# Morgana O'Reilly
**Morgana O'Reilly** (born 1985) is a New Zealand actor, writer, and director known for the lead role in the horror-comedy film *[Housebound](https://www.edgepedia.org/housebound-2014-film)* (2014), a run as Naomi Canning on the Australian soap *Neighbours*, the lead in the Emmy-winning lockdown series *INSiDE*, and the role of Pam in the third season of HBO's *The White Lotus*.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1985, New Zealand[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2837410/) |
| Breakout role | Kylie Bucknell, lead of *Housebound* (2014), directed by Gerard Johnstone[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) |
| Soap work | Naomi Canning on *Neighbours* (2014, with a cameo in the 2022 finale); Narelle Stang in *Wentworth* season 7[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2433738/characters/nm2837410/) |
| *INSiDE* | Rose (lead) in the 2020 comedy-thriller, directed by her husband Peter Salmon; the series won an International Emmy in 2021[4](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/morgana-oreilly/) |
| *The White Lotus* | Pam in season 3 (HBO), set at a Thai resort; the ensemble was nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [4](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/morgana-oreilly/) |
| Training | Bachelor of Performing & Screen Arts, Acting Major, UNITEC Auckland, 2004[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) |
| Solo show | *Stories About My Body*, performed 2022–2023 and adapted to film in 2026, co-directed with Peter Salmon[4](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/morgana-oreilly/) |
## Early life and training
O'Reilly grew up in Ponsonby, Auckland, with parents who worked in the arts; her mother is the choreographer and dancer Mary-Jane O'Reilly, and she describes an urban childhood spent around theaters and costume rooms[5](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/morgana-oreilly-my-story-as-told-to-elisabeth-easther/XLFRLQXLRJ42QJGNP5JOY5VNBI/). Her full name is Morgana Le Fay Naomi Jane O'Reilly, though her legal name is Morgan, which her parents found in the phone book[6](https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/celebrity/morgana-oreilly-white-lotus-acting-career/).
Her first performing was tap dancing, which she began training in from 1991; she has said she loved it because she "just wanted to make noise"[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [7](https://www.vervemagazine.co.nz/from-tap-shoes-to-television/). Joining Ros Gardner's OutLoud Theatre Company at about 13 was the point, she has said, when she decided to become an actor[5](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/morgana-oreilly-my-story-as-told-to-elisabeth-easther/XLFRLQXLRJ42QJGNP5JOY5VNBI/). She graduated with a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts, acting major, from UNITEC in Auckland in 2004[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly).
## Screen career
**Early comedy and television.** O'Reilly's screen career began in New Zealand comedy, with roles in sketch shows such as *A Thousand Apologies* (2008), where she played multiple characters, and *Super City* (2010, directed by [Taika Waititi](https://www.edgepedia.org/taika-waititi)), plus the comedy drama *Nothing Trivial*[4](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/morgana-oreilly/) • [2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly). She led the TV movie *Safe House* (2012) and played Billy T James's wife Lynn in the telefeature *Billy* (2011)[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [8](https://www.nzonscreen.com/interviews/morgana-oreilly-from-success-in-housebound-to-the-set-of-neighbours/).
**Housebound.** Her international breakthrough was *Housebound* (2014), Gerard Johnstone's comedy horror, in which she played Kylie Bucknell, a delinquent serving eight months' home detention at her mother's possibly haunted house[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [9](https://www.nzonscreen.com/videos/housebound-2013/). A British review singled out her character as a "memorable heroine" whose default response to authority figures and ghosts alike is profanity[10](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/housebound-film-review-spoof-horror-movie-is-lifted-by-dry-humour-and-gory-special-effects-10362359.html). She was nominated for Best Actress at the 2014 NZ Film Awards for the role[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly).
**Australia.** In 2014 she joined the long-running Australian soap *Neighbours* as Naomi Canning, a core role she held through 2015 and returned to for the show's 2022 finale[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [8](https://www.nzonscreen.com/interviews/morgana-oreilly-from-success-in-housebound-to-the-set-of-neighbours/). Other Australian credits include *Wentworth* (season 7, as Narelle Stang), *[Rake](https://www.edgepedia.org/rake-australian-tv-series)*, *[Wanted](https://www.edgepedia.org/wanted-2016-australian-tv-series)*, *Rosehaven*, and *Secret Bridesmaid's Business*[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2433738/characters/nm2837410/).
