Home Celebrities Roma Downey
|

Bullet Arrow Photos
Bullet Arrow News
Bullet Arrow Interviews
Bullet Arrow Premieres
Bullet Arrow Forums
Bullet Arrow Fan Sites
Bullet Arrow Get a Poster at AllPosters.com
Advertisement

This dark-haired actress from war-torn Northern Ireland studied art and acting in England before coming to the US in 1986. Shortly after arriving, Downey made her off-Broadway debut in the environmental theater piece, "Tamara" (1987), and her TV debut in a recurring role on the ABC soap "One Life to Live". She played the ingenue in the 1989 Broadway revival of Somerset Maugham's "The Circle" in the eminent company of Rex Harrison, Glynis Johns and Stewart Granger....
Full Bio , Awards & Milestones

|
Comments (0)

Filmography

Hairy Tale - ( Megan Dean / 2004 / Lensing/Awaiting Release / )
Journey to a Hate-Free Millennium: Stories of Hope and Compassion - ( Narrator / 1999 / Released / )

TV Credits
The Survivors Club ( 2004 / Released ): Executive Producer / Actor
Diagnosis Murder ( 2003 / Released ): Actor
InStyle Celebrity Moms ( 2001 / Released ): Actor
Intimate Portrait: Roma Downey ( 2001 / Released ): Actor
Second Honeymoon ( 2001 / Released ): Executive Producer / Actor
Sons of Mistletoe ( 2001 / Released ): Executive Producer / Actor
The Division ( 2001 / Released ): Actor
Acts of Desperation ( 2004 )
TV Episode Inspector Regan Delancey

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep ( 2004 )
TV Episode Inspector Regan Delancey

The Kids Are Alright ( 2004 )
TV Episode Inspector Regan Delancey

2nd Annual TV Guide Awards ( 2000 / Released ): Actor
Intimate Portrait: Della Reese ( 1999 / Released ): Actor
More True Stories From Touched By an Angel ( 1999 / Released ): Actor
The Test of Love ( 1999 / Released ): Executive Producer / Actor
TV Guide Awards ( 1999 / Released ): Actor
50th Emmy Awards ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
Before Your Eyes: Don't Take My Daddy ( 1998 / Released ): Actor / Narrator
CBS: The First 50 Years ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
Della Reese: Outspoken Angel ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
It's a Miracle ( 1998 / Released ): Host
Monday After the Miracle ( 1998 / Released ): Executive Producer / Actor
The 55th Annual Golden Globe Awards ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
True Stories From Touched By an Angel ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
Borrowed Hearts: A Holiday Romance ( 1997 / Released ): Executive Producer / Actor
Life's Greatest Holiday Stories ( 1997 / Released ): Actor
The 23rd Annual People's Choice Awards ( 1997 / Released ): Actor
The 49th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards ( 1997 / Released ): Actor
Marry Me! ( 1996 / Released ): Actor
Miracles and Visions (Fact or Fiction?) ( 1996 / Released ): Actor
Promised Land ( 1996 / Released ): Actor
The 22nd Annual People's Choice Awards ( 1996 / Released ): Actor
A Child Is Missing ( 1995 / Released ): Actor
The Last Word ( 1995 / Released ): Actor
Angels Among Us ( 1994 / Released ): Actor
Hercules and the Amazon Women ( 1994 / Released ): Actor
New Year ( 1993 / Released ): Actor
Devlin ( 1992 / Released ): Actor
Getting Up and Going Home ( 1992 / Released ): Actor
A Woman Named Jackie ( 1991 / Released ): Actor
One Life to Live ( 1968 / Released ): Actor
The Wedding Dance ( Lensing/Awaiting Release ): Actor
Touched By an Angel ( Released ): Story By / Actor
I Will Walk With You, Part 2 ( 2003 )
TV Episode Monica

I Will Walk With You, Part 1 ( 2003 )
TV Episode Monica

At the End of the Aisle ( 2003 )
TV Episode Monica

The Show Must Not Go On ( 2003 )
TV Episode Monica

Virtual Reality ( 2003 )
TV Episode Monica


Full Biography (Back to top)


