TV star Aoibhin Garrihy has revealed how starring in Fair City has stopped her getting work – due to snobbiness about the show.
The Dublin actress admits that while viewers adore the RTE show and other soaps, when it comes to castings it works against her.
She said: “There is always a snobbery about soaps. Not from the viewers, you’d never get comments, even when people are drunk or rowdy and you meet them out.
“I never had a bad episode with anyone. You do get a sense of it within the industry that you might find it hard to get seen for things because you’re on TV every night.
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“The fame that comes with starring in a soap is a different sort of fame. You’re instantly recognisable by sheer force of exposure, you’re associated with your character and with a broader character base who have been Irish people’s lives for 25 years now.”
And Aoibhinn – who is currently starring in Pride and Prejudice at the Gate Theatre – admitted it can be extremely tough when she goes to auditions and it means she loses out.
The 27-year-old admits you “really have to work at your mental health”, and says she knows actors who are “battling every day” like Robin Williams before his suicide.
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“You’re always going for auditions. I had one yesterday, I had one today. It’s embarrassing if you don’t get these things,” she told the Irish Independent.
“You’re constantly looking for work, auditioning, reading scripts, flexing those muscles. The average person goes for four interviews in their life, you’re doing that in a week. It chips away at you and you really have to work at your mental health, you really do.
“Look at Robin Williams, and so many actors I know are battling every day. If I don’t get up and go for a run you find yourself just lounging around.”
