Denise Gough

Born: 28 February 1980

Age:

Years Active: 2004-present

Denise Gough (born 28 February 1980) is an Irish actress. On television, she is best known for her roles in the BBC Two crime drama Paula (2017), the ITV miniseries Too Close (2021), and the Disney+ series Andor (2022–2025). Her films include Colette (2018), The Other Lamb (2019), Monday (2020), and Martyrs Lane (2021). She has received a number of accolades, including two Laurence Olivier Awards as well as a nominations for a Tony Award and a British Academy Television Award.

Gough was born on 28 February 1980. Born in Wexford and raised in Ennis, County Clare, Gough is the seventh of eleven siblings; her father was variously an electrician and a fisheries head, while her mother was a marriage counsellor. One of her younger sisters is the actress Kelly Gough. Gough was raised as a Catholic.

She trained as a soprano before leaving Ireland for London at 15, with a boyfriend, after which she became homeless for a while. She started using alcohol and drugs to block out the experience of being groomed from the age of 13 and raped twice at 14 by "a man in his 20s"; "At the time [Gough] thought it was love", but she later realised that she had been the victim of child abuse.

She was awarded a grant to study at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) in Wandsworth aged 18, and graduated from ALRA in 2003.