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Eva O'Hara is a British actress. O'Hara studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where she performed in various productions at the Bristol Old Vic. She also appeared in other stage productions and short films, and made her film debut as Rosalind in Stark Shakespeare in 2018. After graduating from the school in 2019, O'Hara was cast as Verity Hutchinson in the British soap opera Hollyoaks, with the character first appearing in January 2020. O'Hara later chose to leave the role and the character was killed off in December 2022. In 2024, O'Hara returned to stage and performed in Windsor Theatre Royal's adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
Eva O'Hara | |
|---|---|
| Education | Bristol Old Vic Theatre School |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2016–present |
| Agent | MN2S |
| Television | Hollyoaks |
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (165 cm) |
O'Hara studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where she graduated with a BA in Acting in 2019.[1][2][3] Whilst studying there, she performed in several plays at the Bristol Old Vic, including their adaptations of A View from the Bridge (2018), How My Light Is Spent (2019), Lungs (2017) and The Comedy of Errors (2018), the latter of which was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[1] She also starred in the student short film Honesty (2019), in addition to the short films Digging (2017) and Your Move (2019).[1][2] Outside of the Bristol Old Vic, O'Hara portrayed Mary Magdalene in The Mysteries at the Playbox Theatre in 2016 and Eva in Where We Come From at the Actors Centre in 2019, the latter of which she co-directed.[2][1] In 2016, O'Hara played Rosalind in the stage production of Shakespeare's Forests, and she made her film debut as Rosalind in Stark Shakespeare in 2018.[4] In 2019, O'Hara portrayed Mrs Robin in the musical Mr. Maglump at the Bristol Old Vic, which was watched by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.[5] That June, O'Hara appeared as Kate Nickleby in the Bristol Old Vic's adaptation of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.[6] O'Hara has won the Andy Frazer Stage Combat award, in addition to being a finalist of the Alan Bates and BBC Radio Carlton Hobbs awards.[1]
In December 2019, it was announced that O'Hara had been cast as Verity Hutchinson on the British soap opera Hollyoaks for its 25 anniversary year in a regular role.[1][7] The character had previously been announced that September prior to the news of O'Hara's casting.[8] Verity was introduced as the daughter of Edward Hutchinson (Joe McGann) and the half-sister of Hollyoaks' longest-running character, Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard).[7][9] Verity was described as "ruthless and cunning" and a character who can "hold her own in any situation and really doesn't take no for an answer", with O'Hara revealing that she sometimes is jealous of the character's "fearlessness".[7] O'Hara had watched the soap when she was a child.[1] Speaking of her casting, O'Hara said, "I have been totally bowled over by the wonderful team at Hollyoaks. I have fallen in love with the warmth and passion of everyone involved, and feel utterly blessed to be involved in such a creative environment."[7] O'Hara was with her boyfriend when she got a call from her agent telling her that she had won the role.[10] O'Hara debuted as Verity in the 2020 revival episode of the Hollyoaks late night spinoff Hollyoaks Later, which aired on 6 January 2020.[7][9] Verity's storylines on the soap have included setting up her own law firm in the village, a love triangle involving Kurt Benson (Jeremy Edwards) and Sami Maalik (Rishi Nair), lying about being pregnant, a romance with Shaq Qureshi (Omar Malik) and finding out about her brother Eric Foster's (Angus Castle-Doughty) radical misogyny.[11][12][7][13][14][15] When O'Hara was filming her debut scenes, she fell over and hit the floor, which she recalled as being humorous and "a nice way to break the ice" with her colleague.[16] O'Hara felt that Verity's fashion style had impacted her to wear more colourful clothing.[10]
In March 2022, Verity played a pivotal role in a special Hollyoaks International Women's Day episode, portraying both Verity and a woman from the 1950s in a flashback, with the actress revealing that she was "immensely proud" of the episode and hoping that it would help spark conversation among viewers and highlight the "everyday prejudices" that women face.[17] That same year, O'Hara chose the leave the soap and she made her last appearance as Verity in December 2022, when the character was killed off.[18] O'Hara's departure had not been announced prior to the broadcast of Verity's death, which saw her be murdered by an unknown assailant, who was later revealed to be Bobby Costello (Jayden Fox).[18] O'Hara had been hoping for a "dramatic end" for Verity and was delighted but also saddened when she learnt that the character would be killed off.[11] O'Hara had a meeting with executive producer Lucy Allan, where there was initially an idea that the character would have a happy ending, but O'Hara revealed that she pushed for "something more meaty".[11] Verity's death scene involved real paramedics performing CPR.[11] Following her exit, O'Hara thanked her fans for supporting her and revealed that she planned to rest and return to theatre, which she had missed during her time on Hollyoaks.[11] In 2024, O'Hara returned to theatre and portrayed Jordan Baker in Windsor Theatre Royal's adaptation of The Great Gatsby, directed by Roy Marsden.[19]
O'Hara identifies as being part of the LGBTQ+ community.[20] In 2022, she took part in a LGBTQ+ Hollyoaks photoshoot for LGBTQ+ History Month, where she spoke about the importance of having conversations with the community, explaining, "I think until we can somewhat rectify the history of inequality in our industry I think the attention and the conversation needs to be had with the queer community".[20][21] O'Hara has experience in several sports, including kickboxing, swimming and yoga.[4] O'Hara gained a Level 3 certificate in Personal Training, and is an ambassador for Future Fit.[22] O'Hara enjoys climbing, singing and playing instruments.[10]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Digging | Ellie | Short film | [2] |
| 2018 | Stark Shakespeare | Film | Rosalind | [4] |
| 2019 | Honesty | Louise | Short film | [4] |
| 2019 | Your Move | Player Two | Short film | [2] |
| 2020 | Hollyoaks Later | Verity Hutchinson | 1 episode | [7] |
| 2020–22 | Hollyoaks | Verity Hutchinson | Regular role | [18] |
Theatre
| Year | Production | Venue | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | The Mysteries | Playbox Theatre | Mary Magdalene |
| 2016 | Shakespeare's Forests | Shakespeare Young Company | Rosalind |
| 2017 | Lungs | Bristol Old Vic | W |
| 2018 | The Comedy of Errors | Bristol Old Vic and Edinburgh Fringe Festival | Emilia |
| 2018 | A View from the Bridge | Bristol Old Vic | Catherine |
| 2019 | How My Light Is Spent | Bristol Old Vic | Kitty |
| 2019 | Where We Come From | The Actors Centre | Eva |
| 2019 | The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby |
Bristol Old Vic | Kate Nickleby |
| 2019 | Mr. Maglump | Bristol Old Vic | Mrs Robin |
| 2024 | The Great Gatsby | Theatre Royal, Windsor | Jordan Baker |
| Sources:[6][19][1][2][4] | |||
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