This dark-haired actress from war-torn Northern Ireland studied art and acting in England before coming to the US in 1986. Shortly after arriving, Downey made her off-Broadway debut in the environmental theater piece, "Tamara" (1987), and her TV debut in a recurring role on the ABC soap "One Life to Live". She played the ingenue in the 1989 Broadway revival of Somerset Maugham's "The Circle" in the eminent company of Rex Harrison, Glynis Johns and Stewart Granger. Downey received notice portraying Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis from age 16 to 60 in the 1991 NBC mini-series "A Woman Named Jackie." Although criticized by Kennedy loyalists, the miniseries did well in the ratings and Downey spent the next two years starring in a variety of TV-movies made for both cable and the broadcast networks, as well as in the syndicated "Hercules and the Amazon Women" (1994). Among Downey's more notable TV-movies were "Devlin" (Showtime, 1992) in which she portrayed a compassionate girlfriend, and "Getting Up and Going Home" (Lifetime, 1992) in which she was again the girlfriend; this time to a married man simultaneously involved with three women. Such non-virginal roles did not keep Downey from being cast in "Touched By an Angel," a 1994 CBS pilot. Downey portrayed Monica, an apprentice angel just promoted to caseworker, with Tess (Della Reese) as her advisor. While the pilot had dark elements, when CBS put the project on its fall 1994 schedule, the tenor of the series became more spiritually motivated. At first, "Touched By an Angel" was practically overlooked by critics and was near death on CBS' Wednesday night schedule. But the network moved the show behind "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" on Saturday nights in February 1995 and by the fall, it was winning its time period. The show was one of the few network series to openly affirm the existence of a deity, and to speak of God "having a plan" for the characters whose lives Downey's angel affected. Her lilting, yet not overbearing, Irish accent helped give the series a charming edge. The success of the series helped lift Downey's profile, and she starred in "The Last Word" (Showtime, 1995) and "A Child is Missing" (CBS, 1995).

Profession(s):
Actor, producer, author
Sometimes Credited As:
Horizontal Line
Family
brother:John Downey (older)
brother:Lawrence Downey (older)
brother:Pat Downey (older)
daughter:Reilly Marie Anspaugh (born June 3, 1996; father, David Anspaugh)
father:Patrick Downey (died of a heart attack c. 1984)
husband:Mark Burnett (began dating January 2004; got engaged Thanksgiving weekend 2006; wed in a private ceremony at their home in Malibu on April 28, 2007)
husband:David Anspaugh (married on November 24, 1995; Downey filed for divorce in March 1998 while Anspaugh was undergoing treatment for depression; divorced)
mother:Maureen Downey (died of a heart attack at age 48 when Downey was ten, c. 1973; acted in local theater productions)
Companion(s)
Michael Nouri , Companion , ```..reportedly dated in 2001; no longer together


Horizontal Line
Education
London Drama Studio Ealing, England
Brighton College England painting 1984
Awards (Back to top)

TV GUIDE Award Actress in a Drama Series "Touched By an Angel" 1999

Milestones (Back to top)

1998 Made producing debut with the CBS TV-movie "Monday After the Miracle"; also starred as Annie Sullivan
1994 Starred as Tess, a novice spirit, in CBS drama series "Touched By an Angel"
1991 Appeared in short-lived NBC series "Disney Presents 'The Lives of Black Jack Savage'"
1991 Starred as Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis in the six-hour NBC miniseries "A Woman Named Jackie"
1989 Broadway debut in "The Circle"
1988 Had a small role as a British aristocrat on the ABC soap opera, "One Life to Live"
1987 Off-Broadway debut, "Tamara"
1986 Moved to the USA with husband
Grew up as a member of Northern Ireland's Catholic minority in Derry
Left Northern Ireland at age 18 to attend art school in England
Appeared in off-Broadway productions of "Ghosts", "Love's Labor's Lost" and "Arms and the Man"

•To suggest updates to this information, click here


Related Stories
• Roma Downey and Mark Burnett Engaged
• News Roundup, Jan. 14: "Survivor"...Battle of the Sexes?
• 'Survivor 2' vs. 'Angel'
• Star Out of 'Closet'
Advertisement