Karen O’Leary

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Biography

Karen O'Leary is a New Zealand schoolteacher, comedian, and actor, best known for appearing in the film What We Do in the Shadows, and it's TV spin-off show Wellington Paranormal.

Karen earned a bachelor's degree in Education from Victoria University, and worked as an early childhood teacher in Wellington.

Her acting career began when a casting director who happened to be a parent of one of the children she was teaching encouraged her to audition for a part in the 2014 film What We Do in the Shadows. Karen was cast as Officer O'Leary in the film, a role which she then reprised in the spin-off television series Wellington Paranormal, which ran for four seasons between 2018 and 2022.

She also appeared as a police officer in the 2018 comedy film The Breaker Upperers, and in an episode of the unscripted comedy series Educators (2019), and then appeared as a member of campus security in the film Millie Lies Low (2021).

In 2020, she presented educational activities on Home Learning TV, a dedicated New Zealand television channel for children learning at home due to school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic. She also appeared as Principal Kathleen Morris in the web series The Eggplant.

In 2022, she appeared as a contestant in season 22 of the game show Treasure Island, and remained on the island for 20 days.

In 2023, she appeared as a contestant on Guy Montgomery's comedy panel show, Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, and played the roles of Marty and Barbs in the mini TV series Bouncers.

[Source: Wikipedia and IMDb, 29/05/2023.]