1974–1987: Breakthrough with SCTV O'Hara started her comedy career in 1974 as a cast member of
The Second City (SC) in her hometown, Toronto. Her brother Marcus was also a performer with the company. She originally worked as an understudy and in the Sunday night cast of alternates which performed when the main company had the night off. She then joined the touring company of Second City, and had her big break replacing an ailing
Rosemary Radcliffe in the lead female part when this touring group was in Chicago. By 1976 O'Hara was SC's resident leading female comic. In 1976 SC created the sketch comedy show
Second City Television (SCTV), for which O'Hara became a regular performer. She was long rumoured to have left
SNL due to conflicts with volatile writer
Michael O'Donoghue, but O'Hara denied these claims and said she had left the show due to her dislike for living in
New York City. O'Hara expanded her career on television in the mid-1970s. She appeared in a small sketch role as a maid in a 1975
Wayne and Shuster special on CBC. She appeared in the 1976 television film
The Rimshots, the children's television series
Coming Up Rosie for a season (1976–77), and television specials, such as ''
Witch's Night Out and Intergalactic Thanksgiving''. Her performances on SCTV, which began airing locally in Southern Ontario in the fall of 1976, earned her fame in Canada. The show gradually built up a national and then an international following in syndication. O'Hara left SCTV for a time, missing the 1980–81 season, but returned to the show in time for its pickup by the NBC television network in the US, when it became known as
SCTV Network 90. O'Hara's work as a writer on the show earned her an
Emmy Award for outstanding writing and three Emmy Award nominations. She left SCTV again prior to its fifth season in 1982, but did return for occasional guest appearances through the show's end in 1984. O'Hara appeared in a number of television series and television films and continued to work in television until her death.
1988–2014: Prominence in film During the 1990s, she made guest appearances on
Tales from the Crypt,
Oh Baby,
Morton & Hayes, and
The Larry Sanders Show. She acted in and directed episodes of
Dream On and
The Outer Limits, the revival of the 1960s series of
the same name. O'Hara guest-starred on top-rated television series including
Six Feet Under and
Curb Your Enthusiasm. In May 2008, it was announced that she had signed on to star in the upcoming
ABC dramedy Good Behavior. Her role in the 2010 television film
Temple Grandin earned her three award nominations: a
Primetime Emmy Award, a
Satellite Award, and a
Screen Actors Guild Award. O'Hara had a successful career in film. She made her feature debut in the 1980 film
Double Negative, which also starred her SCTV co-stars
John Candy,
Eugene Levy, and
Joe Flaherty. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, O'Hara appeared in many supporting roles, including
Martin Scorsese's
After Hours (1985) and
Heartburn (1986). She appeared as Delia Deetz in the horror-comedy film
Beetlejuice (1988). In 1990, O'Hara had roles in the films
Dick Tracy and ''
Betsy's Wedding. She starred as Kate McCallister in the blockbuster comedy film Home Alone (1990) and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'' (1992). That same year, O'Hara appeared in the comedy
There Goes the Neighborhood. O'Hara continued to appear in many films during the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century. In 1994, she appeared in the comedy-drama film
The Paper and the Western film
Wyatt Earp. She received roles in four of
Christopher Guest's
mockumentary films, three of which earned her awards and nominations:
Waiting for Guffman (1996),
Best in Show (2000),
A Mighty Wind (2003), and
For Your Consideration (2006). Her role in 1999's
The Life Before This won her a
Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. She appeared in the
tenth series of the
British version of
Whose Line Is It Anyway? In 2004, she appeared with
Jim Carrey in the black comedy film ''
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and in 2006, she starred with Christina Ricci in the fantasy film Penelope''. O'Hara served as a voice artist in a number of animated films, including Sally in
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993),
Bartok the Magnificent (1999),
Chicken Little (2005),
Over the Hedge (2006),
Monster House (2006),
Brother Bear 2 (2006),
Where the Wild Things Are (2009), and
Frankenweenie (2012).
2015–2025: ''Schitt's Creek'' and other roles From 2015 to 2020, O'Hara co-starred as
Moira Rose in the
CBC sitcom ''
Schitt's Creek, alongside Eugene Levy, with whom she had previously worked on TV, in films, and as a Second City cast member on stage in 1974. Her performance in Schitt's Creek'' earned her six
Canadian Screen Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She swept the five major TV awards for the sixth and final season, winning a
TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy, a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, a
Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series, and a
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series. During this time she also starred in
The Addams Family (2019),
Extinct (2021),
Elemental (2023), and
The Wild Robot (2024). She appeared as Dr. Georgina Orwell in the first season of the
Netflix black comedy drama series
A Series of Unfortunate Events, which premiered in 2017. Two of her episodes were directed by her husband
Bo Welch, who served as
production designer for the series. She was the only cast member from the
2004 film adaptation to be re-cast in the TV series as well. She appeared on the revival of another Canadian sketch comedy staple,
The Kids in the Hall, in its second episode as Charlene, a friend of the Kids in the Hall. O'Hara reprised her role as Delia Deetz in the
Beetlejuice sequel,
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, in 2024. In 2025, O'Hara had a main role in the
Apple TV+ satirical comedy series
The Studio, for which she won both the
Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series and the
Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, at the
Actor Awards' March 2026 ceremony; show co-creator
Seth Rogen accepted the awards on O'Hara's behalf. She was the first woman to win any individual Actor Awards (or, as previously called, Screen Actors Guild Awards) trophy posthumously. She guest-starred as
Gail Lynden in the
second season of the
HBO post-apocalyptic drama series
The Last of Us. She received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for both roles. O'Hara's film appearances contributed to a cumulative worldwide box‑office gross of more than billion. == Honours ==