Donegal actress and Stranger Things star Amybeth McNulty featured on the Late Late Show last night.
The Letterkenny native joined the cast of the popular Netflix show in Season 4, starring as Vickie.
After the worldwide release and success of Season 5, the 24-year-old sat down with Patrick Kielty last night to talk about her journey from growing up in Donegal, to become a world-renowned actress on one of Netflix’s biggest shows.
“It’s insane, I feel like a little cog in this very very massive machine that I’ve been a fan of… since the week Season 1 came out. I’ve been there, I’ve been invested since the beginning.”
“I was watching as a fan of the show, I loved it, so I got what I think would be my dream role, to be Robin’s girlfriend.”
She also credited that fandom as helping her in the audition process – and that while the show and role she was auditioning for was not clear, her fandom was key in cracking the code to nailing down a Stranger Things part.
“I think I had a bit of luck in that way, (thinking) ‘I know what the show likes, I know the pacing, I think I have an idea of how I could do this and maybe make it look good’ – but I didn’t think that I would get cast, in any sort of world.”
Her career took off in the TV world in her teens, when Amybeth moved from Letterkenny and starring in local productions at the An Grianan Theatre, to her mother’s native Canada to take on the leading role in the Netflix series Anne with an E.
“It meant everything to me, I used to do a lot of stuff at the An Grianan… there is a real sense of family there.”
“I used to live on a farm and my WiFi wasn’t good enough to send my (audition tapes), so I’d have to go up to the An Grianan and the RCC and they would send off my tapes for me. The fact I’m doing this now is all thanks to that (community).”
“It was my school, it was my learning, it was my family, it was everything.”
Amybeth’s identity is also a key part of her personality which suits her role as Vickie, girlfriend of Robin Buckley on Stranger Things, to the core.
She detailed that there were difficulties for her and her family as “a queer kid in Donegal,” as she came out as bisexual as a teenager.
“(The reaction to the story is) everything, it’s everything.”
“I grew up as a queer kid in Donegal, and I had an experience… I came out online when I was 16 or 17 and we had people in my hometown going up to my parents, going ‘oh I’m so sorry to hear about your daughter,’ and I’m going, ‘alright, nothing to apologise for.’”
“So it gives me more of an invigoration when I do roles like this and when I’m able to do things like this, nevermind on such a big platform like this which is crazy to me.”
“I wanted to do it justice and do it right for kids like me growing up”.
“I think it is important, and I think especially when the queer story line is a part of their chapter, whilst they’re dealing with monsters, in the 80s and there is all these other things going on, it doesn’t have to be about that. It’s just a part of it and I think that’s ideal.”
Stranger Things star Amybeth McNulty talks rise to fame on the Late Late! was last modified: January 17th, 2026 by Staff Writer
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