William Michael Joseph Whelan is an Irish composer and musician. He is best known for composing a piece for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The result, "Riverdance", was a seven-minute piece of original music accompanying a new take on traditional Irish stepdance that became a full-length stage production and spawned a worldwide craze for Irish traditional music and dance. The corresponding soundtrack album earned him a Grammy. "Riverdance" was released as a single in 1994, credited to "Bill Whelan and Anúna featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra". It reached number one in Ireland for 18 weeks and number nine in the UK. The album of the same title reached number 31 in the album charts in 1995.
Michael Daniel Higgins is an Irish politician, poet, broadcaster and sociologist who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since 2011. Entering national politics through the Labour Party, he served as a senator from 1973 to 1977 having been nominated by the Taoiseach. Elected in 1981 as a Teachta Dála (TD), he represented the Galway West constituency from 1981 to 1982 and 1987 to 2011. Between these terms, he returned to Seanad Éireann from 1983 to 1987 as a senator for the National University. He served as minister for arts, culture and the Gaeltacht from 1993 to 1997 and mayor of Galway from 1981 to 1982 and 1990 to 1991. Higgins was the president of the Labour Party from 2003 to 2011, until he resigned following his election as president of Ireland.
Brendan Gleeson is an Irish actor and director. He has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, two British Independent Film Awards and three IFTA Awards, along with nominations for an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards and five Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, he was listed at number 18 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors. He is the father of actors Domhnall Gleeson and Brian Gleeson.
Audrey Carville is an Irish journalist. She is one of the presenters of Morning Ireland, a breakfast news programme on RTÉ Radio One. She previously presented the current affairs programme The Late Debate on the same station.
Lorcan "Larry" Gogan was an Irish broadcaster working for RTÉ. He was a disc jockey on RTÉ Gold having previously worked on RTÉ 2fm. His show was The Golden Hour, during which he played old favourites and classic songs from yesteryear. Gogan spun the first disc on Radio 2, "Like Clockwork" by The Boomtown Rats. Louis Walsh described him as one of "the kings of Irish broadcasting".
Maeve Anna Higgins is a comedian from Cobh, County Cork, Ireland and is based in New York. She was a principal actor and writer of the RTÉ television production Naked Camera, as well as for her own show Maeve Higgins' Fancy Vittles. Her book of essays We Have A Good Time, Don't We? was published by Hachette in 2012. She wrote for The Irish Times and produces radio documentaries. She previously appeared on The Ray D'Arcy Show on Today FM. She is a regular panelist on the NPR radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Higgins appeared in her first starring film role in the 2019 Irish comedy Extra Ordinary.
Fintan Connolly is an Irish film director, screenwriter and producer living in Dublin. Much of his earlier work was in television documentaries which explored social issues in Ireland. He has also made films, including Flick (2000), Trouble with Sex (2005), Eliot & Me (2012) and Barber (2023) through his production company Fubar Films.
Aisling Walsh is an Irish screenwriter and director. Her work has screened at festivals around the world and she has won several accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award for Room at the Top (2012) as well as an Irish Film and Television Award and a Canadian Screen Award for her direction of Maudie (2016). She is known for her "unflinching honest portrayals of a Catholic Irish society".
Kelly Gough is an Irish actress, known for her role as Kate Kelly in the RTÉ series Raw. From 2019 to 2020, she appeared in the BBC medical drama Casualty as Violette Spark.
Emma Eliza Regan is an Irish actress who has appeared in Irish feature films The Fading Light (2009), Love Eternal (2013), Darkness on the Edge Of Town (2014), and Penance 2018, and on television in Aisling's Diary (2009), Jack Taylor (2012), and Vikings (2020).
Leonard Ian Abrahamson is an Irish film and television director. He is best known for directing independent films Adam & Paul (2004), Garage (2007), What Richard Did (2012), Frank (2014), and Room (2015), all of which contributed to Abrahamson's six Irish Film and Television Awards.
The Lodgers is a 2017 Irish gothic horror film written by David Turpin and directed by Brian O'Malley. The film stars Charlotte Vega, Bill Milner, and Eugene Simon.
John Connors is an Irish Traveller actor, screenwriter, and documentary filmmaker and playwright best known for his role as Patrick Ward in the Irish crime drama series Love/Hate, for which he was nominated for best-supporting actor at the 2016 Irish film and television awards, and for Cardboard Gangsters, for which he won Best Actor at the 2018 Irish film and television awards.
Niamh Shaw is an Irish scientist, engineer, STEM communicator, writer, and performer.
Kevin McGahern is an Irish comedian, TV presenter, writer and actor. He is the former host of Republic of Telly between 2013 and 2017 and documentary series Kevin McGahern's America.
The Dingle International Film Festival was a film festival held annually in March that took place between 2007 and 2019 in Dingle, Ireland.
Úna Ní Dhonghaíle is an Irish film editor, who has worked on cinema and television projects.
Broken Law is a 2020 Irish crime drama film directed by short film maker Paddy Slattery. It stars Tristan Heanue, John Connors and Gemma-Leah Devereux. It was the result of a crowd-funding initiative from Slattery. It premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival in 2020, with Slattery winning an Aer Lingus Discovery Award for his work.
The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid is a 2017 Irish documentary film directed by Feargal Ward, concerning the legal struggle between a small farmer and the power of international corporations and government institutions.
Elva Trill is an Irish actress and singer. She is known for Line of Duty (2012) and Starstruck (2021). She is also one of the vocalists of the "indie four piece" band The City and Us.
