Catherine O'Hara

Catherine Anne O'Hara (March 4, 1954 – January 30, 2026) was a Canadian and American actress and comedian, whose career spanned over 50 years. O'Hara started in sketch and improvisational comedy in film and television before taking dramatic roles to expand her career. She received various accolades including two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. Her films have grossed more than billion worldwide. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2017.

O'Hara began her career in a starring role on the CBC Television children's television sitcom Coming Up Rosie in 1975, and came to prominence in the sketch comedy series Second City Television (SCTV; 1976–1984), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. She gained acclaim acting in films such as After Hours (1985), Heartburn (1986), Beetlejuice (1988), Home Alone (1990), and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). She acted in the Christopher Guest mockumentary films Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006). She voiced roles in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Chicken Little (2005), Over the Hedge, Monster House (both 2006), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), Frankenweenie (2012), Elemental (2023), and The Wild Robot (2024).

Appearing opposite Eugene Levy, a frequent castmate in SCTV and Guest's films, O'Hara experienced a career resurgence for her role as Moira Rose in the CBC sitcom Schitt's Creek (2015–2020), earning a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. She was also Emmy-nominated for her roles in the HBO television film Temple Grandin (2010), the HBO drama series The Last of Us (2025), and the Apple TV+ comedy series The Studio (2025). She also acted in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under (2003–2005) and the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017–2019).

Early life Catherine Anne O'Hara was born on March 4, 1954, into a Catholic family of Irish descent in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and grew up there. She was the sixth of seven children born to Margaret Ann and Marcus Charles O'Hara. Her elder sister Mary Margaret is a musician and actress. In 1974, O'Hara graduated from Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute, where she was taught by future Mississauga mayor Carolyn Parrish.

Career 1974–1987: Breakthrough with SCTV O'Hara started her comedy career in 1974 as a cast member of The Second City (SC) in her hometown, Toronto. Her brother Marcus was also a performer with the company. She originally worked as an understudy and in the Sunday night cast of alternates which performed when the main company had the night off. She then joined the touring company of Second City, and had her big break replacing an ailing Rosemary Radcliffe in the lead female part when this touring group was in Chicago. By 1976 O'Hara was SC's resident leading female comic.

In 1976 SC created the sketch comedy show Second City Television (SCTV), for which O'Hara became a regular performer. She was long rumoured to have left SNL due to conflicts with volatile writer Michael O'Donoghue, but O'Hara denied these claims and said she had left the show due to her dislike for living in New York City.

O'Hara expanded her career on television in the mid-1970s. She appeared in a small sketch role as a maid in a 1975 Wayne and Shuster special on CBC. She appeared in the 1976 television film The Rimshots, the children's television series Coming Up Rosie for a season (1976–77), and television specials, such as Witch's Night Out and Intergalactic Thanksgiving. Her performances on SCTV, which began airing locally in Southern Ontario in the fall of 1976, earned her fame in Canada. The show gradually built up a national and then an international following in syndication. O'Hara left SCTV for a time, missing the 1980–81 season, but returned to the show in time for its pickup by the NBC television network in the US, when it became known as SCTV Network 90. O'Hara's work as a writer on the show earned her an Emmy Award for outstanding writing and three Emmy Award nominations. She left SCTV again prior to its fifth season in 1982, but did return for occasional guest appearances through the show's end in 1984. O'Hara appeared in a number of television series and television films and continued to work in television for the rest of her life.

1988–2014: Prominence in film During the 1990s, she made guest appearances on Tales from the Crypt, Oh Baby, Morton & Hayes, and The Larry Sanders Show. She acted in and directed episodes of Dream On and The Outer Limits, the revival of the 1960s series of the same name. O'Hara guest-starred on top-rated television series including Six Feet Under and Curb Your Enthusiasm. In May 2008, it was announced that she had signed on to star in the upcoming ABC dramedy Good Behavior. Her role in the 2010 television film Temple Grandin earned her three award nominations: a Primetime Emmy Award, a Satellite Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

O'Hara had a successful career in film. She made her feature debut in the 1980 film Double Negative, which also starred her SCTV co-stars John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Joe Flaherty. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, O'Hara appeared in many supporting roles, including Martin Scorsese's After Hours (1985) and Heartburn (1986). She appeared as Delia Deetz in the horror-comedy film Beetlejuice (1988). In 1990, O'Hara had roles in the films Dick Tracy and Betsy's Wedding. She starred as Kate McCallister in the blockbuster comedy film Home Alone (1990) and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). That same year, O'Hara appeared in the comedy There Goes the Neighborhood.

