For a complete unknown, actress Agnes O'Casey boasts a rather impressive pedigree.
The 25-year-old is the great-granddaughter of celebrated dramatist Sean O'Casey, whose plays about working-class Dublin life were performed in the West End and on Broadway – and were even adapted for the big screen by Alfred Hitchcock.
Ms O'Casey is making her TV debut in the eagerly awaited BBC drama Ridley Road as Vivien Epstein, a Jewish hairdresser in the Sixties who travels to London to track down former lover Jack Morris.
When she learns that Morris, played by Tom Varey, has infiltrated a gang of neo-Nazis to destroy its leader, she joins him on his undercover mission.
Ms O'Casey, who is known to friends as Aggi, was cast for her role in the four-part series that starts tonight while still at drama school – and she is already being tipped for superstardom.
Agnes O'Casey (pictured) is making her TV debut in the eagerly awaited BBC drama Ridley Road as Vivien Epstein, a Jewish hairdresser in the Sixties
'This is my first job and the idea that my first job would be so perfectly in line with everything I believe in is a dream come true,' she said recently.
'When it first came up I thought it was perfect. I was drawn to Vivien for many reasons. She's clever without realising she's clever.
'She's not particularly eloquent but she is truthful and principled. You watch her on this journey as she discovers her own ability.'
Aggi was raised with the surname Kenig, but uses her paternal great-grandfather's name as a tribute.
The memoirs of Sean
