Irish actress Nora-Jane Noone is born in Galway, County Galway, on March 8, 1984. In 2020, The Irish Times ranks her 47th on its list of the greatest Irish film actors of all time. She makes her screen debut in her breakthrough role film The Magdalene Sisters (2002), and has since been nominated three times at the IFTA Film & Drama Awards for her work in three films: The Descent (2005),  Savage (2009) and Wildfire (2020).

Noone’s other credits include Doomsday (2008), Ella Enchanted (2004), The Ipcress File (2022), and Hidden Assets (2023).

Noone grows up in Upper Newcastle, Galway. She trains for two years at the Performing Arts School in Galway, and is a proficient musician (piano to Grade 7 level) and dancer. Her previous acting roles before starting her acting career, are in school and amateur productions and pantomime.

Noone graduates in 2004 from NUI Galway with a degree in Science, and then moves to London.

Noone makes her professional film debut playing Bernadette in the Peter Mullan written and directed film The Magdalene Sisters (2002). The film wins the Best Film prize in the 2002 Venice Film Festival, and is nominated as Best British Picture at the British Academy Film Awards. For her performance as Bernadette, she is nominated for British Newcomer of the Year at the 2004 London Film Critics’ Circle Awards, alongside Mullan, who wins best director and best film of the year.

In 2005, Noone is nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Feature Film for her role as Holly in The Descent (2005) at the 3rd Irish Film & Television Awards. She is nominated in 2010 for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Film at the 7th Irish Film & Television Awards for her role in the film Savage (2009).

In 2008, Noone co-stars in Doomsday, directed by Neil Marshall, Speed Dating and Ella Enchanted. Other work includes the short films News for the Church written and directed by Andrew McCarthy and The Listener, directed by Michael Chang. She also records Walking at Ringsend for BBC Radio 4. In 2008, she appears in Insatiable.

Noone also appears in The Descent Part 2, The Day of the Triffids and The Runaway and she co-stars in episodes 1–6 in season one of Jack Taylor. In 2013 she also begins writing a film short.

In 2020, Noone receives a nomination Best Actress in a Leading Role Film at the 17th Irish Film & Television Awards for her performance as Lauren in Wildfire. In 2022, she is involved in the relaunch of The Ipcress File, as Dr. Karen Newton.

In 2023, Noone returns to Ireland as Detective Sergeant Claire Wallace in the RTÉ crime series Hidden Assets.

In 2023, Noone moves back to live in Galway while filming Hidden Assets. She and her husband, fellow actor Chris Marquette, have a daughter in 2020. This is one reason that she decides to return to Ireland.