Spotlight On: Actress and writer Clare Dunne

Clare Dunne has become one of the most recognisable stars on Irish TV, thanks to her role as crime boss Amanda Kinsella in the hit RTÉ drama Kin.

The actress and writer is Goss.ie’s Spotlight On cover star for February, and in this exclusive interview she opens up about her humble rise from the stage to the big screen.

The 36-year-old grew up in Ballinteer in Dublin, and studied acting at Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

Clare appeared in a number of stage productions before she made her way into film and television.

However, her path to stardom has been far from plain sailing. 

Following a brief stint in New York for pilot season, where she experienced some “tough moments”, Clare found herself with her “back against the wall” in 2014.

Inspired by a close friend’s real life situation, Clare decided to put pen to paper and wrote the story behind her first feature film Herself, which was produced by Element Pictures.

Clare moved back to Dublin and survived on “very little money”, temporarily living with her sister and parents, until the film was eventually made in 2019.

Thankfully, her luck turned around as the movie was eventually released in September 2021 to critical acclaim – which nabbed her an IFTA for Best Screenplay. 

Clare co-wrote and starred in Herself, which told the story of Sandra, a young mum who is forced into homelessness with her two daughters in order to escape an abusive relationship.

That same month, Clare made her debut as criminal matriarch Amanda Kinsella in RTÉ’s hit gangland drama Kin.

Within a matter of days, she became a relatively unknown actress to a household hold name across Ireland.

The crime drama series, co-created by Peter McKenna and Ciaran Donnelly, ran for two seasons on RTÉ One with a stellar cast – including Clare, Aidan Gillen, Charlie Cox, Ciarán Hinds, and Emmett J. Scanlan.

Last year, it was reported that a third season of Kin had already been filmed, and that a fourth season had been commissioned.

However, there was doubt cast over the shows future after Bron Studios, the production company and financiers of Kin, filed for bankruptcy last July.

While fans were holding out hope that Kin would return, Clare told us they never filmed another season, and shared why she thinks season three “is not going to happen”. 

Now out of contract from Kin, the Dublin native teases whats next for her, and shares her big hopes for the future. 

Read our full chat with Clare below:

So Clare, I want to kick off this interview by going back to the beginning. Was acting always something you wanted to pursue and how did it all start?

“At first it was just something that my mam got me into, because you know when somebody asks you when you’re like 12 ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ And I just hadn’t a clue. But she told me that I loved telling stories and making people laugh in school, and I was getting in trouble for talking too much, so she was like, I think I’ll just send her to a drama thing. And that was sort of the beginning of it.

“At first I did those drama exams, but they didn’t suit me either because I think I was just real exploratory and wanted to be real free. Then I ended up in one where you did a lot more singing and improvising with Maeve Widger, she’s passed on now, but she actually taught so many working professional actors. She was incredible. She was very good at just drilling in some of the classic rules, like never be late and just do your prep. Just real humbling, sort of just do the work kind of thing. She was very ahead of her time, it was like a mini drama school.

“And then I was just in secondary school, and I did a Transition Year play and I ended up playing a fella. I played Will Parker in Oklahoma. It was gas craic. And that was kind of a real formative year for me because I changed secondary schools in the middle of my secondary school time. I made all these friends in fourth year that I’m still friends with today, and we just had a great time doing that show. It was amazing.

“And then I think it was the director of that, she was actually a professional working director, and she’d worked in London herself or something for years. I actually can’t even remember her name, which is terrible to say. All I remember is she sat me down and went ‘I’d never tell anyone to go into acting on purpose unless I actually really thought they were any good. You have it. You have the thing.’ And I remember being like, that’s amazing.

“And then I think I just had a couple of years after secondary school where I actually had gotten into Trinity, but I didn’t want to do anything academic so I did a PLC for a couple of years where I did all sorts of things to do with performing arts. Like, I did stage management, I did dance, I did singing… And then eventually I got into a drama school in Cardiff, Royal Welsh College, and that was kind of when I was like, okay I’m actually going to go for it now.

“I really had to decide to take it seriously because going away to study and all, you know, you’re really making a commitment to something then. That was kind of when I knew I was going to really commit. Once I got into a drama school, I thought I must have a good chance now.”

