Orla Diamantino is a Irish-born writer, based in Dublin with her wife. A former professional squash player and coach, she spent twenty-two years in America, before returning to Ireland in 2015.
Orla has co-written two screenplays. The first, Men Oh! Pause, she co-wrote with Val Troy. The script was longlisted in the 2023 Female Pilot Club competition and is currently being optioned by 3 Hot Whiskeys Productions in Dublin.
The second, Aoife Allen, was co-written with David Gilna, a well-established Irish playwright who has written, produced, and directed in many of his own plays.
Together, Orla and Val produce comedy shows for Funny Women, a UK-based non-profit organisation that celebrates its twentieth year in operation this year. Their first two shows took place on a sold-out main stage at the iconic Whelan’s at Dublin in 2023 and 2024.
Separately, Orla has written her own memoir, I’m Not Bi-Polar, I’m Irish, an inspirational story about reinvention in the face of adversity. Her story details insights into her very colourful life: dealing with a strict Irish catholic upbringing and coming out in the early 90s when it was still illegal to be homosexual in Ireland. A bipolar diagnosis at age thirty meant being heavily medicated, as well as having five trips to psychiatric wards over a twelve-year span. In 2014, with the help of her doctors, she stopped taking all medications and has been free of them for nine years, applauding her inner circle of friends and family for their support – only medication she needs. Well, that and the occasional glass of prosecco. No need for anything else!
Her WIP is a comedy novel entitled Bigger Plans, which describes the journey a former nun takes having been expelled from a convent in Dublin city. The hilarious and heart-warming tale depicts life in the 80s at a girls’ secondary school in County Cork, and all the growing pains associated with it, touching on mental illness, homelessness, and the importance of having a furry friend in our lives. She is currently adapting this story into a screenplay.
Orla began a career in acting in 2024, when she was cast as a supporting role in a feature film based in Prague. Since then, she has completed her studies at Bow Street Academy for screen acting. She was cast in three short films in 2025, and has another set to film in February. She is also part of the Jury Experience, a theatre production by Fever UK, where she plays the judge. Orla is also a seasoned story-teller in Dublin and has performed at the Viking Theatre, the Lark Theatre, the Civic Centre, and the Sugar Club.
Orla writes and acts full time in Dublin, where she produces and broadcasts her own weekly radio show on Near FM. She facilitates a writing room two days a week in the Writing.ie private group, which is the group that kickstarted her creative path. Founded by Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin (aka Sam Blake) and Maria McHale, the group is the backbone to her passion. Orla is a ‘glass always half full’ kind of woman; no matter how difficult a situation can be, she manages to inject a humorous twist.
Orla still competes at a high level in squash, and won a bronze medal at the World Masters Squash Championships in August 2022.
