Victoria Smurfit

Victoria Smurfit (born 31 March 1974) is an Irish actress. She is known for playing Orla O'Connell in the BBC television series Ballykissangel, Detective Chief Inspector Roisin Connor in the ITV police procedural Trial & Retribution and Cruella de Vil in Once Upon a Time for which she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress in 13th IFTA Film & Drama Awards in 2016. Most recently, she played Maud O’Hara in Rivals on Disney+.

Victoria Smurfit
Smurfit in 2016
Born	(1974-03-31) 31 March 1974 (age 51) Dublin, Ireland
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1995–present
Spouse	Douglas Baxter ​ ​ (m. 2000; div. 2015)​ Steve Jacobs ​ (m. 2023)​
Children	3
Relatives	Michael Smurfit (uncle)

Early life

Victoria Smurfit is part of the Smurfit family which, through Smurfit Kappa, is one of the richest in Ireland. The family, headed by Victoria's uncle Michael Smurfit, sponsors a number of sporting events including the Smurfit European Open and the Champion Hurdle. The family is also associated with Smurfit Business School in University College Dublin (UCD). Smurfit studied for an A-level in theatre studies and subsequently went onto the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.^[1]

Career

Smurfit gained fame for her role as Orla O'Connell in the BBC television series Ballykissangel from 1998 to 1999. She played Nina in the 2003 film Bulletproof Monk. From 2003 to 2009, Smurfit portrayed the lead role of Detective Chief Inspector Roisin Connor in the ITV police procedural Trial & Retribution.^[2] She also guest starred in the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi. In 2011 Smurfit appeared in the Agatha Christie's Marple television episode "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side".

In 2013, Smurfit co-starred as Lady Jayne Wetherby in the NBC television period drama Dracula.^[3] In 2014, she began playing the recurring guest role of Cruella de Vil in ABC's Once Upon a Time.^[4][5]

In the run-up to shooting for her role in Homecoming, she described the film as a "mean girls for grown-ups". She played Nikki, the "head mean girl".^[6] In 2021, she played Pippa in Deadly Cuts and in 2022 played Olivia Foyle in Bloodlands. In 2024, she played Maud O’Hara in Disney Plus’s Rivals, based on the Jilly Cooper novel of the same name, which was renewed for a second season in December 2024.

Personal life

Smurfit married advertising executive Douglas Baxter on 29 July 2000 in Surrey, England, and gave birth to their first child, daughter Evie Dorothy Baxter in Dublin, Ireland, on 2 November 2004. A second daughter, Ridley Belle Baxter was born in May 2007.^[7] Their third child, a son, Flynn Alexander Baxter, was born in November 2008.^[8] In 2012 the family relocated to Santa Monica, California, US.^[9] In February 2015 it was announced that Smurfit and her husband had filed for divorce.^[10][11]

She wrote an opinion blog for The Dubliner, which often featured anecdotes from her personal life,^[12] and is a patron of the children's charity World Vision Ireland.^[13] Victoria Smurfit tied the knot with her partner Steve Jacobs at the end of 2023.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1995	The Run of the Country	Annagh		[14]
1996	The Leading Man	Annabel		[15]
1997	Romance and Rejection	Helen		[16]
2000	The Beach	Weathergirl		[17]
	The Wedding Tackle	Clodagh		[18]
2002	The Last Great Wilderness	Claire		[19]
	About a Boy	Suzie		[20]
2003	Bulletproof Monk	Nina Strucker		[21]
2011	Honeymoon for One	Hilary	Television film	[22]
	A Proper Send-Off	Natalia	Short film	[23]
2014	Amnesia: Who Are You?	Monica		[24]
	Among Ravens	Emma		[25]
	Bait	Bex		[26]
2016	Best Fake Friends	Nikki		[27]
2017	The Lears	Diana		[28]
	The Secret Market	Dr. Amy McCarthy	Short film	[29]
2021	Deadly Cuts	Pippa		[30]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1997	Ivanhoe	Lady Rowena	Miniseries; 6 episodes	[31]
1998	Berkeley Square	Hannah Randall	Series regular; 10 episodes	[32]
1998–1999	Ballykissangel	Orla O'Connell	Series regular; 24 episodes	[33]
2000	North Square	Helen Fernyhough	Series regular; 10 episodes	[34]
2000–2001	Cold Feet	Jane Fitzpatrick	Recurring role; 3 episodes	[35]
2003–2009	Trial & Retribution	DCI Róisín Connor	Series regular; 24 episodes	[36]
2004	The Alan Clark Diaries	Clark's Mistress	Episode: "Into the Wilderness"	[37]
2006	The Shell Seekers	Olivia Keeling	Miniseries; 2 episodes	[38]
2009	The Clinic	Dr. Edel Swift	Recurring role; 5 episodes	[39]
2010	Agatha Christie's Marple	Ella Blunt	Episode: "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side"	[40]
2012	Missing	Sloane	Episode: "Ice Queen"	[41]
2013–2014	Dracula	Lady Jayne Wetherby	Series regular; 10 episodes	[42]
2014	The Mentalist	Monica Giraldi	Episode: "Blue Bird"	[43]
	Rush	Isabel Thoreau	Episode: "Don't Ask Me Why"	[44]
2014–2018	Once Upon a Time	Cruella De Vil	Series regular; 15 episodes	[45]
2018	Marcella	Maya Whitman	Recurring role; 7 episodes	[46]
2019	Strike Back: Revolution	Lauren Gillespie	Recurring role; 2 episodes	[47]
2021	Around the World in 80 Days	Lady Clemency Rowbotham	Episode: "Episode 5"	[48]
2022	The Man Who Fell to Earth	Penny Morgan	Recurring role; 3 episodes	[49]
	Bloodlands	Olivia Foyle	Series regular; 6 episodes	[50]
2024	Rivals	Maud O’Hara	Series regular; 8 episodes	[51]

Awards and nominations

Year	Title	Role	Awards	Result
2014	Amnesia: Who Are You?	Monica	IFS Award Best Actress	Won
2016	Once Upon A Time	Cruella de Vil	13th IFTA Film & Drama Awards Best Actress in Supporting Role in Drama	Nominated
2018	The Lears	Diana	15th Irish Film & Television Academy Awards Best Actress in Supporting Role in Film	Won