Bairbre Dowling

Bairbre Dowling (born Barbara Patricia Dowling; 27 March 1953 – 20 January 2016) was an Irish actress. She appeared in films, frequently on the American stage and on US TV as well as in Irish productions. Early life Dowling was born in Dublin, the daughter of actor Vincent Dowling and actress Brenda Doyle (who died in a motorcycle collision in 1981). She had three sisters, Louise, Valerie and Rachael, and a half-brother, Cian. Irish politician Richard Boyd Barrett was Dowling's biological half-brother, though this fact was not made public until after Vincent Dowling's death in 2013. Career Stage In 1970 Dowling was part of the company at the Abbey Theatre, where she appeared in The Becauseway (1970) and Rites (1973). In 1977 she worked with her father at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. She shared the stage with her husband Colm Meaney in And a Nightingale Sang in 1985. She was seen on Broadway in Da by Hugh Leonard. In 2011 she appeared in a play by playwright Teresa Deevy, Temporal Powers, a Mint Theatre production presented as part of the Teresa Deevy project.