Catherine OHara

Remembering Catherine O'Hara, born March 4, 1954 and passed away January 30, 2026.

Catherine Anne O'Hara was a Canadian and American actress, comedian and screenwriter, whose career spanned over 50 years. She started in sketch and improvisational comedy in movie and tv before taking dramatic roles to expand her career. Catherine received various accolades including two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. Her movies have grossed more than $4.3 billion worldwide. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2017.

She began her career in a starring role on the CBC Television children's tv sitcom Coming Up Rosie in 1975, and came to prominence in the sketch comedy series Second City Television (SCTV; 1976–1984), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. Catherine gained acclaim acting in movies such as After Hours (1985), Heartburn (1986), Beetlejuice (1988), Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). She frequently collaborated with Christopher Guest, acting in his mockumentary movies Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006). Her voice roles include the movies The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Chicken Little (2005), Over the Hedge (2006), Monster House (2006), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), Frankenweenie (2012), Elemental (2023) and The Wild Robot (2024).

Appearing opposite Eugene Levy, a frequent castmate in SCTV and Guest's films, she gained a career resurgence for her role as Moira Rose in the CBC sitcom Schitt's Creek (2015–2020), earning a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. Her portrayal of Temple Grandin's aunt in the HBO film Temple Grandin (2010) earned an Emmy nomination. Other tv credits include the HBO drama series Six Feet Under (2003–2005), the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017–2019) and the HBO post-apocalyptic drama series The Last of Us (2025). Her performance in the Apple TV+ comedy series The Studio (2025) posthumously won her the Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series.

Her cause of death was revealed to be from a pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer as the underlying cause.