O'Hara continued to appear in many films during the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century. In 1994, she appeared in the comedy-drama film The Paper and the Western film Wyatt Earp. She received roles in four of Christopher Guest's mockumentary films, three of which earned her awards and nominations: Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006). Her role in 1999's The Life Before This won her a Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. She appeared in the tenth series of the British version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? In 2004, she appeared with Jim Carrey in the black comedy film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and in 2006, she starred with Christina Ricci in the fantasy film Penelope. O'Hara served as a voice artist in a number of animated films, including Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Bartok the Magnificent (1999), Chicken Little (2005), Over the Hedge (2006), Monster House (2006), Brother Bear 2 (2006), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), and Frankenweenie (2012).

2015–2025: Schitt's Creek and other roles

From 2015 to 2020, O'Hara co-starred as Moira Rose in the CBC sitcom Schitt's Creek, alongside Eugene Levy, with whom she had previously worked on TV, in films, and as a Second City cast member on stage in 1974. Her performance in Schitt's Creek earned her six Canadian Screen Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She swept the five major TV awards for the sixth and final season, winning a TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy, a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series. During this time she also starred in The Addams Family (2019), Extinct (2021), Elemental (2023), and The Wild Robot (2024).

She appeared as Dr. Georgina Orwell in the first season of the Netflix black comedy drama series A Series of Unfortunate Events, which premiered in 2017. Two of her episodes were directed by her husband Bo Welch, who served as production designer for the series. She was the only cast member from the 2004 film adaptation to be re-cast in the TV series as well. She appeared on the revival of another Canadian sketch comedy staple, The Kids in the Hall, in its second episode as Charlene, a friend of the Kids in the Hall. O'Hara reprised her role as Delia Deetz in the Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, in 2024.

In 2025, O'Hara had a main role in the Apple TV+ satirical comedy series The Studio, for which she won both the Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series and the Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, at the Actor Awards' March 2026 ceremony; show co-creator Seth Rogen accepted the awards on O'Hara's behalf. She was the first woman to win any individual Actor Awards (or, as previously called, Screen Actors Guild Awards) trophy posthumously. She guest-starred as Gail Lynden in the second season of the HBO post-apocalyptic drama series The Last of Us. She received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for both roles. O'Hara's film appearances contributed to a cumulative worldwide box‑office gross of more than billion.

Personal life

Marriage and family In 1983, O'Hara told Rolling Stone magazine that she was "pretty much a good Catholic girl at heart". In 1988, O'Hara met production designer and director Bo Welch on the set of Beetlejuice. The couple married in 1992. Their sons were born in 1994 and 1997.

O'Hara held dual Canadian and American citizenship.

Illness and death O'Hara had dextrocardia with situs inversus, a rare condition in which the heart and other major internal organs are reversed from their normal positions. She contracted COVID-19 while filming The Studio. She admitted to not getting tested so the crew could finish shooting on location, and she did not inform her coworkers of her condition.

On January 30, 2026, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department said that the department had received a call from O'Hara's home in Brentwood, Los Angeles regarding a woman experiencing difficulty breathing. She was then hospitalized "in serious condition", and died that day at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 71. The cause of death was later revealed to be from a pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer as the underlying cause. Her funeral was held on February 14, 2026, and tributes were made to O'Hara globally.

