Moorehall boy to star in Chris O’Dowd comedy

AIMING FOR THE MOONE Ian O’Reilly (12) from Moorehall, Ballyglass, pictured here with his speech and drama teacher Eleanoir Cazabon-Regan, will star as Padraic in a new comedy series on Sky One, Moone Boy.

Moorehall boy to star with Chris O’Dowd in comedy


Edwin McGreal

A 12-year-old boy from Moorehall, Ballyglass is one of the stars of a new comedy series set to appear on Sky One.
Ian O’Reilly plays the role of Padraic in Chris O’Dowd’s Moone Boy, a semi-autobiographical series looking at O’Dowd’s time as a 12-year-old in his hometown in Boyle, Co Roscommon.
O’Dowd, a world renowned comedy actor, will star in the series he has written whilst others who will perform in the show include Steve Coogan and Johnny Vegas. O’Dowd has co-written the show with Nick Murphy.
Ian O’Reilly plays the role of Padraic, Chris O’Dowd’s 12-year-old self’s best friend while O’Dowd plays the role of his own character’s imaginary friend and Johnny Vegan plays the role of Padraic’s imaginary friend.
Ian was picked to perform after appearing at three sets of auditions from a starting list of over 1,000 young performers. He is a member of the All Stars Academy of Performing Arts (drama/ballet) in Ballyheane and when The Mayo News caught up with him last week, he was taking it all in his stride.
He described O’Dowd, who featured in the hit movie Bridesmaid as an Irish cop, as ‘very nice and down to earth’ and is really looking forward to working with O’Dowd, Vegas and Coogan.
Filming for the six-part series is taking place this week in Wicklow with outdoor filming on location in Boyle.
He said that he only became interested in acting when his friends at Carnacon National School, Sarah and SiobhΡn, convinced him to come along with them to the All Stars classes in Ballyheane where his speech and drama teacher has been Eleanoir Cazabon-Regan.
That was 18 months ago and he played the part of The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz in an All Stars production in Claremorris a year ago but has now made a real name for himself.
However it’s fair to say he won’t be allowing the expected success of the show go to his head. When asked if he sees his career as an actor, his answer is a very perceptive one.
“It is something I would love to do but I’m aware that it doesn’t always work out like you want so I’d like to have something to fall back on too,” he admitted.
Ian is a son of John and Katie O’Reilly from Moorehall.