LONDON: Irish actor Nicola Coughlan, best known for her role as Penelope Featherington in the hit Netflix series “Bridgerton,” has helped raise just over £1.5 million ($1.9 million) for aid efforts in Gaza over the past seven months.
After a recent post on Instagram in which she urged followers to support a fundraiser by the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, which was then shared by American singer Ariana Grande, it raised $1.7 million, adding to $32,646 previously raised by the organization.
Since November, Coughlan has used her Instagram account to call on followers to support five fundraisers for humanitarian organizations operating in the Gaza Strip, including two for Medical Aid for Palestine, which raised a total of $99,451, and one for ActionAid UK, which raised $17,211.
In May, she wore an “Artists for Ceasefire” pin during an interview with USA Today as she promoted the latest season of “Bridgerton.”
Asked why she chose to wear the pin, she said: “It’s very important for me because I feel like I’m a very privileged person. I’m doing my dream job and I’m getting to travel the world, but then I’m hyper-aware of what’s happening in Rafah at the moment.”
Coughlan said her family lived in Jerusalem in the late 1970s when her father served in the Irish Army and he was part of the UN’s Truce Supervision Organization, which supported efforts to broker peace in the Middle East.
“I feel very passionately about it,” she added. “I’m Irish, also, so it’s sort of a different perspective. I just feel if I have this global platform, which I do at the minute, I think if I can hopefully raise funds for aid organizations, I have a fundraiser on my Instagram right now for Medical Aid for Palestine and if people would like to donate to that or share it, I think it would be a wonderful thing to do.”
Coughlan, who also starred as Claire Devlin in the British TV show “Derry Girls,” has worn the pin in public at various events, including the official premiere of the new season of “Bridgerton” and promotional events, including television appearances on US shows such as “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “Good Morning America.”
