Brendan O’Carroll age, net worth, wife and role on Mrs Brown’s Boys

Unless you’ve been living in a nuclear bunker for the past 10 years, you’ve probably heard of the BBC sitcom Mrs Brown’s Boys. The vast majority of us have been exposed to it, and it’s man-in-a-dress star Brendan O’Carroll.

The Irish comedian, who plays the titular ‘mammy’ Mrs Agnes Brown, has been performing as his comedy creation since 1992. 

His popular sitcom, which is about a family’s daily trials and tribulations (and, more importantly, what the dirty grandma has to say about them), has been running now for seven years. So what do we know about its cross-dressing protagonist, Brendan?

Brendan, 62, was born in September 1955 in Finglas, Dublin, and his paternal grandfather was a prominent Irish republican. 

When Brendan was seven his dad died, leaving his mum struggling to raise her children on little income. 

He left school aged 12 and went on to have a number of different jobs before settling into writing, producing, acting and doing stand-up comedy. 

The Mrs Brown’s Boys of today was developed from a short radio play Brendan performed entitled Mrs Brown’s Boys in 1992. 

He went on to write four books inspired by Irish stereotypes called The Granny, The Scrapper, The Chisellers, and The Mammy.

He also formed his own theatre company and ended up being the one dressing up as Mrs Brown after the original actress failed to turn up. 

Brendan wrote and performed in five plays from 1992 to 2009 and retoured in 2011. They were subsequently adapted into a TV sitcom over three series.

 In 2014 Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie was released. It was panned by critics and received 7 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Other than Mrs Brown’s Boys, he has frequently appeared on The Late Late Show and he co-wrote the screenplay to boxing movie Sparrow’s Trap.

The actor has been married twice, first to Doreen O’Carroll from 1977 to 1999 and to Mrs Brown’s Boys co-star Jennifer Gibney from 2005. Brendan’s first son, named after him, died when he was three days old from spina bifida. 

He has three grown-up children with his first wife and six grandsons. Later this year Brendan, who is now based in America, will host a BBC panel quiz show called For Facts Sake, which takes its name from his Mrs Brown’s Boys catchphrase ‘for feck’s sake’. Mrs Brown’s Boys star Rory Cowan quits show and admits he ‘hadn’t been happy for nearly two years