One of the surprise home-grown TV hits of recent months, Dan & Becs chronicles the lives of a pair of self-obsessed, middle-class, twenty-somethings in the heartlands of SoCoDu (that’s South County Dublin to you!). Becs is played by 24-year old Holly White, a former Trinity College student, who is currently in her third year studying journalism in London.
Home for White – like her well-to-do character – is on the south Dublin coastline in Killiney, where she lives with her parents and two brothers. “We used to live on Leeson Street in the centre of Dublin,” she explains. “But when I was seven we moved out here, as my parents felt we needed to have a garden. It’s beautiful; I love the space and the fresh sea air. I’m based in London at the moment but I come home every few weeks just to re-charge.”
White first met Dave Coffey [Dan] while spending the summer in Canada – two years before he asked her to play the part of Becs in the original pilot of the low-budget, video-diary styled series. “I was the typical girl who dropped out of college and hadn’t a clue what I wanted to do,” she says of her introduction to acting. “It started out with me going to the Gaiety School of Acting. I got into an ad which Dave had seen and together we came up with the idea of a couple who met in Club ’92 – the nightclub in Leopardstown. Neither of us had any acting experience but the characters are based on people we’d come across. I’d come in and say I was out last night and I heard this conversation and we’d work it into the script. We got funding and the series was made, but it took about two years in total to get it off the ground.”
A self confessed obsessive when it comes to music, movies and books, not to mention fashion, White’s bedroom in the family home is not exactly what you would call clutter-free or minimalist in style. “My room is about to explode with the sheer amount of stuff in it,” she laughs “I have a wardrobe bursting at the seams and shelves overflowing with all kinds of stuff. I’m a massive music fan and while I’d love to be able to say I listen to all my music on vinyl I usually listen on an iPod. I love everything from The Rolling Stones to The Kinks to a lot of new Irish stuff. And I love that Rilo Kiley album too. I bought tickets for the Electric Picnic to see them, but I couldn’t go and I had to sell them. I’m big into going onto MySpace and downloading stuff, but if I really like a band I’ll buy the CD.”
Having now caught the acting bug, White devours movies of all kinds and DVDs on her heaving shelves include everything from Citizen Kane and Breakfast At Tiffany’s to Donnie Darko and Lost in Translation. “I shouldn’t admit to it but I have In Bed With Madonna somewhere under that lot too,” she laughs. “I love all that behind-the-scenes stuff for some reason.”
Reading is another passion of hers and books in her collection include classics like The Great Gatsby, Bertand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy and John Banville’s Book of Evidence. “I’m the kind of person who can’t not buy two or three books at a time,” she says. “I’m big into coffee table books too and I’ve had suitcases weighing several kilos over the allowance at airports”
There’s even space on her bedroom walls for the odd work of art. “When I was 16 I went to an art auction and bought this picture. The guy who painted it has gone on to be a designer for Paul Smith – I hope he becomes huge,” she says.
“And I’ve one of those cork notice boards up on the wall. I’m obsessed with keeping everything from cinema tickets to business cards. Anytime I go to a 21st party I’ll keep the place names and stick it up on the board.”
She spent the summer of 2007 attending the RADA Summer School in London before returning home for the second series of Dan & Becs. “I decided it would be good to do some serious acting,” she laughs. “I realise how lucky I was and we were aware that there’s no guarantee of anything in the future. I love doing journalism and I’ve enjoyed multi-tasking this year. My next aim would be to get an agent in London but I have to accept that I’m at bottom of the heap over there.”

Photos by Cathal Dawson.