When did you start getting paid roles after you finished drama school? 

“At the start it was actually interesting because I got a job in theatre during third year, which I was allowed to do and they put it into my degree, and that was kind of how I got signed with an agent. But then it was sort of like I had six months of nothing. And during that time, I put on my own show in Smock Alley because I thought I wasn’t going to get any work.

“And then pretty much by December after I graduated, I started to get theatre work. And I was very lucky because I think I had a good bit of consistent theatre work for about two or three years where there was nearly no gaps, and then it was a bit more gappy, but it was like essentially theatre work throughout my mid 20s. It was only my late 20s I actually finally started to get the odd short film or a bit of screen stuff.

“And then it was just that thing of, like, I think it happens in acting where you just get known for some things. If you’re really more known for theatre, you’ll just keep getting theatre. So then you just have to really work hard to get the other side of it. Some people get lucky straight away, but I just didn’t. I don’t know what the rhyme or reason for it is.

“I know I have sometimes wondered was it like that I was so much in theatre acting that maybe I was not doing great audition tapes, but actually looking back, I think the amount of self tapes I get now, I actually just didn’t get a lot of opportunities to go for screen. They just weren’t coming in as much as time. So, yeah, there’s way more being made now.”

So everything kind of changed for you, I suppose, with your first feature film Herself. So how did that kind of come about?

“That came about by me still thinking I wasn’t going to crack into screen actually. I was kind of going for auditions in New York in 2014, trying out a bit of pilot season, and it was fine. Some of the stuff I was going for was good, some of it wasn’t.

“There was a confluence of things going on all at once that I think probably, as poet once said to me, my back was against the wall. You know those moments where you’re like, oh my God, it’s not happening. My dream, my ambition, everything is just… they’re saying no. And then I had to really question things for myself.”

“My back was against the wall…”

Clare, who was working as a waitress at the time in between auditions, recalled some “tough moments” in New York when people in the industry told her to get the birthmark on her eye removed.

“I wouldn’t give out about those people that said those things to me,” she said. “They were under pressure of their time, and just like ‘you got to be this, you got to be that’. And I was like, I can’t get an operation on my eye, like its going to scar. And I was like either way it’s going to look mental, so I’d rather have my birthmark.

“Then also, I was probably sometimes doing good auditions, sometimes doing bad. So I’m not saying it was all based on my looks, trust me, I’m sure I was messing up all over the place.

“But then what happened was a friend of mine was also going through something in Dublin at the time where she was getting evicted by her landlord, she couldn’t find anywhere to stay, and she had three kids.

“And I was really angry on her behalf and I was standing there in New York in this apartment, as I said in that moment with my back against the wall, literally and figuratively, and going, okay that can’t be the story of my friend’s life, and that shouldn’t be the story for anyone’s life. That they have to declare themselves homeless so they can get temporary accommodation, and they’re actually the most hardworking, amazing person ever. And then I was standing there going, Jesus like I’m standing here trying to get discovered in New York, and I’m just getting nothing but f***ing closed doors.

“And then I fantasised for a while that my friend could build her own house. And I was like, God imagine she could just do that. It’s just, like, wood and bricks, a bit of electrics and plumbing. Like, why did we make it so hard for herself? Very naively, I was just thinking of it like that.

“And then I just discovered this guy that built his own house for €25,000 in Ireland. And I was like, what? And he has the plans up online, so you can download them and do them yourself. People have built his house all over the planet. And then I just had this real eureka moment where I just thought of a story of a woman who builds a house for herself with that design against all odds in Dublin.

“And the next day I went for an audition, and straight after the audition I went and got the notebook that I still have in my little archive and just started instinctively writing, and then booked a flight for two weeks later to go home to Dublin and arranged my life so that I could live very cheaply and just self train as a writer and begin a journey. And that was it.”

Clare returned to Ireland and thankfully had family to take her in, as she candidly confessed she was surviving on very little money.

Looking back, she said: “I definitely had to be very savvy with my homing situation for many years because of the very little money I had trying to get that film started. When I look back, I can’t believe what I survived on money wise. I cannot f***ing believe it.”

