Catherine OHara, a gifted comedic actress and two-time Emmy winner, has died.

OHara died Friday at her home in Los Angeles after a brief illness, her reps at CAA confirmed. She was 71.

A native of Toronto, OHara was part of the SCTV ensemble that also helped launch the careers of John Candy, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis and others. Shes arguably best known for playing Kevins (Macaulay Culkin) mother, Kate, in the Home Alone movies and had a career renaissance in the past 10 years with Schitts Creek winning an Emmy for her role as a faded soap opera actress opposite old friend Levy and The Studio, for which she earned an Emmy nomination last year. She won an Emmy in 2020 for playing Moira Rose in Schitts Creek. She also earned an Emmy for her work on SCTV Network in 1982 and was nominated eight other times for acting and writing awards. OHara was a double nominee in 2025, scoring anod best guest actress in a drama series for HBOs The Last of Us along with her comedic turn in The Studio.

OHara was born March 4, 1954, and grew up in Toronto. She joined the citys Second City company at age 20, first serving as an understudy to Gilda Radner and moving up to the main cast when Radner left to become part of the original Saturday Night Live ensemble.

In 1976, the troupe launched SCTV, a sketch comedy show that originally aired on Canadas Global network. The shows initial cast, all of whom were writers as well, featured a murderers row of comic talent in Candy, Joe Flaherty, Levy, Andrea Martin, OHara, Harold Ramis and Dave Thomas; Moranis joined later in the shows run, as did Martin Short. NBC later picked up the show to run in the United States.

OHara would go on to play the overbearing Delia Deetz in Tim Burtons Beetlejuice (a role she reprised in the 2024 sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) before being cast in 1990s Home Alone, the now holiday classic where she plays Kate McCallister, a mother who races back from a Paris Christmas trip after realizing the family left their 8-year-old son, Kevin (Culkin), behind. She played Kate once more in the sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

She became part of Christopher Guests regular ensemble in the films Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006). OHara earned an Emmy nomination for her supporting role in HBOs 2010 film Temple Grandin.

With Schitts Creek, co-created by Eugene Levy and son Dan, OHara won a new generation of fans for her role as Moira, who rails at the formerly wealthy Rose familys diminished circumstances. The show swept the comedy categories at the 2020 Emmys, winning best comedy series and acting honors for OHara, Dan Levy, Eugune Levy and Annie Murphy.

The show became a breakout hit in its later seasons on Canadas CBC, Pop TV in the U.S. and streaming on Netflix, in addition to its awards haul. Theres so many projects that get a ton of attention right at the beginning, maybe before theyre even quite ready for it, and then its kind of downhill attention-wise from there, OHara told The Hollywood Reporter after her 2020 nomination. Were so lucky to do the show we wanted and, apparently, leaving people wanting more. Im happy to be a late bloomer, I always have been in my life and Im grateful for it.

What turned out to be OHaras final series role came in The Studio, Apple TVs Hollywood satire in which she played deposed studio head Patty Leigh, who alternately relishes in and sympathizes with her replacement Matt Remicks (Seth Rogen) struggles. She had been set to continue her role in the shows second season, which began filming in mid-January.

OHara is survived by her husband, Bo Welch, sons Matthew and Luke, along with siblings Michael OHara, Mary Margaret OHara, Maureen Jolley, Marcus OHara, Tom OHara and Patricia Wallice.