Orla was born in Zambia to Irish parents and at the age of 5 moved back to Ireland where her mother made sure she did every conceivable activity from studying three instruments to ballet and gymnastics.At 13 she discovered drama school and at 16 performed in her first professional theatre performance 'Adult Child/ Dead Child'.After school, extensive traveling and minor acting roles Orla undertook a degree in film & broadcasting. During her studies she gained her first regular role as Sinead Kelly in the award winning television show 'The Clinic'. Shortly after she worked on ITVs 'Malice Aforethought' for director David Blair and her first Irish feature film 'The Front Line' for director David Gleeson.Soon after graduating she worked on British medical drama 'Casualty' and Daniel Barbers 'Harry Brown', with Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer and Charlie Creed-Miles. Her most recent work includes 'Case Histories' for BBC 1 with Jason Isaacs and HBO/SKYs 'Strike Back II' with Liam Cunningham.Orla believes that versatility is a necessity for an actor. 'You can train all you want but experience in different areas of work and life keeps your mind educated and active. It provides you with the necessary life resources to dip into. An actor can have a lot of spare time to kill ...so use it'