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| - Biography – Originally from Monaghan, Charlene’s previous theatre appearances include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, A Slice of Saturday Night, The Little Shop of Horrors and Dancing at Lughnasa (Garage Theatre, Monaghan). Charlene appeared as Caroline, sister to Patrick ‘Kitten’ Brady played by Cillian Murphy in Breakfast on Pluto and went on to appear in the leading role of Jennifer in Pure Mule the hit TV mini-series written by Eugene O’Brien for RTE2/Accomplice Television. In theatre, Charlene appeared as Girleen Kelleher in Lonesome West directed by Mikel Murfi for the Lyric Theatre, Belfast and on national tour. She also appeared in The Eleventh Capital directed by Natalie Abrahami at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London (Feb ’07). Her recent film credits include John Boorman’s A Ti
- McKenna first appeared on stage at the age of eleven, playing a small role in Oklahoma! with the Monaghan Youth Theatre. She studied Religious Education and Music at Mater Dei Institute of Education. Her first large-scale production was Pure Mule which launched her career. She played Jennifer, a racy character, in the series. McKenna also appeared in the film Dorothy Mills, which was released in 2008, as the role of Mary McMahon. She narrowly lost out on a role in the film Land of the Lost opposite Will Ferrell. Despite meeting the director, the part was given to Anna Friel instead.
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| - McKenna first appeared on stage at the age of eleven, playing a small role in Oklahoma! with the Monaghan Youth Theatre. She studied Religious Education and Music at Mater Dei Institute of Education. Her first large-scale production was Pure Mule which launched her career. She played Jennifer, a racy character, in the series. McKenna has had roles in several other Irish television shows as well, including Raw, Single Handed and Whistleblower. She had a role in a two-hour Dickensian period drama filmed in Dublin and broadcast on ITV in late 2007. The drama also featured Derek Jacobi, Toby Jones, Bradley Walsh, Zoë Wanamaker, Martin Freeman, Steve Pemberton, Anna Madeley and Gina McKee. In 2007, she filmed the short film Danger High Voltage at the Electric Picnic music festival in Stradbally, County Laois. The film, which also starred Barry Ward and was directed by Luke McManus, went on to win awards at both the Galway Film Fleadh and the Cork Film Festival in 2008. She appeared in the second episode of Single Handed 2, broadcast on 1 January 2008, in which Garda Sergeant Jack Driscoll investigated the case of the missing two-year-old son of her character, Eilish. Eilish also had to endure several resentful in-laws. This performance was described as "outstanding". Whistleblower, a two-part fact-based drama broadcast in August 2008, was based on the late 1970s scandal at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth, involving gynaecologist Michael Neary. McKenna played Karen, a young mother who has an unnecessary hysterectomy performed on her after giving birth. Emma Stansfield played the nurse who blew the whistle. For her role in Raw, McKenna stripped naked for a full frontal scene in the fourth episode. The actress was pleased with the lack of complaints about the scene, apparently considering it an indication of the growing tolerance of Irish audiences. Scenes involving restaurant staff tampering with their guests' food similarly failed to attract much complaint. McKenna's character in the series is Jojo, a young chef, working under Tanya, a stressed manager, and a head chef. In the second episode, Jojo organises a party but the alcohol runs out and tensions rise. Raw, a six-part series set in a fictitious restaurant in Dublin, saw McKenna interact with Bachelors Walk] actor Keith McErlean and Mistresses actress Shelley Conn. McKenna also appeared in the film Dorothy Mills, which was released in 2008, as the role of Mary McMahon. She narrowly lost out on a role in the film Land of the Lost opposite Will Ferrell. Despite meeting the director, the part was given to Anna Friel instead. McKenna returned to Irish screens later in 2009 as the character Jojo in the second series of Raw on [[wikipedia:RT%C3%89_Two|RTÉ Two]]. The show returned for a third series, which first aired on the 9th of January, 2011. In 2011, McKenna appeared in an episode of Channel 4 comedy-drama Sirens. She played the eponymous antagonist Lamia in that episode (the eighth) of the fourth season of the BBC TV series Merlin. She starred in Misfits as Seth's dead girlfriend Shannon
