Kirsten O'Brien

Kirsten O'Brien
at Lighthouse Gala Auction, in aid of Terrence Higgins Trust, 2007.
Born	Kirsten Lindsey O'Brien (1972-02-23) 23 February 1972 (age 44) Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Presenter, actress
Years active	1995–present
Known for	Presenting SMart (1999-2009)
Spouse(s)	Mark Drake, -present, 1 child
Website	http://www.kirstenobrien.com/

Kirsten Lindsey O'Brien (born 23 February 1972) is an English television presenter, radio presenter, and stand-up comic. She is known for presenting SMart, and presented Smile and Totally Doctor Who alongside Barney Harwood on CBBC.

O'Brien studied media and communications at the University of Central England in Birmingham, graduating in 1993. She got her first broadcast experience on the university's student radio station which led to her first job in 1995 at Tyne Tees Television where she made her presenting debut on a children's science programme. In 1996 she joined the team presenting the continuity links during the BBC's children's programming CBBC. She stayed there for three-and-a-half years during which time she became best known for her partnership with puppet Otis the Aardvark. Both O'Brien and Otis also co-presented with other people (and often solo). The 1997 Saturday morning spin-off Saturday Aardvark was entirely built around them. Puppeteer Dave Chapman would often reduce O'Brien to tears of helpless laughter with his ad-libs.

O'Brien left the CBBC on-air presentation team in 1999 but is still a regular on children's TV and radio. She has co-hosted SMart and its spin-offs SMart On the Road and SMarteenies (for the pre-school CBeebies channel). On radio she was one of the presenters of BBC 7's Little Toe Radio Show. In 2004 she played Peter Pan in pantomime. The same year O'Brien successfully took part in a lumberjack competition for the BBC series Bring It On. She performed a sketch show during the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2006 entitled Lesley's Lunch Hour - Not During Lunch, And Not Quite An Hour along with double act partner Ruth Bratt. Then in 2007 she took her comedy show Kirsten O'Brien - Confessions of a Children's TV Presenter to Edinburgh.