**INSiDE and New Zealand work.** Back in New Zealand, she led the comedy series *Mean Mums* as Jess across its 2019–2021 run, and starred as Rose in *INSiDE* (2020), a comic thriller created during the Covid-19 lockdown with a quick-response grant from NZ On Air and directed by her husband, Peter Salmon[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [11](https://www.nzonscreen.com/all-series/inside/inside-episode-one-2020/) • [7](https://www.vervemagazine.co.nz/from-tap-shoes-to-television/). The series won an International Emmy in 2021, and O'Reilly won best actress awards for it at the London and Rio Web Fests that year[4](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/morgana-oreilly/) • [12](https://www.thearts.co.nz/boosted/projects/stories-about-my-body). Her other New Zealand lead roles include Nicole in *Friends Like Her* (2023), for which she was nominated for Best Actress at the 2024 New Zealand Television Awards, and the feature *Bookworm* (2023), directed by Ant Timpson[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [4](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/morgana-oreilly/).
**The White Lotus and recent work.** O'Reilly joined the ensemble cast of *The White Lotus* season 3 as Pam, a staff member at the show's Thai resort; the eight-episode season debuted on HBO in February 2025[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [13](https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/hbo-releases-official-trailer-and-key-art-season-three-white-lotus?language_content_entity=en). She then starred as Joni Grey in the [Paramount+](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount) drama *[Playing Gracie Darling](https://www.edgepedia.org/playing-gracie-darling)*, as PC Deb Brighton in Sky's *Bust Up*, and as Kaye Gerard in the Sky NZ Originals series *Small Town Scandal*[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [4](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/morgana-oreilly/).
## Theatre and solo work
O'Reilly's stage credits include Stella in *A Streetcar Named Desire* (2017), Vanda in *Venus in Fur* (2016), for which she received the Award of Excellence for Performance at the Auckland Theatre Awards, *Amadeus*, *Hand to God*, *Othello*, and *Bare*[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly). She devised, wrote, and performed the solo show *The Height of the Eiffel Tower*, playing 13 characters on a New Zealand national tour and at the New York Fringe Festival, and later in people's homes worldwide on what was called the Living Room Tour[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [12](https://www.thearts.co.nz/boosted/projects/stories-about-my-body).
Her one-woman show *Stories About My Body*, performed at Basement Theatre and Melbourne Comedy Festival/Malthouse Theatre in 2022 and Circa Theatre Wellington in 2023, mixes comic autobiography, including accounts of working at foot-fetish parties in New York, with footage of her giving birth to her second child[2](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly) • [12](https://www.thearts.co.nz/boosted/projects/stories-about-my-body). In 2026 she and Peter Salmon co-directed a screen adaptation of the show, in which she also appears[4](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/morgana-oreilly/).
## Personal life
O'Reilly is married to director Peter Salmon, an International Emmy and BAFTA-winning director; the couple have two children, Luna and Ziggy, and she is based between New Zealand and Australia[4](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/morgana-oreilly/) • [12](https://www.thearts.co.nz/boosted/projects/stories-about-my-body) • [7](https://www.vervemagazine.co.nz/from-tap-shoes-to-television/).
## References
1. [Morgana O'Reilly, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2837410/)
2. [Morgana O'Reilly Actor Profile, Johnson & Laird Management](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Morgana-OReilly)
3. [Wentworth (TV Series 2013–2021), Morgana O'Reilly as Narelle Stang, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2433738/characters/nm2837410/)
4. [Morgana O'Reilly, NZ On Screen](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/morgana-oreilly/)
5. [Morgana O'Reilly: My story as told to Elisabeth Easther, NZ Herald (9 May 2022)](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/morgana-oreilly-my-story-as-told-to-elisabeth-easther/XLFRLQXLRJ42QJGNP5JOY5VNBI/)
6. [White Lotus star Morgana O'Reilly talks career highs, near misses and parenthood, Now to Love (30 October 2025)](https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/celebrity/morgana-oreilly-white-lotus-acting-career/)
7. [From Tap Shoes to Television, Verve Magazine (13 June 2024)](https://www.vervemagazine.co.nz/from-tap-shoes-to-television/)
8. [Morgana O'Reilly: From success in Housebound to the set of Neighbours, NZ On Screen ScreenTalk (2016)](https://www.nzonscreen.com/interviews/morgana-oreilly-from-success-in-housebound-to-the-set-of-neighbours/)
9. [Housebound, NZ On Screen](https://www.nzonscreen.com/videos/housebound-2013/)
10. [Housebound, film review, The Independent (2 July 2015)](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/housebound-film-review-spoof-horror-movie-is-lifted-by-dry-humour-and-gory-special-effects-10362359.html)
11. [INSiDE – First Episode, NZ On Screen](https://www.nzonscreen.com/all-series/inside/inside-episode-one-2020/)
12. [Help Stories About My Body become a FILM!, Boosted, Arts Foundation of New Zealand](https://www.thearts.co.nz/boosted/projects/stories-about-my-body)
13. [HBO Releases The Official Trailer And Key Art For Season Three Of THE WHITE LOTUS, Warner Bros. Discovery Pressroom (27 January 2025)](https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/hbo-releases-official-trailer-and-key-art-season-three-white-lotus?language_content_entity=en)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › New Zealand actors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license