- Biography – Originally from Monaghan, Charlene’s previous theatre appearances include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, A Slice of Saturday Night, The Little Shop of Horrors and Dancing at Lughnasa (Garage Theatre, Monaghan). Charlene appeared as Caroline, sister to Patrick ‘Kitten’ Brady played by Cillian Murphy in Breakfast on Pluto and went on to appear in the leading role of Jennifer in Pure Mule the hit TV mini-series written by Eugene O’Brien for RTE2/Accomplice Television. In theatre, Charlene appeared as Girleen Kelleher in Lonesome West directed by Mikel Murfi for the Lyric Theatre, Belfast and on national tour. She also appeared in The Eleventh Capital directed by Natalie Abrahami at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London (Feb ’07). Her recent film credits include John Boorman’s A Tiger’s Tail, Brian Kirk’s Middletown and Niall Heery’s Small Engine Repair (Subotica Films). Charlene played Kirsty opposite Eddie Izzard, in a new TV mini-series Kitchen for Ecosse Films/Channel 5, directed by Kieron J. Walsh in 2006. Charlene appeared in award winning TV mini series Prosperity (Element/RTE) directed by Lenny Abrahamson in 2007 and as Mary in the feature film Dorothy Mills (a.k.a. Dorothy) directed by Agnes Merlet (Weinstein Company, which appeared at Cannes in 2008). She appeared as the Marchioness in The Old Curiosity Shop directed by Brian Percival for ITV. Charlene played the leading role of Annie in the new independent Irish feature Porcelain directed by Gavin Cleland. Charlene appeared in the leading role of Sarah in Danger High Voltage! a short film directed by Luke McManus which won Best Short at the Galway Film Fleadh, and was part of the official selection at the Cork and Cannes Film Festivals in 2008. Charlene appeared in the leading role of Karen in Whistleblower a two part drama for RTE 1 produced by Saffron Pictures directed by Dermot Boyd for which she was nominated for a Best Actress (Television) Award in the Irish Film and Television Awards 2009 and for which she was awarded the Golden Nymph for Best Actress at the 49th Monte Carlo Television Awards in 2009. Charlene appeared in the leading role of JoJo in the TV series RAW directed by Kieron J Walsh for Ecosse TV for RTE2, for which she won the Best Actress (Television) Award in the Irish Film and Television Awards 2009. She appeared as JoJo the second series of RAW on RTE1 for which she was nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award in 2010 and again in 2011. She appeared as Jojo again in season three of RAW on RTE1 to record viewing figures in 2011. Charlene played a leading role in Brian Percival’s independent feature A Boy Called Dad and appeared on The Fixer for ITV which aired in late 2009. Charlene recently appeared on Irish television in the critically acclaimed sequel to Pure Mule as her much loved leading character Jennifer in Pure Mule, The Last Weekend on RTE1 in Autumn 2009 for which she was nominated for a IFTA for Best Actress in 2009. She also appeared in the leading role of Eilish in Single Handed, Stolen Child directed by Antony Byrne for Touchpaper Films/RTE which aired on ITV 1 to almost 4 million viewers in the UK in August 2009. Charlene also appeared as a guest lead opposite Aidan Turner in the second season of the hit series Being Human on BBC3 and on Law and Order UK (ITV) as guest lead Rebecca Anderson in 2010. Most recently Charlene appeared in Episode Two of Sirens for Channel 4 and has recently completed filming a leading role in the feature film Jump directed by Kieron J Walsh. Later this summer Charlene will shoot the role of Lamia in series four of Merlin (BBC) and the guest lead of Shannon in season three of the BAFTA award winning series Misfits (C4).
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