“I thought of the idea [for Herself] in 2014, but we didn’t shoot it till 2019. So I had this thing very close to my heart for years that nobody really knew about. For a couple of years, I had some people that when I told them the idea they would say to me ‘you will never get that made’, or ‘that is a stupid idea, and that will never happen.’ And I just believed in it. And it wasn’t like I believed it in a fantasist way. I actually tried to forget about it, and I couldn’t.

“And then eventually, once I got Screen Ireland funding and then I got people interested, I just knew it would happen at some point. I couldn’t believe I got to play Sandra as well, because that was Phyllida’s idea. I was writing it with all these other actresses in mind, and Phyllida [Lloyd, the film’s director] said to Element Pictures like, ‘Look I’m only going to do this if Clare gets to play Sandra.’ And that was the best gift she ever gave me. So it was my chance to do a big role on screen, and that is the reason I got an audition for Kin.”

“I can’t believe what I survived on money wise. I cannot f***ing believe it…”

So you very much believe that your role in Herself helped you get that audition for Kin?

“Well, it did because I know it did. Like, they’d already offered it to two other girls who weren’t available. Oh yeah, it wasn’t me as first choice. And my agent Jonathan Shankey, who I will forever hail for this moment, just kind of said to the producers ‘I know you don’t know who Clare Dunne is yet, and you think God almighty she hasn’t done anything except a few short films – but I’m telling you now, you need to know this girl’.

“Then he got a link [to Herself] off Element Pictures and sent it to them and said ‘you need to watch this’. And then they made me audition, and then they made me audition a second time wearing fancier clothes.

“Like it was really hard to get that role, because the American execs had to be sold a future success. They had to really push it because I wasn’t a name. And I think I probably nailed it by the second audition just by really styling up as a version of Amanda and then going for it that way.”

Speaking about the “mental” reaction to Kin, Clare recalled a weekend in September 2021 when everything changed for her. 

Herself had finally been released to critical acclaim, and Kin premiered on RTÉ One to rave reviews.

Within a matter of days, Clare became a household name out of nowhere. 

“There was a weekend in September 2021, and it was [at home] on my own, and Kin and Herself had been released in the same weekend,” she said.

“So I just kind of went from being completely anonymous to, like, within a few days people saying hello to me on the street. And it was so mad, and I think I still don’t really get that people recognise me. I still don’t actually get it.”

“I think a lot of people like Amanda because she’s a bit like the shadow side of women or something, and she’s kind of got a no bulls**t thing that I think we all have. And I think the reaction to the show was just overall great.”

“I still don’t really get that people recognise me”

And did you take inspiration from anything in particular for Amanda’s character? 

“I mostly took it directly from the writing, and it was my instincts. Peter McKenna [the showrunner of Kin] also went for a big, long walk with me one day and kind of talked about his vision for that woman, because that series was actually being developed for years, and it used to be a lot more male focused. And then they just totally switched to going with Amanda.

“And then they just started realising they were creating a very specific, amazing female character. And they were really, like, they had such an idea for the tone of her and how she operates and everything. I had to really take notes, and actually I did do a bit of research on some stuff to do with the context of the show, like the gang world and drug stuff.

“But the whole point of Amanda is that she actually keeps away from it. And then when she sweeps in with her fresh eyes, not looking at it like the way they do, she f***ing cleans up, she looks at it like a businesswoman. So actually, I built her up from lots of ideas and listened to different podcasts and different things, but style wise, they did most of that stuff.”

“I was so naive starting that. I’d never done a TV series, and I got that as my first job, like talk about whopper.

“If it wasn’t for Charlie Cox on that set… like Charlie literally had to give me the 101 on TV acting and explain different things about camera set ups to me, as if I was in f***ing drama school. I was like ‘what was that you said Charlie?’

“I think I learned a lot from the first series in order to do second, and I think I probably got better in the second at delivering things a different way.

“However, then I realised when you give them those options, sometimes they’re going to pick the option that maybe you don’t like the most. Like there’s a lot of editing choices that can wreck your head. That’s probably why I’ve not watched series two.”

I know fans are absolutely dying for a third season of Kin but there are question marks over whether it will return. There were reports that a third season had already been filmed, is that true?

“No, we didn’t. The papers made it up at the time, I don’t know why they said that. There is no season three. I am not signed up for a season three. There’s no season three, please get that across.

