Caroline Ann O'Connor (born 2 September 1962) is a British-born Australian actress and singer. For her theatre work she has won three Helpmann Awards: Best Female Actor in a Play for Edith Piaf in Piaf in 2001; in the same category for Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow in 2006; and Best Female Actor in a Musical for Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes in 2015. O’Cononor has performed extensively throughout Australia, Broadway and on the London West End.
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Early life and education
Caroline Ann O'Connor was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England, to Irish parents. After her family migrated to Australia she was brought up and educated in Sydney, where she took Irish dance lessons with Joy Ransley and Valerie McGrath.
O'Connor had joined a touring dance troupe by August 1974, which travelled to Ireland, Paris, London, and the United States west coast. The troupe's members, including O'Connor, competed in the Irish Dancing World Championships, held in Dublin. At the age of 15 she returned to Dublin to appear in a dance competition and finished third. She later recalled, "When I was growing up in Rockdale as a little girl of Irish parents singing show tunes I didn't really fit in. Everyone was in their denim shorts and thongs and wanting to go down to Cronulla and I wanted to stay home and listen to Doris Day".
At 17, O'Connor returned to London and trained as a dancer at the Royal Ballet School, She worked for one year at the Australian Opera Ballet, and became an Australian citizen in 2007.
Career
O'Connor made her musical theatre debut in an Australian tour of Oklahoma! in 1982, she later reminisced, "I was about 20 and I got into the show [and] I thought, 'This is where I'm meant to be.' I feel so fortunate." In the following May she took the role of Consuelo in West Side Story at Sydney's Her Majesty's Theatre. Subsequently, O'Connor worked both in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Upon return to London she was a member of the ensemble cast of Me and My Girl at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre in 1984 and then at the Adelphi Theatre. Other British theatre credits include, A Chorus Line, Cabaret, Hot Stuff, Chicago, Damn Yankees, West Side Story and as Ellie May in Show Boat for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Opera North in 1989. She understudied, and went on to perform, the role of Angel in the 1988 London production of The Rink by Kander and Ebb. She appeared in the UK premiere of the musical, Baby. Several of her successful early lead roles in the UK were in the town of Oldham, where she was born.
The entertainer returned to Australia by February 1994, where she took the role of Anita in a national tour of West Side Story, performing in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney and then Auckland in New Zealand. She won a Green Room Award. Back in London, her West End theatre performances included Mabel in Mack and Mabel for which she received an Olivier nomination for Best Actress in a Musical in 1996.
In 1998 O'Connor was back in Australia as Velma Kelly in Chicago for which she won a Green Room Award and the Mo Award for Female Musical Theatre Performer of the Year. She followed with roles in Man of La Mancha, Oklahoma! and concert productions of Funny Girl and Mack & Mabel. Her portrayal of Édith Piaf in Pam Gems's play Piaf in 2000 gained her three Australian theatre awards.
O'Connor's musical film work includes the role of Nini Legs in the Air in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! (2001), and Ethel Merman in the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely (2004). She featured on the De-Lovely soundtrack, singing "Anything Goes". In 2003 she made her Broadway debut as Velma Kelly in Chicago. Thereafter she performed in Australia, UK and United States.
The one-woman play, Bombshells (2004), was written especially for O'Connor by playwright, Joanna Murray-Smith. The original production was filmed for a broadcast by ABC Television. Bombshells toured to the Edinburgh Festival (where she won the Fringe First Award), London's West End at the Arts Theatre (for which she received a second Laurence Olivier Award nomination), and at the World Stage Festival in Toronto, Ontario.
Personal life
Caroline O'Connor is married to Barrie Shaw, a musician and in 2017 they celebrated their 21st anniversary. In 2018, they sold their Bondi Junction property and moved to a riverside property in Noosa. In 2022, they also sold their UK home in Surrey.
Performances
Discography
Awards
In 2020, O'Connor became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the performing arts, particularly to musical theatre.
Green Room Award
1994 Green Room Award for Female Artist in a Featured Role (Music Theatre) − West Side Story
1998 Green Room Award for Female Artist in a Leading Role (Music Theatre) − Chicago
2000 Green Room Award for Female Artist in a Leading Role (Music Theatre) − Piaf
Helpmann Awards
The Helpmann Awards is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia since 2001. Note: 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mo Awards
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Caroline O'Connor won five awards in that time.