Karen O'Leary is a New Zealand early childhood educator, comedian and actor.
[1][2] She graduated with a bachelor's degree in education and was an early childhood teacher in Wellington for 21 years.
[3][4] She got involved in acting when casting director Tina Cleary, the parent of one of the children at her workplace, encouraged her to audition for a part in the 2014 film What We Do in the Shadows.
[6] In 2020, O'Leary presented educational activities on Home Learning TV, a New Zealand television channel dedicated to children learning at home due to school closures during the national lockdown to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
O'Leary lives in Wellington with her son Melvyn and her partner, Eilish Wilson.