Catherine Cusack


Catherine Cusack is a British actress. She is best known for portraying Nanny Carmel Finnan in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street in 1992 and 1993.

Early life and career

Cusack was born on 21 December 1968 in London, the half-sister of the actresses Sinéad Cusack, Sorcha Cusack and Niamh Cusack, and the fourth daughter of the Irish actor Cyril Cusack. Catherine's mother was her father's long-term mistress, Mary Rose Cunningham; Catherine was their only child together. Her parents married in 1979 after the death of her father's first wife. She is half-sister to theatre producer Pádraig Cusack and television producer Paul Cusack. She was accepted to study at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, but became a stage manager at the Tricycle Theatre in London. She made her professional debut in Brendan Behan's play The Hostage before making her television debut in the Doctor Who serial Paradise Towers. She performed on stage with her half-sister Sinéad Cusack in Our Lady of Sligo by Sebastian Barry at the National Theatre in London, the Gate Theatre, Dublin and the Irish Arts Centre in New York.
Catherine Cusack is married to the British actor Alex Palmer.

Selected filmography

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne ... as UnaFinding Neverland as Sarah

Selected stage roles

Mill on the FlossMoonlightThe Glass MenagerieBrighton RockThe SeagullBold GirlsYou Never Can TellPoor Beast in the RainAgnes of GodVeronica's RoomNothing SacredLes Liaisons DangereusesNow Is The HourThe Two-Character Play

Selected television roles

Doctor Who: Paradise Towers ... as Blue Kang LeaderSophia and Constance ... as ConstanceCoronation Street ... as Carmel Finnan Ballykissangel ... as Frankie SullivanThe Bill... as DawnJonathan Creek ... as Ashley FarrThe Chief... as Hilary ScottCadfael... as CatherineThe Open Window... as VeraDoctors ... as Connie Miller and Bronagh Athy