Siobhán Cullen: ‘Bodkin made me question the ethics of storytelling – there’s a fine line between news and content’

From a starring role in the Abbey Theatre to a Netflix series and Ifta award, the Dublin actress is having a moment. She talks about splitting her time between London and Ireland, true crime and accidentally yelling at Lily Gladstone

Siobhán Cullen won this year's Ifta Rising Star award. Photo: Wil Coban

Saoirse Hanley

Actress Siobhán Cullen has recently played two brooding journalists — in RTÉ’s black comedy Obituary and Netflix hit Bodkin — and clearly excels at being the strong, gruff type on-screen. Off-set she is anything but. In the foyer of Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, she greets me with a warm smile and a handshake. Perhaps she recognised the brooding journalist in me, too. She soon clarifies that the casting coincidence was exactly that, a coincidence.

“They weren’t necessarily parts that I thought would be coming my way. But like, I didn’t expect to be playing a serial killer [in Obituary]. I didn’t think that would probably be obvious casting for me. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I haven’t had too many investigative journalists — I haven’t been under the scrutiny of the investigation just yet,” she says with a laugh, looking around as if to spot some lurkers in the theatre’s cafe.