Career
O'Shea loved acting and wanted to be an actor from a young age, but did not think it was likely to happen. She went to complete a degree in Theatre Studies at university and was planning to go into Theatre therapy as a career. O'Shea then began acting professionally and trained "on the job", taking affordable acting classes whilst also working other jobs. O'Shea began working with Little Fish Theatre company, which gave her first acting role outside of university. [1]
"One particular stand-out highlight would probably be having Ramanique Ahluwalia as a love interest. We got to be what we never got to see when we were younger, we got each other through the hard parts and laughed our way through the rest. To be able to share that experience with another Queer woman of the Global Majority is something I will forever be grateful for."
In 2015, O'Shea portrayed the lead role of Rachel Corrie in the play My Name is Rachel Corrie at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The following year, O'Shea portrayed Sahira in a Rehearsed Reading of White at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester. [2] Between 2017 and 2021, O'Shea performed in various theatre productions, including Keeping Faith, Dear Children, Sincerely, A Family Affair, Eris, A Missed Call Away and Chameleon, among others. [2] [3] [4] The Irish play Eris was one of O'Shea's favourite theatre productions, due to being half-Irish herself and because it was performed at one of O'Shea's favourite theatres. [1] In 2017, O'Shea portrayed Anna in the short film Screening, and she later played Cleo in one episode of the 2019 web series Bed&Bridget. [2] [5]
O'Shea made a guest appearance in the second series of the British medical crime drama Temple , which aired in 2021. [6] That same year, O'Shea portrayed Ismene in Exeter Northcott Theatre's digital production adaptation of Antigone . [7] O'Shea was also cast as a main character, Rumi Joshi, on the British teen thriller Rebel Cheer Squad , a sequel to Get Even . The drama consisted of eight episodes, which premiered on BBC iPlayer on 8 February 2022. [8] The series was filmed at Bolton School. [9]
In March 2022, it was announced that O'Shea had joined the cast of the British soap opera Hollyoaks as Nadira Valli, a matchmaker and love interest and old childhood friend for Shaq Qureshi (Omar Malik). O'Shea called joining the soap a "surreal" experience and had watched it growing up. [10] O'Shea described Nadira as having "huge heart, a sarcastic mouth and a lot going on in her mind". [10] O'Shea related to the character and was happy to be making the representation onscreen more authentic, adding that as a child she would not have believed that she would see a "Brown Queer woman playing a Brown Queer character" on a national television show. [1]
O'Shea made her first appearance as Nadira on 24 March of that year. [10] [11] During O'Shea's time on the soap, Nadira's storylines on the soap have included her engagement to Shaq, an affair with Juliet Nightingale (Niamh Blackshaw), [12] [13] [14] being outed on her wedding day, a romantic relationship with Lacey Lloyd (Annabelle Davis), being manipulated by Rayne Royce (Jemma Donovan), [15] becoming a suspect in Rayne's murder [16] and having a sexual encounter with Camilla Bassington-Hart (Dylan Morris). [17] O'Shea also portrayed Nadira in a special Hollyoaks episode focussing on LGBTQ+ solidarity, which was broadcast in November 2023. [18] [12] Speaking about the episode, O'Shea explained in an interview that she was glad that the episode highlighted the experiences of LGBTQ+ people, especially as she is a Brown Queer woman herself. [12] O'Shea, alongside her co-star Davis, later departed Hollyoaks and last appeared on 10 January 2024, with her exit not being announced beforehand. [19] O'Shea was happy that her character had a "happy ending". [20] When reporting on the departure, Asyia Iftikhar from PinkNews called Nadira and Lacey an "important LGBTQ+ couple". [21]
Following her departure from Hollyoaks, O'Shea returned to theatre and portrayed "confident" character Kayleigh in The Lesson, which was performed at Theatre503 in early 2024. [2] [22] O'Shea also portrayed Ursula Wilson in the television series The Crow Girl , which was released in 2025. [2] In 2025, O'Shea played the role of Jaz in the LGBTQ play comedy play Puppy, which was performed at the King's Head Theatre from 1–27 April 2025. [23] O'Shea considered her experience "dreamy" and said that she related to her character's "search for community", adding, "As a queer brown woman there are plenty of spaces that have presented themselves to me as inclusive and safe, yet have turned out to be quite the opposite". [24]