Nika McGuigan was nominated for her performance in the film Wildfire.
Barry McGuigan has shared his pride at his late daughter Danika's IFTA nomination.
Danika, or Nika, as she was more commonly known as, played Kelly in Wildfire, which posthumously landed her an IFTA nomination for Best Actress in Film.
The actress, who also played art student Danielle in Can't Cope, Won't Cope, passed away in 2019 aged 33. She had been diagnosed with cancer.
Taking to Twitter, dad Barry, a boxer, said that he was "so proud" of his daughter and extended his congratulations to the Wildfire team.
"So proud of my beloved daughter's IFTA nomination," he wrote. "Huge congratulations to @Cathy_Brady and @NoraJaneNoone and all at WILDFIRE for all 5 Nominations."
https://twitter.com/ClonesCyclone/status/1404846091326087170
In their nomination, IFTA praised Nika for her "electrifying performance". The late actress was nominated alongside her co-star Nora-Jane Noone. Also nominated in the category are Lola Petticrew for Dating Amber, Clare Dunne for Herself and Jessie Buckley for I'm Thinking of Ending Things.
Wildfire's director Cathy Brady was also thrilled at the nomination, and said that Nika was "extraordinary", and part of her "forever dream team".
Earlier this year,
Barry McGuigan appeared on the Late, Late Show to talk about
the moment his daughter learned she wouldn't be able to recover.
"She looked at the specialist and she asked could she get better and the girl shook her head. I remember, it was like something gripped me by the throat."
The boxer added that as Nika had leukemia as a child, he felt certain she would be able to make a recovery.
"I said, 'You can, you can get better. They told me when you had leukemia you couldn't get better and you got better.'"
The actress' father said that he felt it was important for her to know that she "had hope".
