Profile

Ethnicity
European
Location
Wellington, New Zealand
Height
164 cm
Age Range
38–48
Career Highlights
You would think Karen O’Leary was a cop in another life. In her exciting career to date she has played a naive cop in Taika Waititi’s What We Do In the Shadows, where her character inspired spinoff series Wellington Paranormal; she played a salacious cop in The Breakupperers; a sensible cop in The Educators; and a slight dodgy security guard in webseries Potluck. In fact, Karen is a highly versatile performer with a variety of roles under her belt. She has most recently appeared as a quirky principle in webseries The Eggplant and will feature in up-coming film Nude Tuesday.
Awards.
2019 | Nomination NZTV Awards for Huawei Mate30 Pro Best Actress for Wellington Paranormal |
Film Film.
2021 | Dox | Patricia (Guest) | Miss Piki’s Band Ltd. |
Feature Film.
2021 | Going Going | Registrar (Guest) | Dir. Loren Taylor |
2020 | Millie Lies Low | Guard (Guest) | Dir. Michelle Savill |
2020 | Nude Tuesday | Chen (Supporting ) | Dir. Armagan Ballantyne |
2018 | The Breaker Upperers | Police Officer (Support) | Dir. Madeleine Sami and Jackie Van Beek |
2014 | What We Do in the Shadows | Officer O'Leary (Support) | Dir. Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement |
Short Film.
2016 | Grey William | Margie (Lead) | Dir. Sandy Burton |
Television.
2018 | Wellington Paranormal Season 1-4 | Officer O'Leary (Lead) | New Zealand Documentray Board Ltd Dir. Jemaine Clement, Jackie Van Beek, Tim Van Dammen, Dean Hewison |
Presenter.
2020 | Karen's House - Play for Learning | Presenter | Ministry of Education Dir. Nancy Bell |
Web Series.
2020 | On The Rag | Karen O'Leary | |
2020 | The Eggplant | Principal Kathleen Morris (Lead) | Motion Sickness |
2018 | Educators | Policewoman | |
2016 | Pot Luck - Season 1 & 2 | Donna (Support) | Dir. Ness Simons |