Downey, Roma
The Irish
Roma Downey touched the lives of families across America in her portrayal of angel Monica on CBS-TV’s "Touched by an Angel."
Today, she continues her role as a real-life angel by touching children’s lives through her work as a spokesperson and Board of Governors member for Operation Smile.
Since founders William and Kathleen Magee first traveled to the Philippines in 1982, the group of medical volunteers has spread to serve children with cleft lips and palates in nearly 25 countries, and Roma (pictured in Vietnam in 2003) has witnessed the miracles they perform many times.
Most recently, she traveled with her husband TV producer Mark Burnett and their three children, James 14, Reilly, 12, and Cameron, 11, to Amman, Jordan, to attend an Operation Smile medical mission and open the Roma Downey Life Support Training Center, which will train local medical professionals.
Raised in Derry, Roma was educated at the Brighton College of Art in England with ambitions of being a painter.
She began acting in theatre in Ireland before coming to the states where she toured with Synge’s "The Playboy of the Western World."
Roma then moved into television with memorable roles in several miniseries including a part as Jackie Kennedy in the Emmy award winning, "A Woman Named Jackie."
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