“If they ring me for season three, you’ll know before I do. It’ll be announced before I even f***ing know.”

Would you be up for doing a third season if the opportunity came about? 

“It depends on what I have on the table by then, because I’m now out of contract. Like we’re not attached to it anymore so we can do what we want, which is why I think season three is not going to happen.

“I think if they could find a way to get Charlie Cox to do it again, fine, but I just don’t know if he can do it because he’s doing Daredevil, he’s got a lot going on, two small kids living over in America. It’s tough on him and Sam to move over here.

“I don’t know, look, you just never know with these things. But I just think right now it seems like a no.”

“Season three is not going to happen…”

While there appears to be no chance of Kin making a return to our screens, Clare has been busy in other aspects of her life. 

The Ballinteer native is currently in the process of moving house, after purchasing her first home.  

Clare confessed it’s “taken a long time to get there”, and said she was “delighted” and “honoured” to finally have a place to call her own. 

She’s also in the process of writing “a love story set in Ireland”, and is hoping to make her directorial debut with it. 

Looking back at what she’s achieved so far, I asked Clare to share the highlight of her career to date.

“I feel like over the last year or so, I just feel like I’m really starting to get a bit more consistent work. But I think one of the biggest highlights was probably the night I got the IFTA for the screenplay of Herself,” she said.

“It was when they couldn’t have the IFTAs in person, but we were allowed to have outdoor parties. My whole family got caterers and we had this massive marquee in the back garden. I went and rented a designer dress and we all were together after a long time not being together and celebrated that night, like whether I was going to win anything or not, we were going to celebrate kind of thing.

“And I think that was a moment where I realised what I’d achieved because I started out as an actress and my first IFTA was for writing, and it was presented to me as well by Jim Sheridan, which is ridiculously cool.”

And is there any particular low points that you can think of?

“Loads! The year I had like two months out twelve working. I’ve had years where I literally mostly just was a receptionist. There’s always going to be low points and high points when you’re in an artistic career. But looking back, I have to say, f***ing hell, all you have to do is stay in it. Just have the faith and stay in it.

“And honest to God, I look back at myself at various points in my 20s and early 30s, and I go f*** me, I’m really glad something in me just kept hanging on and had a faith that I’d be able to tell stories for a living. I’m really glad I hung on to that. But it is tough, like that’s tough on people. But I think if you’re meant to do it, you’re just going to do it.

“I’m trying to think of a particular moment, but I suppose that moment in New York when it literally felt like there was no way out. And you know what made me stay? I asked myself, ‘how much do I love film?’ And I was like, God I love it so much, like I love going to the cinema, I love the whole thing. And all I said to myself was like ‘right, what can I do to get on a film set?’ And I was like, my next best thing I can do is write. And I don’t know how to write screenplays, but I know I can write the story and a song. And that was it!”

“I’m really glad something in me just kept hanging on…”

You’ve already achieved so much, but is there anything left on your bucket list – professionally and personally?

“I want to do a big, massive comedy. I want to do some sort of thing where you sing or be in something that’s like a f***ing Beyoncé video. The thing that I always did at the start of my career was I wrote songs and I wrote comedies. I just want to get back into that and do it on screen.

“I think I do have to do something on stage that’s my own again soon, but a bit more ambitious and create a collaborative team and we just make something that’s really for this time, like a real zeitgeist piece for stage. Really want to do that.

“And then I also suppose on some level, like I’ve worked with some amazing actors, but I’d love to get a film that’s filmed in New York or in one of those famous kind of old school film territories. I’d love to just do something that’s like real New York or LA, that old school Hollywood thing, and just have that experience and work with a big A-list star and be like, this is what it’s like.

“And I’ve come close a few times and I’ve certainly been involved in films where there are big stars, but I didn’t actually work close with them, but I’d love to achieve that at some point in my life. That’d be amazing.”

And my final question, where do you hope to see yourself five years from now?

“All I ever want to say is like, just really comfy and happy and just like getting plenty of time. I’d love to have such a great life work balance that I just get to see way more of my family and friends.

“And also I would love to be part of more things to actually make deadly changes in the world. Like the good stuff, like looking after the soil and the oceans and the kids, the usual.”