Victoria Smurfit


Victoria Smurfit is an Irish actress. She is known for playing Orla O'Connell in the BBC television series Ballykissangel and Detective Chief Inspector Roisin Connor in the ITV police procedural Trial & Retribution.

Early life

Victoria Smurfit is part of the Smurfit family which, through Smurfit Kappa, is one of the richest in Ireland. The family, headed by Victoria's uncle Michael Smurfit, sponsors a number of sporting events including the Smurfit European Open and the Champion Hurdle. The family is also associated with Smurfit Business School in University College Dublin. Victoria Smurfit was educated at two Anglican schools, Saint Columba's College, Dublin and St George's School, Ascot, England. She did an A-level in theatre studies and then went to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Career

Smurfit gained fame for her role as Orla O'Connell in the BBC television series Ballykissangel from 1998–99. She played Nina in the 2003 film Bulletproof Monk. From 2003 to 2009, Smurfit portrayed the lead role of Detective Chief Inspector Roisin Connor in the ITV police procedural Trial & Retribution. She also guest starred in the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi. In 2011, Smurfit appeared in the Agatha Christie's Marple television episode "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side".
In 2013, Smurfit costarred as Lady Jayne Wetherby in the NBC television period drama Dracula. In 2014, she began playing the recurring guest role of villainess Cruella de Vil on ABC's Once Upon a Time.
She is currently shooting for her role in Homecoming, a film she has described as a "mean girls for grownups." She plays Nikki, the "head mean girl." She will be starring alongside Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard in The Ambassadors.

Personal life

Smurfit married advertising executive Douglas Baxter on 29 July 2000 in Surrey, England. She gave birth to their first child, daughter Evie Dorothy Baxter in Dublin, Ireland on 2 November 2004. A second daughter, Ridley Belle Baxter was born in May 2007. Their third child, a boy, was born in November 2008 and named Flynn Alexander Baxter. In 2012 the family relocated to Santa Monica, California, US. In February 2015 it was announced that Smurfit and her husband had filed for divorce.
She writes an opinion blog for The Dubliner, which often features anecdotes from her personal life, and is a patron of the children's charity World Vision Ireland.

Filmography