Catherine O’Hara is Canada’s contribution to the pantheon of seminal female comediennes – and like legends Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball, she could make you laugh without saying a word. A genius of funny faces, unique voices and wacky improvisation, O’Hara lit up every room she entered. Born into a “really, really funny” large Irish Canadian Catholic family, she was part of the storied 1972-73 Toronto Godspell cast, many of whom would go on to become the country’s most beloved comedic stars. And when O’Hara and that rag-tag crew of SCTV players burst on the scene in 1976, she was just warming up. Hollywood blockbusters, genre-defining mockumentaries and prestige TV shows, like Schitt’s Creek, were yet to come, along with Emmys, Golden Globes, an Order of Canada and the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. Just last year, when she received the Toronto International Film Festival Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award, she recalled how 50 years ago, she was “trying to sneak into TIFF parties.” Little did she know that five decades later, she would be the guest of honour. “When I see Catherine,” says lifelong collaborator and friend Eugene Levy, who presented the award, “I see success. I see a Canadian icon whose shining star rivals the Northern Lights. That’s how far you’ve come.” But O’Hara judged success in a different way. When asked what role she’d most like to be remembered for, she said without any hesitation, the mother of her two children and wife to her husband Bo Welch.

From left: Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara attend the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, 2020; Second City troupers Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Catherine O’Hara, Dave Thomas and Eugene Levy, 1988; Seth Rogen and Catherine O’Hara attend the after party for the world premiere of The Studio, 2025. | Getty Images

 

 

Our Funny Lady

“I’ve always been more comfortable being ridiculous than being glamorous,” Catherine O’Hara declared, and yet she managed to be glamorous despite herself. In her roles, and on the red carpet she was a fashion icon, getting bolder as she grew older and always sprinkling in a dash of her signature wit. Many of her most famous characters, from Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice to Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek, informed O’Hara’s dressing and the relationship was symbiotic, her characters could also be dressed that way because of her.

From left: At the 73rd Annual Tony Awards, 2019; at the TIFF Tribute Awards, 2025; at the 96th Annual Academy Awards, 2024. | Getty Images

Schitt’s Creek co-creator Dan Levy sourced the pieces for Rose’s wardrobe along with costume designer Debra Hanson, working in vintage pieces from Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Rick Owens. As the costume designer on The Last of Us, Ann Foley said, “I’ve never met anyone in my life who wears clothes like Catherine O’Hara.” And wear them she did.

From left: At Vanity Fair Oscar parties in 2020, 2024 and 2025. Inset: Street style in New York City, 2024. | Getty Images

Her choices were often structural, graphic and bold leaning into the dazzle of black and white and designers like Balenciaga, Oscar de la Renta and Christian Dior. Riffing off Moira Rose, whose look was inspired by heiress and fashion icon Daphne Guinness’ theatrical couture style, O’Hara armoured herself in increasingly avant-garde designer clothing, telling Vogue in an interview from the Paris shows in 2024, “I don’t think anyone would’ve thought of me sitting in the front row of a fashion show before I played Moira.” – Antonia Whyatt

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