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for her roles in Heartbeat and Always and Forever, Niamh Cusack was born into one of the most well known acting families. Her father Cyril was an actor, and she has two acting sisters - Sorcha who appeared in BBC's Casualty, Sinead, who was in the film Stealing Beauty and half-sister Catherine who is the audiobook reader on Eoin Colfer's The Wish List. Niamh Cusack is no stranger to audiobooks, having already read all of Marian Keyes' previous titles. Here she tells us why being the reader on Marian Keyes' titles is such fun.
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How did you start as an audiobook reader?
My first audiobook was A Constable on the Beat by Nicholas Rhea, eight years ago when I was very pregnant. (Nicholas Rhea wrote the books that inspired the TV series Heartbeat.)
You recently read the new Marian Keyes novel, Angels, for Penguin Audiobooks. The heroine of the book, Maggie Walsh, normally so sensible and suburban, has left her husband and run away to Los Angeles. Having previously encountered Maggie in an earlier Keyes novel, Rachel's Holiday, where she was the boring sister to tearaway Rachel, what was it like to voice her mad escape to La-la Land?
I love reading Marian's books because there is great fun in them as well as compassion, warmth, and just a touch of sex! Maggie deserves her liberty and taste of LA madness because her siblings have unfairly dubbed her the boring one. |
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| I love reading Marian's books because there is great fun in them as well as compassion, warmth, and just a touch of sex! |
Niamh Cusack on why she loves reading Angels
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I've heard that you originally trained as a flautist at the Royal College of Music, and then decided to sign up for drama classes on your way to a French class. What was it that made you change direction?
After working in an orchestra in Dublin, I returned to London where I couldn't even give myself away as a flautist. Frustrated and disenchanted, I thought that there had to be something better. Having seen my sister Sorcha in Chekov's Three Sisters, I knew that though I'd never acted, Irina (the youngest sister, as I am) was a character I could play and that, together with inspired teaching at the City Lit Adult Education Centre, is what set me on this perilous path! (Niamh then won a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.)
We've recently seen you in ITV's medical drama series, Always and Everyone, as registrar Christine Fletcher. It's a world away from your last 'medical' role as Dr Kate Rowan in Heartbeat. Do you think the two characters would get on if they met?
I think Kate would think Christine a bit driven and Chris would think Kate was soft and old-fashioned.
What are you reading at the moment?
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.
A classically trained actress, you've trodden the boards with the RSC as well as starred in numerous TV series, done the occasional film, and, of course, read audiobooks. Desert Island Discs time: if you had to choose just three roles to take to your desert island, which would they be?
Nora from A Doll's House; Rosalind from As You Like It; Grace from State of Mind.
How do you relax when you're not working?
I walk, I read, I go to the movies and the theatre. I have long baths, and play football with my son. |
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Photo © Neil Cooper
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