Ashling O'Shea

Ashling O'Shea is a British-Irish actress. She initially completed a university degree in Theatre Studies before performing in various stage and screen productions. O'Shea was later cast as Rumi Joshi, a main character of the eight-part television series Rebel Cheer Squad, which was released in 2022. From 2022 to 2024, O'Shea portrayed regular character Nadira Valli on the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. Following her departure from the soap, O'Shea performed in The Lesson at Theatre503 in early 2024, and portrayed Ursula Wilson in the 2025 television series The Crow Girl. In 2025, O'Shea had a leading role in the King's Head Theatre play Puppy.

Career O'Shea loved acting and wanted to be an actor from a young age, but did not think it was likely to happen. She went to complete a degree in Theatre Studies at university and was planning to go into Theatre therapy as a career. O'Shea then began acting professionally and trained "on the job", taking affordable acting classes whilst also working other jobs. O'Shea began working with Little Fish Theatre company, which gave her first acting role outside of university. Between 2017 and 2021, O'Shea performed in various theatre productions, including Keeping Faith, Dear Children, Sincerely, A Family Affair, Eris, A Missed Call Away and Chameleon, among others. The Irish play Eris was one of O'Shea's favourite theatre productions, due to being half-Irish herself and because it was performed at one of O'Shea's favourite theatres.

O'Shea made a guest appearance in the second series of the British medical crime drama Temple, which aired in 2021. That same year, O'Shea portrayed Ismene in Exeter Northcott Theatre's digital production adaptation of Antigone. O'Shea was also cast as a main character, Rumi Joshi, on the British teen thriller Rebel Cheer Squad, a sequel to Get Even. The drama consisted of eight episodes, which premiered on BBC iPlayer on 8 February 2022. The series was filmed at Bolton School.

In March 2022, it was announced that O'Shea had joined the cast of the British soap opera Hollyoaks as Nadira Valli, a matchmaker and love interest and old childhood friend for Shaq Qureshi (Omar Malik). O'Shea called joining the soap a "surreal" experience and had watched it growing up. O'Shea related to the character and was happy to be making the representation onscreen more authentic, adding that as a child she would not have believed that she would see a "Brown Queer woman playing a Brown Queer character" on a national television show. During O'Shea's time on the soap, Nadira's storylines on the soap have included her engagement to Shaq, an affair with Juliet Nightingale (Niamh Blackshaw), being outed on her wedding day, a romantic relationship with Lacey Lloyd (Annabelle Davis), being manipulated by Rayne Royce (Jemma Donovan), becoming a suspect in Rayne's murder and having a sexual encounter with Camilla Bassington-Hart (Dylan Morris). O'Shea also portrayed Nadira in a special Hollyoaks episode focussing on LGBTQ+ solidarity, which was broadcast in November 2023. O'Shea was happy that her character had a "happy ending". When reporting on the departure, Asyia Iftikhar from PinkNews called Nadira and Lacey an "important LGBTQ+ couple".

Following her departure from Hollyoaks, O'Shea returned to theatre and portrayed "confident" character Kayleigh in The Lesson, which was performed at Theatre503 in early 2024. O'Shea also portrayed Ursula Wilson in the television series The Crow Girl, which was released in 2025. O'Shea considered her experience "dreamy" and said that she related to her character's "search for community", adding, "As a queer brown woman there are plenty of spaces that have presented themselves to me as inclusive and safe, yet have turned out to be quite the opposite".

Personal life O'Shea is half Irish and also of Sri Lankan descent.

Credits Filmography Year Title Role Notes 2017 Screening Anna Short film 2019 Bed&Bridget Cleo Guest role 2021 Temple Claire Harris Guest role Antigone Ismene Digital Production 2022 Rebel Cheer Squad Rumi Joshi Main role 2022–24 Hollyoaks Nadira Valli Regular role 2025 The Crow Girl Ursula Wilson Television series

Theatre credits Year Production Venue Role 2015 My Name is Rachel Corrie Edinburgh Festival Fringe Rachel Corrie 2016 White (rehearsed reading) Mercury Theatre, Colchester Sahira 2017 Keeping Faith Bechdel Theatre Lana 17 to the Power of Three Little Fish Theatre Samreen Dear Children, Sincerely Project Ariadne Krishanthi Kumaraswamy/ Journalist/ Little Girl A Family Affair Vienna's English Theatre Zainab 2018 Eris Airlock, Bunker Theatre Callista Where the Lines Are Drawn Little Fish Theatre Amina/ Ollie 2019 Andromeda Nottingham Playhouse Anida Chameleon Southwark Playhouse Chameleon 2020 A Missed Call Away Southwark Playhouse Jamie 2021 Run(a)way Young Vic Mona 2024 The Lesson Theatre503 Kayleigh 2025 Puppy King's Head Theatre Jaz