Róisín Ryan Egenton, a 23-year-old woman representing New York, was crowned the Rose of Tralee in the Festival Dome, Tralee, in front of a live audience of over 2,000 on 22 August 2000. Over 1.3m viewers watched the first half of the selection on television Monday night and an estimated 1.5m tuned in again for the second half on Tuesday, the biggest audience ever breaking all records for RTÉ Ireland. Róisín is the third New York Rose to have ever won the title, the previous New York winner being Marie Soden in 1976. During her year, Róisín guest appeared on a number of television programmes including RTÉ's The Late Late Show, Open House, Nationwide, and Up for the Match, as well as TV3's Ireland AM. She also participated in radio & newspaper interviews, and in magazine photo shoots. The weekly newspaperIreland on Sunday included her in their list of the "Top 30 Hottest Women in Ireland", the monthly magazine Irish America named her one of the "Top 100 Irish Americans of 2000". Róisín received an Honours degree in International Studies from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and a First Honours master's degree in Health Promotion from the National University of Ireland, Galway. A keen musician, she was principal violinist with the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonic and the New Jersey Youth Symphony, and she also performed in New York'sCarnegie Hall. In July/August 2007, Róisín was one-third of an act called "The Roses", along with previous Rose of Tralee winners Orla O'Shea and Orla Tobin, who competed in RTÉ One's Charity You're A Star. They appeared behalf of the Irish Heart Foundation. The group made it through 7 of the 10 nights live on national television. In 2008, Róisín won the AIMS award for Best Comedienne for her role as Ado Annie in Kilkenny Musical Society's production of Oklahoma!. In 2014 she was Runner Up Best Comedienne as Ulla in Galway Patrician Musical Society's production of The Producers. And in 2019 she won the AIMS award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Vi Moore in Twin Production's Footloose. In 2015, Róisín married Nicholas Lawless in Galway, Ireland. Their wedding was highlighted in an episode of the RTÉ television programme A Week To My Wedding and was also featured in articles in both VIP Magazine and The Irish Times. In August 2017, Róisín was again featured in a documentary on RTÉ's Nationwide television programme to celebrate the Rose of Tralee season, where she was interviewed in her home by Mary Kennedy.
