Roma Downey

Roma Downey is an actress, producer and New York Times best-selling author from Derry, Northern Ireland. For nine seasons, she played Monica the angel in the CBS television series Touched by an Angel. She produced the mini-series The Bible for the History Channel and also appeared in it as Mary, mother of Jesus. She has performed on stage with the Abbey Theatre, The National Theatre of Ireland and has appeared both on and off Broadway. She played the leading role of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Emmy award-winning mini-series A Woman Named Jackie for NBC. Downey starred in and was executive producer for a number of television movies for the CBS network, including Borrowed Hearts and Second Honeymoon. She is an ambassador for Operation Smile, serving on missions to Honduras, Vietnam and Jordan. On 11 August 2016, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2021, Downey received the Lifetime Achievement Award for the International Christian Film & Music Festival and was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to the Arts, Drama and to the Community in Northern Ireland. As President of Lightworkers Media, the faith and family division of MGM, Downey and her husband, Mark Burnett, produced the Emmy-nominated miniseries The Bible for the History Channel, which was watched by over 100 million people in the United States. Downey and Burnett also executive-produced the feature films Ben-Hur starring Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell and Morgan Freeman; Son of God (2014), Little Boy, Woodlawn, Resurrection, Messiah and Country Ever After, which aired in 2021. Variety recognized Downey and Burnett as "Trailblazers" and listed Downey as one of Variety's "100 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood". The Hollywood Reporter included the couple in their "Most Influential People of 2013" and Downey as one of the "100 Women in Entertainment Power" in 2014. She was honored on Variety's "Women of Impact in 2014". Downey and Burnett also produced The Dovekeepers based on the best selling book by Alice Hoffman for CBS and A.D. The Bible Continues for NBC, Women of the Bible for Lifetime, Answered Prayers for TLC. Downey is the executive producer of the documentary Faithkeepers about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, Bump Along the Way and of the short film Rough, which won the IFTA for best short film in 2021. Most recently, Downey produced the feature film for Amazon Prime On a Wing and a Prayer starring Dennis Quaid and Heather Graham and directed by Sean McNamara. This film closed the Sarasota Film Festival, at which Downey was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. Additionally, Downey has authored multiple books, including the New York Times best-seller Box of Butterflies in 2018. Her most recent devotional Be an Angel: Devotions to Inspire and Encourage Love and Light Along the Way was released in February of 2023.

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