---
name: "Sinead Keenan"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/sinead-keenan"
fi1m_id: "sinead-keenan"
imdb_id: "nm0444681"
tmdb_id: 216820
wikidata_id: "Q3484904"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "27 December 1977"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 71
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-17T15:13:25.266585+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Sinead Keenan

## Identity

Sinead Keenan

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/sinead-keenan
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** sinead-keenan
- **IMDb ID:** nm0444681
- **TMDB ID:** 216820
- **Wikidata ID:** Q3484904
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin%C3%A9ad_Keenan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3484904, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0444681/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/216820

Actor. Born 27 December 1977 in Dublin, Ireland.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 27 December 1977, Dublin, Ireland
- **Active:** 2015–present
- **Also known as:** Sinéad Keenan
- **Average Fi1m score:** 71, as actor, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 64 (1), 2020s 78 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin%C3%A9ad_Keenan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3484904, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0444681/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/216820

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*How to Get to Heaven from Belfast*](https://film.one/tv/how-to-get-to-heaven-from-belfast.md) (78)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Unforgotten*](https://film.one/tv/unforgotten.md) (64)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Sinead Keenan

> Sinéad Keenan is a persuasive presence among television’s detectives and hard-pressed mothers, but we especially value her humour. In *How to Get to Heaven from Belfast*, she makes bluntness part of a friendship we believe in.

Robyn does not have to be pleasant to make us want to stay with her. In *How to Get to Heaven from Belfast* (2026), Sinéad Keenan plays her alongside Roisin Gallagher’s Saoirse and Caoilfhionn Dunne’s Dara. The three make a long friendship credible before its history becomes important, allowing their characters to find one another exhausting without leaving us wondering why they still meet. We warmed to Robyn because Keenan makes that irritation feel compatible with affection. It is a considerable help in a mystery-comedy whose plot is sometimes harder to believe than its people.

The harder-pressed women have occupied much of her television work. Her breakthrough came as Nina Pickering in the supernatural comedy-drama *Being Human* (2009–2011). *Little Boy Blue* (2017) gave her the grieving mother Melanie Jones, while *Unforgotten* (from 2023) cast her as DCI Jessica ‘Jessie’ James, alongside Sanjeev Bhaskar. The former draws on her ability to convey grief; the latter makes use of her authority and empathy. It would be easy to keep asking her to be the serious person who copes.

Lisa McGee is a recurring collaborator, and her Northern Irish humour makes particularly good use of Keenan’s bluntness. It depends on people saying what they think without making us doubt that they care for one another. In Robyn, that gives Keenan something more interesting to play than a reliable source of sharp remarks. The humour belongs to the friendship, and Gallagher and Dunne matter as much to its success as she does.

The reservation is that the writing does not always repay the cast. The plotting wanders, and some of the silliness feels compulsory; believable friends can only do so much for an unbelievable development. Keenan helps keep the programme worth watching, but we would recommend it for the company rather than the mystery. We would happily see McGee give her more comedy and rather less plot to manage.

## Biography

Sinéad Keenan is an Irish actress. Born in Dublin on 27 December 1977, she studied sociology and history at University College Dublin. She first came to prominence playing Farrah Phelan in the RTÉ soap *Fair City* before relocating to the UK.

Keenan is known for her role as Nina Pickering in the BBC Three series *Being Human* (2009–2011), DCI Jessica James in *Unforgotten* (from 2023), and Melanie Jones in *Little Boy Blue* (2017), for which she received a Royal Television Society award. Other credits include *Derry Girls* (2018) as Aideen and Robyn in the Netflix series *How to Get to Heaven from Belfast* (2026). She has also worked in theatre with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She is married to director Chris McGill and they have two sons.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, hellomagazine.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *How to Get to Heaven from Belfast* (2026), Fi1m 78, as Robyn — [page](https://film.one/tv/how-to-get-to-heaven-from-belfast.md)
- *Unforgotten* (2015), Fi1m 64, as DCI Jessica 'Jessie' James — [page](https://film.one/tv/unforgotten.md)

## Complete filmography (27)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *How to Get to Heaven from Belfast* (2026), series, as Robyn — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/how-to-get-to-heaven-from-belfast.md)
- *Barricade* (2023), as Mrs. Gray
- *Showtrial* (2021), series, as DI Paula Cassidy
- *Three Families* (2021), series, as Theresa Ryan
- *My Left Nut* (2020), series, as Patricia Campbell, Mick's mother
- *Deep Water* (2019), series, as Roz Toovey
- *Care* (2018), as Claire
- *Married to a Paedophile* (2018), as Kate
- *Derry Girls* (2018), series, as Aideen — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/derry-girls.md)
- *Porters* (2017), series, as Dr. Bartholomew
- *Little Boy Blue* (2017), series, as Melanie Jones
- *Unforgotten* (2015), series, as DCI Jessica 'Jessie' James — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/tv/unforgotten.md)
- *The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot* (2013), as A Doctor Who fan
- *London Irish* (2013), series, as Bronagh
- *Little Crackers* (2010), series, as Mrs Whitefield
- *Victoria Wood's Midlife Christmas* (2009), Actor
- *Being Human* (2009), series, as Nina Pickering
- *Moving Wallpaper* (2008), series, as Kelly Hawkins
- *Trouble with Sex* (2005), as Kathy
- *Caught in the Act* (2004), as Carrie
- *Conspiracy of Silence* (2003), as Majella
- *On the Nose* (2001), as Sinead Delaney
- *The Cassidys* (2001), series, as Lisa Cassidy
- *Sunburn* (1999), as Margaret
- *Silent Witness* (1996), series, as Naomi Silverlake
- *Fair City* (1989), series, Actor
- *Agatha Christie's Poirot* (1989), series, as Nora Brent — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/agatha-christies-poirot.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/sinead-keenan