Rebecca Ryan

Dance

Ryan's Irish mother, Mairanna, was the first World Irish dancing champion. Inspired by her mother, Ryan took up Irish dancing lessons at age 3, competed in numerous competitions and was even ranked third at age 12.

Theatre

Ryan first followed her brother, Charlie Ryan, onto the stage at the age of six in a production of the Who's Tommy at Manchester Opera House. She made her stage debut in Scarborough by Fiona Evans at London's Royal Court Theatre in 2008, and subsequently appeared in "Lost Monsters" at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool. In May 2014, Ryan toured in the production of A Taste of Honey Derby Theatre.

In February 2015 Ryan starred in the Derby Theatre's Solace of the Road playing the characters Holly and Solace. The Derby Telegraph reviewer, Susie Brighouse, said of her performance: "Rebecca Ryan perfects the complex art of acting by a subtle change of tone to clarify what Solace is thinking, as well as deftly changing between the personalities of Holly and Solace throughout the play." Alfred Hickling of The Guardian wrote: "It’s hard to think of an actor more capable of veering between the ages of 12 and 27 at any given moment [than Ryan.]"

Ryan featured in the second run of Beryl, written by fellow Shameless actress Maxine Peake, at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in June and July 2015, followed by an autumn 2015 tour around England.

Television

She is most well known for her role as Debbie Gallagher in Shameless, which she began playing at the age of 11. Though she never had any formal training as an actor, she credits the time spent on the set of Shameless as a wonderful learning experience:

Just sitting there and watching them all used to be amazing — James McAvoy, Anne-Marie Duff, Maxine Peake, David Threlfall. It was just a masterclass for me, to sit there and watch all these incredible people. I learnt so much from them and made some great friends.

Ryan has appeared in various television series, including State of Play Holby City and the CBBC show, Stupid!. In February 2006, she appeared in Emmerdale playing Bob Hope's (Tony Audenshaw) daughter, Carly Hope.

She also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother 6 as part of a task and in a May 2009 episode of Casualty. From 2009 to 2011, she appeared as pupil Vicki MacDonald in BBC school-based drama series, Waterloo Road, alongside Linzey Cocker, who plays Jess Fisher. In January 2010, she played the part of Ellie McCall in a special five-part storyline in BBC daytime soap opera Doctors.

In February 2011, Ryan appeared in Let's Dance for Comic Relief with fellow Waterloo Road cast member, Philip Martin Brown, who played the role of a teacher in the show. They danced to "It's Like That" by Run–D.M.C. and Jason Nevins. In May 2011, she played Maeve Summers in an episode of Casualty.

She has appeared as Grace in Monroe (2012), as Erin Doyle in an episode of DCI Banks (2014), and as Natalie Dixon in Doctors (Series 16, 2015).

She joined Casualty on 21 January 2017 as Gemma Dean, the sister of regular paramedic Iain Dean (Michael Stevenson).

Film

In 2006, Ryan appeared in The Draft a short film directed by Gary Shore.