- Nuala Holloway
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Nuala Holloway Born Moate, Co. Westmeath, Ireland Website http://www.nualaholloway.com Nuala Holloway is an artist and academic and a former Miss Ireland, Irish actress and model.
Holloway was born in Moate, County Westmeath, Ireland. An Irish speaker, she received a BA from University College Dublin in modern and mediaeval Irish in 2004. She also received a BA in history of art, Italian and English from University College Dublin. In 2005, she completed her higher diploma in education as well as a qualification in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL).[1]
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Career as a Model
Shortly after completing secondary school Holloway became a fashion and photographic model. She gained national praise and attention in the late 1970s and 1980s for her work.[2] She appeared in magazines and newspapers, both in Ireland and abroad. In 1975, after winning the Miss Westmeath competition, she represented her country as Miss Ireland at the Miss International Beauty Pageant in Okinawa, Japan.[3] She is currently the only woman from Co. Westmeath to become Miss Ireland[4]
Career as an Actress
Throughout her modelling career, Nuala Holloway became an actress[5] and appeared in films, stage plays, TV dramas and commercials. She is a trained actress, having performed in various theatres including The Focus in Dublin, and with actress Deirdre O'Connell. (Wife of Luke Kelly)
In 1978, Holloway appeared in The First Great Train Robbery with Sean Connery. She also worked as a double for actress Lesley-Anne Down. She went onto to star in other projects including "The Flame Is Love", "The Year Of The French", "The Death of our Angels" and "Tailor Made".[citation needed]
She acted with Gabriel Byrne on Bracken and Pierce Brosnan on Manions of America. She also appeared in Silver Apples of The Moon, Anois is Arís and The Live Mike, (playing Sr. Concepta with Dermot Morgan).[citation needed]
Her stage acting career has included performances such as Sauce for The Goose (with RTÉ Players, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin), Meeting of the Ladies Club, The Importance of Being Earnest, Living Quarters (By Brian Friel), The Love Of The Nightingale (By Timberlake Wertenbacher - played the part of ‘The Queen’ at Players Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin), The Death of Cuchalainn (By W.B. Yeats - played lead part at the North American Theatre Festival, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A.)[citation needed]
Career as an Artist
Nuala Holloway uses oils, watercolours, pastels and pencil. Her works include portraits of Irish President Mary McAleese, journalist and author John Waters (columnist), Elvis Presley and golfers Pádraig Harrington and Seve Ballesteros, asd well as maritime, wildlife and scenery paintings.
Following secondary school, Holloway studied at the Crawford College of Art, Cork. Her studies were abandoned when she was encouraged to become a model. However, her interest in painting was rekindled later on. She studied under Kay Doyle A.N.C.A., President of the Watercolour Society of Ireland.[citation needed]
In November 1997, Holloway's painting "Coming Out of the wood - Seve Ballesteros" was chosen from 300 entries for the Dun Laoghaire / Rathdown Open Exhibition of 30 artists.
In April 1998, two of her paintings were chosen for the Dun Laoghaire exhibition - "Asgard II" and "Dun Laoghaire Harbour". This work was singled out for special mention by Peter Murray, Administrator of the Crawford Gallery, Cork. His comment was "An Artist of exceptional talent".[citation needed] Since then Ms. Holloway has completed a number of commissions and her work is now in private collections in Ireland, Britain and America.[citation needed]
In August 2006, she co-exhibited a selection of her art work with the poetry of writer, poet and Joycean scholar Leo Daly in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.[6]
In September 2006, Holloway returned to her home town for her first solo exhibition, "Inspirations" which was opened by writer and artist Don Conroy and Vera Hughes, a local historian. This was followed by an invitation to exhibit her work in Arklow, Co. Wicklow in the summer of 2007.[7]
In December 2007, her first solo Dublin exhibition took place at Airfield House, Dundrum. The exhibition, titled "Reflections", was opened by Senator Eoghan Harris who highlighted Ms. Holloway's ability to draw, which he finds an important skill in an artist.[citation needed] He also referred to the former Miss Ireland and model as "the Nigella Lawson of Irish artists", referring to the force and energy in her work, and the glamour of the artist herself.[8]
In November, 2008 Holloway held an art exhibition with another former Miss Ireland Jakki Moore in Dun Laoghaire.[9] The exhibition titled, 'The Magical World of Maritime' was a celebration of coral.[10] The exhibition was held in aid of the Chernobyl Children's Charity.
For the first official state visit to Ireland by President Barack Obama, The American Embassy in Dublin accepted an oil painting titled 'Faimine Ship - Jeanie Johnston' by Nuala Holloway to be presented to the President.[11]
References
- ^ The Westmeath Independent, December 2005
- ^ The Sunday World, September 2006
- ^ [1]
- ^ The Sunday Independent, November 2008
- ^ Internet Movie DataBase
- ^ The Westmeath Examiner, August 2006
- ^ The Irish Examiner, August 2007
- ^ The Westmeath Independent, December 2007
- ^ The Ticket, The Irish Times, November 2008
- ^ The Sunday Independent, November 2008
- ^ USA TODAY
External links
Categories:- Living people
- People from County Westmeath
- Irish female models
- Irish television actors
- Irish film actors
- Irish stage actors
- Irish painters
- Alumni of University College Dublin
- Irish women artists
- Women painters
- Miss Ireland winners
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