“Ms. O’Connell, one of Canada’s best stage actors - is unimprovably right”. - Wall Street Journal

A critically acclaimed and sought after actor, Moya has been playing leading roles in theaters across Canada for 25 years, as well as in TV and film. She has been an ensemble member with The Shaw Festival for 11 seasons, and Bard on The Beach Shakespeare Festival for 8.

She has played queens, warriors, princesses, conspirators, daughters, wives, mothers, psychopaths, writers, waitresses, fascists, teachers, heiresses, paupers, ingenues, heroines, harridans, weightlifters, scientists, socialites, academics, nuns, political radicals, housewives, and ordinary citizens. Slammed doors in farces, killed herself in tragedies, kissed and slapped faces in romantic comedies, been shipwrecked, robbed, cheated on, murdered, lied to, fallen in love over and over, tried to escape evil stepmothers and  found severed heads. She has killed emperors, seen ghosts, gone mad and been shot in the head an uncommon amount of times.

In 2023, Moya starred in the Coal Mine Theatre’s production of The Sound Inside, where critics proclaimed her “haunting,” “magnetic”, with Stage Door declaring “It takes an actor at the height of their powers to make the play work, and this Coal Mine production has it in Moya O’Connell, who gives one of the most outstanding performances I have seen so far this year.”