Acting credits Film Year Title Role Notes 1980 Nothing Personal Audrey Deadly Companion Judith 1983 Rock & Rule Aunt Edith (voice) 1985 After Hours Gail 1988 Beetlejuice Delia Deetz Betsy's Wedding Gloria Henner Home Alone Kate McCallister 1992 There Goes the Neighborhood Jessica Lodge A Simple Twist of Fate April Simon 1995 Tall Tale Calamity Jane 1996 Waiting for Guffman Sheila Albertson 1997 Pippi Longstocking Mrs. Prysselius (voice) 1999 The Life Before This Sheena Bartok the Magnificent Ludmilla (voice) Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed BigLorna Mae Loon (voice)Short film 2002 Orange County Cindy Beugler Searching for Debra Winger Herself Documentary 2003 A Mighty Wind Mickey Crabbe Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Justice Strauss 2005 Game 6 Lillian Rogan Chicken Little Tina (voice) For Your Consideration Marilyn Heck Where the Wild Things Are Judith (voice) 2011 A Monster in Paris Madame Carlotta (voice) The Right Kind of Wrong Tess 2014 When Marnie Was There Old Marnie (voice) English-language dub 2015 Being Canadian Herself Documentary 2019 The Addams Family Grandma Frump (voice) 2021 Extinct Alma (voice) 2023 Elemental Brook Ripple (voice) 2024 Argylle Ruth Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Delia Deetz The Wild Robot Pinktail (voice) Final film role 2025 John Candy: I Like Me Herself Documentary 2026 Marty, Life Is Short Herself Documentary posthumous release

Television Year Title Role Notes 1975 Wayne and Shuster Various Episode: "1975 Show #2" 1975–1977 Coming Up Rosie Marna Wallbacker Main role 1976 The Rimshots Maggie Retooled as Custard Pie with a different cast 1976–1984 SCTV Various Main cast (Seasons 1, 2 & 4), guest (Seasons 5 & 6) Also writer; seasons 1, 2, 4 & 6, and The Best of SCTV You've Come a Long Way, Katie Chris Dougherty Miniseries 1984 The New Show Various 3 episodes Really Weird Tales Theresa Sharpe Episode: "I'll Die Loving"; Also writer Andrea Martin... Together Again Various Television special; Also writer; special material 1990 The Dave Thomas Comedy Show Various Episode: "#1.5" 1991 1992 Saturday Night Live Herself / Host Episodes: "Catherine O'Hara / R.E.M." "Catherine O'Hara / 10,000 Maniacs" 1992 The Larry Sanders Show Herself Episode: "The Talk Show Episode" 2001 Committed Liz Larsen (voice) Main role 2003–2005 Six Feet Under Carol Ward 4 episodes 2010 Temple Grandin Aunt Ann Television film 30 Rock Pearline Episode: "Governor Dunston" To My Future Assistant Magda Television film 2015 What Lives Inside Sarah Delaney Miniseries 2015–2020 Schitt's Creek Moira Rose Main role; Also consulting producer; seasons 2–6 2016 Sofia the First Morgana (voice) Episode: "Gone with the Wand" Harvey Beaks Miley Page (voice) 2 episodes; "The Case of the Missing Pancake" and "Mr. & Mrs. Borks" 2017–2018 A Series of Unfortunate Events Dr. Georgina Orwell 3 episodes 2020 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Herself 2 episodes 2022 Central Park Gwendolyn Swish (voice) Episode: "The Paige-riarchy!" The Kids in the Hall Charlene Episode 6.2 The Last of Us Gail Lynden 3 episodes; season 2

Music videos Year Title Artist(s) Role 2024 "Electric Energy" Ariana DeBose, Boy George, Nile Rodgers Herself

Video games Year Title Role 2024 Disney Speedstorm Sally (voice) 2024 Disney Dreamlight Valley Sally (voice) For 2021, O'Hara was named honorary mayor of Brentwood, Los Angeles.

On March 1, 2026, O'Hara won a posthumous award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Comedy Series at the 32nd Actor Awards for her performance on The Studio. Seth Rogen, co-creator of The Studio, accepted the award on her behalf. In his remarks, he described her as a dedicated collaborator who frequently sent thoughtful emails the night before filming, offering suggested revisions to scenes. Rogen stated that O’Hara “showed that you could be a genius and you could be kind.”