Bray-born TV presenter and actress Laura Whitmore will make her Cork stage debut in August when she reprises her lead role in the theatre production of The Girl on the Train at the city's The Everyman theatre.
The former Love Island presenter will star as Rachel Watson in the thriller, which is based on Paula Hawkins’ best-selling novel, from 19 to 23 August.
Whitmore, who has also fronted shows on MTV and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here spin-off, Celeb Juice, has been playing the role across the UK and after the Cork run, the play will then move to Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. In Dublin.
In The Girl on the Train, Rachel Watson longs for a different life and her only escape is the perfect couple she watches through the train window every day, happy and in love.
However, when Rachel learns that the woman she’s been secretly watching has suddenly disappeared, she finds herself as a witness and even a suspect in a thrilling mystery in which she will face bigger revelations than she could ever have anticipated.
"I read the book when it first came out and I was obsessed by it," Whitmore says. "I love it when you find a book and all you can think about is that story.
"You wake up a little bit earlier to read the book and stay up too late to finish it. I am excited to show people my portrayal of Rachel this summer."
Whitmore previously appeared on the Irish stage last year when she starred in 2:22 A Ghost Story at Dublin's Olympia Theatre.
The cast for the Cork run also includes Daniel Burke, Zena Carswell, Samuel Collings, Freya Parksl, Paul McEwan,, Edward Harrison and understudies Ellie Gallimore and Oliver Brooke.
Whitmore trained at the Leinster School of Music and Drama, studied Shakespeare at RADA and holds a degree in Journalism from Dublin City University.
She wrote and starred in the short film Sadhbh for which she won The Ros Hubbard Award for acting in 2019. She toured in the role of Cleo in Peter James’ Not Dead Enough in 2017.
Her film/TV acting credits include Queenie, Hulu’s Four Weddings and a Funeral, 4.3.2.1 and Storage 24.
Her first lead in a feature film, A Mother For An Hour, is out later this year as well as interactive sci-fi thriller Hello Stranger starring Derek Jacobi.
