Leah O’Rourke Jenny Joyce in hit comedy
Leah, best known for playing Jenny in Derry Girls, says she’s a huge fan of the show despite missing out on the lead female role to British actress Daisy Edgar-Jones.
The actress, who is now also working in a Fermanagh school part-time, said: “I absolutely loved the show, the casting was brilliant, my whole family watched it including me and my boyfriend, I thought it was a just a really fantastic show.
“It’s one of those shows that at the end of each episode you need to watch the next one, there’s very few shows like that for me.
“Normally I can watch the next episode another night but you literally ended up glued to it for hours just wanting to know what happens.
“The couple are so captivating you just wanted to know how things worked out for them,” she told the Sunday Life newspaper.
“I do think it took them a while to find the lead girl so I think a lot of actors will have auditioned for it as well as me, possibly the other Derry Girls might have done too.
“It was a good experience, it was a really short scene which wasn’t very detailed at all, again it was a bit like auditioning for Derry Girls in that you don’t really know how successful something is going to be when you’re at that stage.
“It was just one of many self-tapes that I was making so I never really thought about it again after I sent it off and then I watched the series and all the hype had taken off and people were blown away. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I auditioned for that!'”
Newry native Leah, who is best known for her portrayal of prim and proper prefect Jenny Joyce in Lisa McGee’s hugely successful Derry Girls, has recently taken a part-time job at a Fermanagh primary school after moving to the county with her boyfriend at the start of lockdown.
The 31-year-old confessed to loving life in the country and picking up character inspiration for season three of Derry Girls from some of her new students.
She added: “I had been a classroom assistant since 2016 and had been working at Lagan College in Belfast for the past year or so and was living there but my boyfriend is from Fermanagh and whenever lockdown started I moved down to be with him.
“Things in Fermanagh worked out really well and I said if I could get a job in a school I’d stay, so I applied to a school and luckily I got the job.
“I only do three hours a day because I still have to keep lots of free time if my agent sends me any scripts to learn or auditions and so on so it’s nice that it keeps me ticking over that way.
Jenny Joyce with the blackboard which was a huge hit in the second series with fans on the differences between Catholics and Protestants
“My mum and dad have always been really hard-working and I’ve always grown up having a job on the side as well as my acting. I love working with children and it just seemed like the right avenue for me.”
Leah is settling into Fermanagh well, admitting the “very peaceful” existence is a big change from living in London, where she was previously based.
“The people are really friendly here and take time to stop and chat to you whereas in London it was so fast-paced nobody had time for that but Fermanagh people are lovely, it’s a very chilled, laid-back sort of vibe down here,” she added.
“I love working in the school, the day goes in so quick.
“It’s very rewarding and also it has helped me with my part in Derry Girls, with the character, because I’m seeing schoolchildren every day and I’m immersed in that world every day.
“So it’s given me some ideas for Jenny seeing people who get on a similar way to her in the classroom, it’s pretty handy.
“The kids are lovely, it’s such a lovely school it really is, I’m there to support one student and that student is like a comedian, they make me laugh every day.
“I’m only in three hours in the morning so the day goes in very quick, all the staff have been lovely too.”
Filming for the third series of Derry Girls was put on hold in March when the Coronavirus pandemic struck.
Cameras were set roll in Derry City for the much awaited third series which had been due to aired later this year.
It is expected cast and crew could be back in the city towards the end of this year to start recording again with series three to be aired in 2021.
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