Who is Moira Rose in Schitt's Creek?

Show

Schitt's Creek

Played by

Catherine O'Hara

First episode

“Our Cup Runneth Over”Season 1, Episode 1, aired January 13, 2015

Role

Main cast

Network

CBC

Occupation

Former soap opera star, town councillor

Show run

2015 to 2020Aired on Pop TV in the United States.

Also known as

Moira

Moira Rose was once the star of the daytime soap Sunrise Bay, and losing the family fortune has done nothing to dim her sense of her own celebrity. Played by Catherine O'Hara in an Emmy-winning performance, she treats every town council meeting and family dinner as a grand stage.

On Schitt's Creek, Moira Rose's story runs through Johnny Rose (Husband), David Rose (Son), Alexis Rose (Daughter), Roland Schitt (Council Colleague), and Stevie Budd (Leading Lady).

Who is Moira Rose?

Moira is Johnny Rose's wife and the mother of David and Alexis. Before the Roses lost everything, she was best known for playing Vivian Blake on Sunrise Bay, and she arrives in Schitt's Creek with a closet full of designer clothes and a collection of wigs she treats like family. She sees the move as a humiliating detour on the way back to fame.

She was an inattentive parent in the family's rich years, and she struggles at first to connect with her grown children. Living in adjoining motel rooms forces the issue. Over time she becomes more present for David and Alexis, while Johnny remains her steady partner and closest ally.

Personality and comedy

Moira speaks in a lofty, hard-to-place accent and fills her sentences with strange, old-fashioned words. Even simple words get stretched into something grand, which is why fans still quote her pronunciation of baby. Her wardrobe is almost entirely black and white, a kind of armor against the town, and she switches wigs to match her mood.

She is dramatic, vain, and often oblivious, but O'Hara plays her with enough vulnerability that the act sometimes cracks. When Moira lets her guard down, usually with Johnny or her children, the show reveals how much the loss of her old life hurts and how much she quietly loves her family.

Key storylines

Moira joins the Jazzagals, the town's a cappella group, and runs for town council, winning a seat that gives her a new stage to perform on. In season four a false rumor of her death sends her basking in tributes, and in season five she flies to Bosnia to shoot a low-budget horror movie about crows that she hopes will relaunch her career. The film's release is shelved, then revived, and its premiere goes memorably wrong.

She also muscles her way into directing Jocelyn's community production of Cabaret and gives Stevie the lead role. In the final season she lands a role in a revival of Sunrise Bay, officiates David and Patrick's wedding when the original officiant cancels, and leaves Schitt's Creek with Johnny for California.

Behind the scenes and legacy

Eugene and Dan Levy always imagined Moira as a former soap star, and Catherine O'Hara was their first choice. She was reluctant to commit to a series, but Eugene Levy, her friend since their Second City and SCTV days, convinced her to do the pilot. O'Hara shaped much of Moira's look herself, from the black and white wardrobe to the wigs, and added many of the character's unusual words to the scripts.

The role brought O'Hara some of the best reviews of her career. She won five consecutive Canadian Screen Awards, the 2020 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and a Golden Globe in 2021. Moira's quotes, wigs, and her way of saying "bébé" have become fixtures of fan culture.

Moira Rose: frequently asked questions

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