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Irish actress Amybeth McNulty has described the past few years following her role in the sci-fi horror series Stranger Things as “weird.” Originally from County Donegal, McNulty reflected on her experience, saying, “It’s insane, I feel like a little cog in this very massive machine.” At 24 years old, she joined the cast during the show’s fourth series, portraying Vickie, a high school student at Hawkins High. Before this, she gained acclaim for playing Anne Shirley in the television adaptation Anne with an E.
During an appearance on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show with Patrick Kielty, McNulty revealed that her familiarity with Stranger Things helped her find confidence during the audition process. “I know what the show likes, I know the pacing, I think I have an idea of how I can do this. But I didn’t think that I would get cast in any sort of world,” she admitted. When she received confirmation that she had landed the part, McNulty said she was overwhelmed, “screaming, crying down the phone.” She also shared a poignant detail: this was the final audition her parents were aware of before their passing. “They said they had a good feeling about it and they were right.”
Raised in Letterkenny by her Irish father and Canadian mother, Amybeth relocated to Canada at 14 to take on her lead role in Anne with an E. She speaks fondly of her parents’ support during this time, acknowledging that they “did everything” for her and had even moved with her to Canada. “I was very, very lucky they were retired and they were able to do that for me,” McNulty said. “They said they would do anything for me and they did. I will always appreciate it.” Her early years included ballet training and participation in local theatrical productions at An Grianán Theatre. Looking back on her upbringing in Letterkenny, she values the close-knit community: “There is a real sense of family there. It was everything.” Her first television role came in 2014 on the RTÉ One series Clean Break, where she played a child named Jenny Rane.
In Stranger Things, McNulty’s character is Robin Buckley’s girlfriend. She opened up about growing up as “a queer kid in Donegal,” coming out publicly online as bisexual at 16 or 17 years old. Reflecting on negative reactions she encountered at home, she said, “We had people in my hometown going up to my parents going ‘oh I’m so sorry to hear about your daughter’ and I’m going ‘right okay, nothing to apologise for,’ so it gives me more of an invigoration when I do roles like this and when I’m able to do things like this.” She expressed a strong desire to “do it justice and do it right for kids like me growing up,” emphasizing the importance of representing queer stories as one part of a character’s life. “I think it is important, especially when the queer story line is a part of their chapter, whilst they’re dealing with monsters, in the 80s and there is all these other things going on, it doesn’t have to be about that. It is just a part of it. I think that is ideal.
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