Jack Healy Marcella actor
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Laurence Kinlan stars as Jack Healy in ITV’s drama Marcella

The character's close to the Maguires

Marcella character Jack Healy is on screens alongside Anna Friel’s titular cop and the sinister crime family the Maguires.

His release from prison, after a long stint behind bars, came as Jessie’s death from drugs devastated the community.

Who is Jack? And who portrays him in the ITV drama?

Jack in the third episode of Marcella (Credit: ITV)

Who is Jack Healy in Marcella?

Jack is Jessie’s (Emily Flain) father and a friend of the Maguire family. He helped Finn (Aaron McCusker) avoid trouble some years ago.

At the start of the episode, Jack gets out of prison and embraces Finn in a car outside.

Read more: New series of Marcella: 6 key questions after last night’s very confusing return

He served time with him, but spent longer locked up as he took the blame when Finn dealt with a prison informant.

Jack is Finn’s pal and did time with him in prison (Credit: ITV)

His presence in the drama ties what viewers have seen with Jessie to what’s happening with the Maguire family, Marcella’s undercover work and Rav Sangha’s (Ray Panthaki) investigation into the nightclub killing carried out by Finn’s brother-in-law Bobby Barrett (Martin McCann).

Last week, schoolgirl Jessie died after taking drugs she bought from local lad Aaron Armstrong (Ciaran Flynn).

Jack is also the father of Jessie, who died from a heroine overdose (Credit: ITV)

Who is actor Laurence Kinlan?

Laurence Kinlan is an Irish actor and has appeared in films and TV shows, as well as theatre productions.

The star has previously spoken about losing his father to heroine when he was just 10.

In a chat with the Mirror in 2013, Laurence said he “didn’t do well at school” following his father’s death – and dropped out at 16 to pursue a career in acting.

I got my first film role when I was 14 and that brought me down a different path.

He told the newspaper: “For any child who loses a parent it is hard. And it was tough for me for a good few years – I didn’t do well at school for a good few years after that.

“Everyone has different ways of dealing with things and I went into myself for a good few years after that but I got my first film role when I was 14 and that brought me down a different path.”

He said he knew he wanted to act as soon as he got that part, adding: “I had a tutor on set but I found it hard to concentrate and when I was nearly 16 I sat down with my mum and asked her if it would be okay for me to leave school and concentrate on acting.”

Actor Laurence Kinlan plays Jack Healy (Credit: The Late Late Show / YouTube)

What else has Laurence Kinlan been in?

Laurence appeared in Irish crime drama Love/Hate.

He has also been in Mrs. Brown’s Boys and the 2003 film Ned Kelly, which starred late Hollywood actor Heath Ledger and Lord Of The Rings’ Orlando Bloom.

Read more: Amanda Burton joins cast of Marcella on ITV1: Why did she leave Silent Witness?

On stage, he was in the 2011 production of Curse of the Starving Class, with other roles including parts in The Plough and the Stars, The Playboy of the Western World and The Cripple of Inishmaan.

Poster

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor

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