann Summers". The Daily Telegraph.
^ Sanchez, Omar (27 June 2018). "'Dumbo': Everything to Know About Disney's Live-Action Remake Directed by Tim Burton". The Hollywood Reporter.
^ "Dumbo Press Kit" (PDF). 11 March 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
^ Bley Griffiths, Eleanor (17 January 2021). "Meet the cast of ITV's Finding Alice". Radio Times. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
^ McStay, Kirsten (19 July 2023). "Scots Barbie star Sharon Rooney cancels Glasgow Film Theatre appearance due to writer's strike". Daily Record. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
^ "Lorraine Bracco joins Tim Renkow in new BBC Three comedy, Jerk". BBC Media Centre. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
^ Fear, Helen (7 March 2021). "Who plays Doreen in McDonald & Dodds? Actress Sharon Rooney found fame on My Mad Fat Diary". Entertainment Daily. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
^ "British Short Film Awards 2021 - Winners". thebritishshortfilmawards.co.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
^ "Do No Harm". douglaskingfilm.com. Retrieved 16 December 2021.