‘I’ve always felt like I was Irish’: Cork-raised actress Demi Isaac Oviawe receives Irish citizenship

Acting sensation Demi Isaac Oviawe said she has “always felt” Irish but that became official yesterday as the Nigerian-born, Cork-raised star received her Irish citizenship.

The Young Offenders actress, who has more recently featured in Netflix’s The School for Good and Evil and the television adaptation of Graham Norton’s debut novel Holding, is among approximately 3,500 people to officially become Irish citizens at ceremonies in the INEC in Killarney yesterday and today.

Demi, who also co-hosts a radio show on Cork’s 96FM, moved to Mallow when she was a toddler and has lived there ever since.

“I was two when I moved here but I actually don’t remember it at,” Demi said, speaking to The Echo ahead of the ceremony.

“I’ve always felt like I was Irish. I went to school, spoke Irish, played GAA, and bacon and cabbage is one of my favourite meals!” 

Tragically, just a few years after they had moved to Cork, Demi lost her mother to breast cancer and her father later passed away when she was 15.

When she’s not off filming, Demi still lives with her stepmother and siblings in Mallow.

“There’s eight of us in the house and do you know what? I wouldn’t change it for the world.

“Well, I say that now, give it until tonight and I’ll probably be like I can’t wait to move out,” she laughed.

The actress, who was lauded for wearing a traditional African grown for her character Linda's debs in The Young Offenders, made a return visit to Nigeria in 2019 and said she hopes to visit again next year.

And while she is proud of her Nigerian roots, home for Demi is Cork.

“I went to Nigeria in 2019 and I’m actually hoping to go next year if all goes according to plan. I went to see my grandmother after not seeing her for about 17 years.

“She literally cradled me like a little baby. It was actually so emotional. 

“But, I will say this though, I’m not meant to live in Nigeria. It’s a completely different lifestyle. 

“I would be chewed up and spat back out again. It’s just completely different to here. I’m too soft basically!” 

Apart from the personal meaning of attaining Irish citizenship, having an Irish passport will assist her when it comes to her career and travelling abroad for filming.

“I’ve missed out on big jobs because of this [not having an Irish passport],” she said.

“It’s expensive to get a visa, it really is… it can make people think are you even worth the job? Could we get someone less expensive, basically.” 

The actress said she is very much looking forward to getting her hands on her long-awaited new passport.

“I don’t think it will feel real until I actually see my face in an Irish passport, when I see Demi Isaac Oviawe on an actual physical Irish passport,” she said. 

“That’s when I think it will hit me, that I’m an Irish citizen.”