Catherine O'Hara

Early Life

Born Catherine Anne O'Hara in Toronto, Ontario, to an Irish Catholic family, she was the sixth of seven children. She attended Catholic schools but dropped out of secondary school at 16 to pursue acting, initially working as a waitress while training in improv at Toronto's Second City Theatre.

Career Highlights

O'Hara rose to prominence in the 1970s with Toronto's Second City and The Second City Touring Company. She became a core cast member of the sketch comedy series Second City Television (SCTV) from 1976 to 1984, earning international acclaim for characters like lounge singer Lola Heatherton and ghoul-hostess Marge Simpson (no relation to The Simpsons). Her writing on SCTV won her a Primetime Emmy in 1982.

Transitioning to film, she collaborated frequently with directors like Tim Burton (Beetlejuice as Delia Deetz, 1988; The Nightmare Before Christmas voicing Sally, 1993; Frankenweenie, 2012) and earned an Oscar nomination for After Hours (1985). Family comedy roles followed, including Aunt Irene in Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Other notable films: Heartburn (1986), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), and The Darjeeling Limited (2007).

On television, she shone in The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (1988), Dream On (1990s), and especially Schitt's Creek (2015–2020) as the eccentric Moira Rose, winning an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award in 2020. She also voiced Jackie in Six Feet Under and appeared in A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017) and Schitt's Creek spin-offs.

O'Hara received numerous honors, including a star on Canada's Walk of Fame (2007), the Governor General's Performing Arts Award (2013), and Officer of the Order of Canada (2024).

Personal Life and Legacy

Married to production designer Bo Welch since 1992, they had two sons, Matthew (b. 1994) and Luke (b. 1997). Known for her distinctive voice and physical comedy, O'Hara influenced generations of comedians with her sharp wit and character work.

She passed away on January 30, 2026, at age 71 in Santa Monica, California, from a pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer as the underlying cause. Tributes poured in from peers like Eugene Levy, who called her "comedy's greatest weirdo," cementing her as a comedy icon.