Years active 2006 – Present Role Film producer | Name Danielle Ryan | |
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Occupation Heiress, Actor, Entrepreneur Education Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Profiles | ||
Danielle Ryan is an Irish heiress, being the daughter of Capt. Cathal Ryan and granddaughter of Tony Ryan, founder of Ryanair. She trained in acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Thus far, Ryan has used her inherited €250 million fortune to try her hand at being a business woman, entrepreneur, philanthropist, actress and producer.
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Ryan married a nephew of former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, Barrister Richard Bourke, on 25 February 2012 at the Royal Opera House in London in a ceremony that the Irish Independent claims cost over One hundred thousand euro. Richard sits on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International Ireland and Educate Together.
Philanthropy
In February 2011 at the UN General Assembly in New York, Ryan announced that the Cathal Ryan Trust, set up in memory of her late father, was giving $14 million to help children in Sri Lanka following the bitter war which ended in May 2009 after 26 years. The donation is being channelled through UNICEF Ireland and is one of the biggest personal donations the UN Body has ever received. It will fund schools and maternity hospitals in four of the worst affected towns in the main post-conflict area in the north of Sri Lanka. Cathal Ryan had worked as a pilot there in the late 1970's.
The Lir - National Academy of Dramatic Art in Dublin was established in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin and the Cathal Ryan Trust, with the involvement of the internationally renowned Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London.
The Lir Academy which opened its doors in October 2011 provides education and training for actors, directors, designers, playwrights, stage managers and technicians. [4]
Business
In 2013, Ryan launched the brand Roads which encompasses luxury fragrance, book publishing and film production. According to Ryan, the company's ethos is based around "storytelling", something she sees the olfactory trade as being the final component of.
There are currently ten Roads Fragrances for sale in department stores across the world, a series of "Classic" books (new editions of popular classics, each designed to be recognizable as a Roads product), and a number of coffee table books. Roads Entertainment is headed up by producer Alan Maher - former senior executive of the Irish Film Board - and will release its first documentary and feature films in 2015.
As of the end of 2013, the Phoenix magazine identifies that Roads has accumulated losses of sixty thousand euro.