Roma Downey

Roma Downey is a Northern Irish actress and producer. She was born on 6th May, 1960 in Derry, Northern Ireland. Interestingly, her name “Roma” is derived from the names of her two grandmothers- Rose (Ro) and Mary (Ma). Roma got enrolled at a Catholic girls’s school: Thornhill College. She suffered a personal loss at the age of ten when her mother Maureen died. She lost her father Patrick Downey ten years later. Planning to pursue her career in painting, she got a BA degree at Brighton College of Arts. She also learned BA (Hons) in Expressive Arts at Brighton Polytechnic.

Late, she decided to shift her focus to acting and went to Drama Studio, London where she was active in plays by Shakespeare and Chekov. She teamed up with Dublin-based Abbey Players, who happened to tour USA for “The Playboy of the Western World.” Thanks to her performance, she got nominated for the prestigious Helen Hayes Best Actress Award in 1991. A Broadway regular, she got a chance to share stage with Rex Harrison for “ The Circle Click to look into! >> Read More... .” Her earnest portrayal of former First Lady of the US Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the American miniseries “A Woman named Jackie” made people notice her beautiful talent. This series won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries at the 1992 edition. Later, she was casted as Monica, an angel on CBS’ Touched by an Angel.

The series continued to run over nine years. Her role of Monica is considered to be one of her stellar roles in her career. Despite its slow start, the TV series garnered multiple nominations, resulting in winning some of them. At the 1999 TV Guide Awards, she won the award for “Favorite Actress in a Drama.” She appeared in projects like “The Division”, “The Survivors Club (a 2004 movie)”, “Funky Monkey”, “The Sons of Mistletoe”, and Second Honeymoon. On 28 April 2007, Roma married Mark Burnett Born in London, England, on July 17, 1960, James M >> Read More... , a TV producer in Malibu. In 2011, the couple announced their involvement in producing a religious docudrama “The Bible” for the History channel. Based on stories from the holy book, The Bible was broadcasted in 2013. Roma enacted the role of Mary, Jesus’ mother for three episodes. The Bible is reported to have been watched by 100 million people in the USA itself.

Ranked as one of top-selling TV shows on streaming services such as iTunes and Amazon. Filmed in Morocco, The Bible received nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award: Outstanding Miniseries at the 2013 ceremony. After its success, Roma revealed the couple’s plan to produce A.D. which would cover the life after Jesus Christ. Quite a vociferous volunteer of humanitarian activities, Roma is one of the Smile Ambassadors for Operation Smile, an NPO working for the welfare of children born with lip problems.

She has travelled to various countries and visited such children to raise their morale. In 2015, Salvation Army awarded Roma the Sally Award for her immense contribution to society. Roma earned her master’s degree from the University of Santa Monica. Earlier, she was in a martial relationship with David Anspaugh and they had a daughter Reilly before their separation. Reilly lives with her mother and Burnett alongside Burnett’s two sons, James and Cameron.