Ciarán Owens (Class of 2011)

Ciarán’s early fascination as a spectator of theatre soon developed into an irrepressible desire to perform, and in the later years of primary school and for the entirety of his secondary education, he exploited any possible opportunity to participate in the world for which he had caught the bug. Ciarán acted in every school play he could and later, in sixth form, wrote and directed two plays, both of which won prizes within the school.

Acting really became the only thing Ciarán could comprehend as a career choice when he was 16. He auditioned successfully for the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and within a year had been cast in the lead role for Barrie Keefe’s new play, Still Killing Time at the Soho Theatre. It was the reality of performing for the first time in such a theatre, later only to be topped by playing to a full house on the hallowed Old Vic stage, which confirmed that he had to pursue acting for the rest of his life.

NYT have since cast him in three more plays at the Soho, and their faith in him gave him the confidence to audition for drama school, and start the ball rolling for pursuing a professional career in acting.

Ciarán auditioned for the Three-Year Course at LAMDA aged 18. LAMDA saw something in him and offered him a place on the Foundation Course, which he completed in September 2008.

Ciarán feels that his year at LAMDA taught him invaluable lessons about himself, both as an actor and as a person. The wonderful experience he had at the Academy made it clear that LAMDA is the only school for him. In July 2008 Ciarán was chosen to audition for the Genesis Bursary and was one of the two successful candidates. Ciarán embarked on his first year of LAMDA’s Three-Year BA (Hons) Professional Acting Course in September 2008 as a Genesis Scholar.

In August/September 2008, shortly prior to beginning his LAMDA Course, Ciarán performed in the NYT’s Summer Repertoire at Soho Theatre, winning rave reviews in the Guardian for his ‘strong performance’ in Eating Ice-Cream on Gaza Beach.

Ciaránappeared at the Soho Theatre in the National Youth Theatre's production of Eye/Balls by Sarah Solemani during his last summer holiday.  He was directed by Gbolahan Obisesan, a beneficiary from the Genesis Foundation's Young Vic Directors Project.

Ciarán is represented by Hatton McEwan.

LAMDA Genesis Scholars homepage.