Fair City star Colleen Keogh moved to Ireland with ex-boyfriend but they split up during pandemic

The actress, who plays Carrigstown's Anna McShane, opens up about landing her role on the RTÉ soap opera and reveals she had a very different career while travelling the world

Fair City star Colleen Keogh moved to Ireland with her ex-boyfriend, but they split up during the pandemic after their arrival in Dublin.

The Scotland native, who now plays Carrigstown's Anna McShane, worked in the fitness industry before making the move to acting and landing roles in Kin and Fair City.

She also reflected on the recent storyline which saw Anna get racially abused.

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Colleen told RSVP Magazine: "I moved here in 2019, so it’s been five years. An ex-boyfriend brought me here.

"We didn’t quite last, we were one of the pandemic break-ups. I moved here from Vancouver with the idea of buying a house and settling down.

"Instead, I changed careers and became an actor and found myself on Fair City. It’s all happened very fast."

Colleen thought about leaving Ireland again after the break-up.

She said: "I did, for a period of time. I have this bird-like mentality where if things go wrong I like to run away.

"Hence why I lived in Australia for four years and Canada for two years.

"I’ve definitely found a home in Dublin with a great group of friends and a loving and supportive relationship. I love what I do as well. I can’t visualise myself anywhere else."

Colleen had a very different career before appearing on our screens.

The RTÉ star said: "I worked in the fitness industry for 12 years. I started off as a personal trainer at home in Scotland, then I moved to Australia and I got into gym management and I did the same in Canada.

"The plan was to stick with that here in Ireland, but then the pandemic hit and the gyms shut down, so I had a fear about what the world was going to look like after the pandemic.

"That’s when I followed my childhood dream of becoming an actor, as cheesy as it sounds."

Recently, Anna’s house was hit with racist graffiti on Fair City and, for Colleen, it was hard to film such a tough scene.

She said: "As an actor, you can’t separate racism from your personal life and your character on screen. Everyone was so supportive on set.

"If I needed time to take a breather, I could take five minutes. I’ve experienced a couple of racist things outside of the show, but that kind of goes with being a person of colour.

"It’s not easy. It’s important for the show to highlight the story.

"I did notice 'Oh, but she’s Scottish' comments, but it’s not about nationality. It’s about skin colour and people making an assumption."

Read the full interview and see our fabulous Fair City anniversary feature in this month's issue of RSVP Magazine - on shelves now

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