Sínann Fetherston speaks with Dublin actor Niamh Moriarty about her upcoming project with Sharon Horgan, life on set as a wheelchair user, and her work in disability advocacy.
Niamh Moriarty is booked and busy. As well as being a wheelchair user advocating for on-screen diversity and disability inclusion, the Dublin-born actor is adding Netflix and Amazon credits to her CV, all while gearing up to star opposite Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen in a hotly-anticipated BBC One drama. Not to mention getting through Transition Year.
At just 16 years of age, the Irish teenager is promoting her role in Best Interests, a BBC drama series written by BAFTA-winning writer Jack Thorne, and starring Sharon Horgan, Michael Sheen, and Alison Oliver.
The story centers around a legal battle surrounding a girl called Marnie (played by Moriarty) who has a life-threatening condition, shining a light on just some of the complex issues the disabled community faces.
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As someone who is part of that community (Niamh was diagnosed with a form of Cerebral Palsy in her legs called Spastic Diplegia aged three and now uses a wheelchair), the teenager was determined to approach this story with exceptional care and passion.
"The project itself was so important to me. From the moment I read the first script, I just fell in love. I got really territorial over it so quickly," she admits.
"It started with a lot of research for me. Obviously, she does have a different condition to me - she has a form of Muscular Dystrophy - so it was very important to me that it be represented accurately. It's a big pet peeve of mine when people don't do their research in that type of scenario."
Speaking with families of those affected by MD as well as various organisations, Moriarty says she researched the physical aspects of the character thoroughly before bringing her own experiences to the part.
"I was able to bring my own personal experience of living with a disability," she explains, "and how that can change your perspective in life, whilst also representing the physical aspects of her disability properly. I was able to bring my life experience and her physical experience together - and it merged very well."
As well as depicting characters with disabilities, the actress says she is a passionate advocate for those in need of representation in the film industry, and hopes to see more diverse roles and opportunities in projects going forward.
"I am a wheelchair user," she explains. "That is something that has been more of a choice for me over the past few years; I find that I have a lot more independence in a chair than I do if I was trying to walk around with the aid of crutches. So, I am a wheelchair user and I advocate for people to be represented on screen, and I really hope that I'll be able to help our industry be more inclusive."
"I've been fortunate enough to be on many sets in my life," she adds, "and the BBC was one of the best sets that I have ever worked on. From the moment that I got the part, they were very open to discussions about what they could do to help make my life and my parents' lives easier in terms of helping me get around."
"At the time of filming, I had the only wheelchair-accessible trailer in the UK, so they were able to secure that for me which was really quite impressive given the demand. Thankfully, thanks to the brilliant work of Jack Thorne - the legend and the icon - and his work with a UK company called the TV Access Project there are now many more.
"They're bringing a disability revolution to the UK industry and I'm hoping to carry that over to the Irish industry."
Niamh's next role will see her play Daisy in Amazon’s Silver, a film based on the popular novel series of the same name by Kerstin Gier. The Irish teen is part of a cast of breakout stars including Jana McKinnon (Bad Behaviour), Rhys Mannion (It Is In Us All), and Chaneil Kular (Sex Education).
"That was my first experience on a very large-scale film set which was really cool to witness," she says. "That was my first time being able to represent someone with a disability in a sci-fi fantasy world, that I hadn't really seen before, so I'm hoping people can connect with that."
As a born storyteller, Niamh hopes to inspire creatives in the industry to write a variety of stories for a variety of people. And if they won't do it, she will.
"I'm trying to write my own material because the work is not out there for people with disabilities yet. If it's not there you have to make it yourself and I would like to offer that opportunity to other disabled creatives."
"Something that really interests me is the view of disability in history," she adds, reflecting on the kind of roles she hopes to play in the future. "I've not seen it represented a lot and I would love to bring more of that to people's screens. I would love to learn more about disabled people in history because they did exist, we just don't talk about them."
"I'm also just trying to write stories that properly represent the disabled perspective because I think there is something special about how someone who sits on the sidelines for a lot of their life views the world and views people."
