(Photo: Getty Images)
With Derry Girls returning to Netflix today (October 7) for its third and final season, we're shining a spotlight on one of the show's breakout stars: Nicola Coughlan. Here are seven reasons we appreciate her not just as a performer, but also as a person.
1. She's a complete scene stealer in Derry Girls.
Created by Lisa McGee, this hilarious and heartwarming sitcom follows four teenage girls (and one "wee English fella") growing up in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. Coughlan is a joy to watch as Clare Devlin, the most studious, anxious, and at times manic member of the crew.

2. She's also fantastic in Bridgerton.
Coughlan is charming and sympathetic as Lady Penelope, an intelligent member of London high society who prefers to skim the outskirts of a ball rather than take center-stage. She's also a character with hidden depths, something Coughlan hints at perfectly.

3. She's an activist.
As The Guardian reported at the time, Coughlan and Derry Girls co-star Siobhan McSweeney took part in a march in February 2019 calling for abortion to be legalized in Northern Ireland. They formed part of a group of 28 protestors: a number representing the number of women who traveled from Northern Ireland to England and Wales each week to access a safe and legal abortion.
Though abortion was finally decriminalized in Northern Ireland in 2020, access to these services remains much more limited than in other U.K. regions, meaning many women still travel to England and Wales to access one. 
4. She's an aficionado of Irish pop culture.
During her appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Coughlan and Norton bonded over an infamous incident from the Irish version of TV talent show Popstars. Scandalously, one of the contestants had lied about her age to get on the show; Coughlan clearly knows by heart the moment she's found out. 

5. She doesn't take her success for granted.
Coughlan, 35, has spoken in interviews about experiencing depression in her twenties when she struggled to land acting work. At one point, she moved back to Ireland – from London, where she had relocated for her career – because parts weren't forthcoming.
Her breakthrough came, of course, when she was cast in Derry Girls in 2018. “Literally, I was working part-time in an optician’s five years ago," she told The Observer earlier this year. "So for me, if anyone is tuning in, if anyone makes a connection to me – that’s amazing. All my life, I feel like I’m a competition winner. Like – how did I end up here?"
6. She called out a theater critic who body-shamed her.
In 2018, Coughlan wrote a powerful op-ed for The Guardian titled "Critics, judge me for my work in Derry Girls and on the stage, not on my body." In the article, she wrote about two separate occasions in which a particular theater critic had commented on her appearance. She also described the "social media storm" that followed when she called the critic out on Twitter.
"I know I’m not alone; women in my industry are put under constant scrutiny for their looks," she wrote. "It affects male actors as well – I had messages from them – but the vast majority of feedback was from women. Something in our society tells us that women's bodies are fair game for scrutiny in a way that men’s simply are not."
7. And finally, she's really funny on Instagram.
Coughlan is no longer on Twitter, but you can enjoy her playful, self-deprecating sense of humor by following @nicolacoughlan on Instagram. We love this joyous moment with Olivia Colman that she shared a couple of weeks ago.

Do you have a favorite Nicola Coughlan moment?