Catherine O'Hara: Schitt's Creek and Home Alone Star Dies at 71

Catherine O'Hara was a Canadian-American actress and comedian, one of the most beloved comic performers of her generation. Born on March 4, 1954, in Toronto, Ontario, she began at The Second City and became a star of the sketch show SCTV.

O'Hara won an Emmy for writing on SCTV and played Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice and Kate McCallister in Home Alone and Home Alone 2. She appeared in Christopher Guest's mockumentaries including Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind, and voiced Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas. As Moira Rose on Schitt's Creek she won an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

O'Hara was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2017. She was born with dextrocardia, a condition in which the heart is on the right side of the body. She married production designer Bo Welch in 1992 and had two sons. She died in Santa Monica, California, on January 30, 2026, at age 71, of a pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer as an underlying cause. She won a posthumous Actor Award for The Studio.

Achievements: Emmy for writing on SCTV, Kate McCallister in Home Alone, Moira Rose in Schitt's Creek (Emmy and Golden Globe), Officer of the Order of Canada (2017).

Birth: March 4, 1954 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Profession: Actress and comedian.

Interesting Facts: She understudied Gilda Radner at The Second City. Her films have grossed more than $4 billion worldwide.