Cathleen McCarron

Cathleen McCarron is a Scottish film, television, theatre and audiobook actor and professional voice coach.

Cathleen McCarron
Born	Edinburgh
Education	Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Occupation(s)	Actor of Stage, Screen and Audiobook
Notable work	Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Career

Cathleen McCarron has appeared in a number of films, including Made of Honor; and had a recurring part as Molly Anderson in the television series The Bill.^[1]

She is particularly known for her audiobook acting, and has been described as "one of Audible's highest-rated narrators".^[2] She is widely known for her narration of Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, which is one of the best selling audiobooks of all time.^[3] She is included in The Times' "Isolation Special: The Best Audiobooks"^[4] and "31 Unmissable Audiobooks Narrated by Your Favourite Celebrities" in Stylist magazine.^[5]

McCarron is known for her clarity, range of accents and ability to portray a range of characters in a single book. As Fionnuala Barrett, senior audio editor at HarperCollins explained in Bookseller Stories Behind the Books of the Year,

The story [of Eleanor Oliphant] is told in the first person by Eleanor. She is tremendously particular when it comes to her use of language, and so I knew we required a reader with great precision to reflect that. At the same time, the narrator had to be versatile to do justice to the wide cast of characters in the story. Cathleen, with her training as an accent and vocal coach, fit the bill perfectly, and with her background as an actor she was able to balance the humour and the darkness of the story beautifully.^[6]

McCarron's work on Eleanor Oliphant established her as a narrator who can attract an audience. Barrett comments that "There are definitely [audio narrators] with a following", citing McCarron as an example.^[2]

Personal life

McCarron was born in Edinburgh and now lives in Stratford-upon-Avon.^[7]

Awards

• AudioFile Earphones Award Winner, Contemporary Culture, Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie (2019)^[8]
• AudioFile Earphones Award Winner, Mystery & Suspense, Broken Ground, Karen Pirie, Book 5 by Val McDermid (2018)^[9]
• Audie Award Winner, Fiction, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (2018)^[10]
• British Book Award Nominee for Best Audiobook, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (2018)
• AudioFile Earphones Award Winner, Fiction, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (2017)^[11]
• Audible Best of the Year, runner up, Fiction, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (2017)
• AudioFile Earphones Award Winner, Mystery & Suspense, Standing Still, Anderson and Costello, Book 8 by Caro Ramsay (2017)^[12]

Narrator work

• Trumpet by Jackie Kay
• The Red Road, Alex Morrow, Book 4 by Denise Mina
• Blood Salt Water, Alex Morrow, Book 5 by Denise Mina
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
• Under a Pole Star by Stef Penney
• Standing Still, Anderson and Costello, Book 8 by Caro Ramsay
• Broken Ground, Karen Pirie, Book 5 by Val McDermid^[13]
• Still Life by Val McDermid^[14]
• Conviction by Denise Mina^[15]
• The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae by Stephanie Butland^[16]
• Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie^[17]
• Watch Him Die by Craig Robertson

Film work

Made of Honor^[1]

Hidden^[1]

TV work

• Witchcraze^[18]
• The Bill (recurring role)^[1]
• Doctors^[1]

References

1. "Cathleen McCarron". IMDb. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
2. Dowling, Tim (16 November 2019). "'Your throat hurts. Your brain hurts': the secret life of the audiobook star". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
3. Holstrom, Ashley (8 May 2020). "The Bestselling Audiobooks of All Time". BOOK RIOT. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
4. Nicol, Patricia. "The best audiobooks". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
5. Brown, Rachel (26 March 2020). "Best Audiobooks Narrated by the Author, Actors, Celebrities". Stylist. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
6. "The stories behind the books of the year | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
7. "How audio is changing the way we use books – and the way they are being written". The Independent. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
8. "AudioFile, Discover the World of Audiobooks". AudioFile Magazine. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
9. "AudioFile, Discover the World of Audiobooks". AudioFile Magazine. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
10. "2018 Audie Awards® - APA". www.audiopub.org. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
11. "AudioFile, Discover the World of Audiobooks". AudioFile Magazine. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
12. "AudioFile, Discover the World of Audiobooks". AudioFile Magazine. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
13. "Broken Ground by Val McDermid Read by Cathleen McCarron | Audiobook Review". AudioFile Magazine. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
14. Hardyment, Christina. "Still Life by Val McDermid audiobook review". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
15. "The top 10 audiobooks on Audible.com". AP NEWS. 10 December 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
16. "The Curious Heart of Ailsa RaeE by Stephanie Butland Read by Cathleen McCarron | Audiobook Review". AudioFile Magazine. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
17. Montgomery, L. M. (2019). Anne of Green Gables. Legend Press. ISBN 978-1-78719-835-7. OCLC 1099963956.
18. "Cathleen McCarron". IMDb. Retrieved 19 September 2020.