Schitt’s Creek star Catherine O’Hara shared two sons Matthew and Luke Welch, with husband Bo Welch before her death at age 71 in January 2026.
A Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson confirmed to Us Weekly on January 30, 2026, that paramedics were called to Catherine’s Brentwood home that morning for a medical aid call and she was transported to a local hospital in “serious condition.”
Us reported that O’Hara died following a “brief illness” but no official cause of death has been determined at this stage.
“A private celebration of life will be held by the family,” a family spokesperson confirmed to Us.
O’Hara and her husband, Bo, an Oscar and Emmy-nominated production designer, welcomed their two children after meeting on the set of 1988’s Beetlejuice. They tied the knot five years later, with their firstborn son, Matthew, arriving in 1994. Younger son Luke followed in 1997.
“I’m with my family as much as I can be,” she told 519 Magazine in August 2019. “In deciding what work I might get involved in for my whole working life, my family’s always come first. I have two sons, and when they were babies, I thought what’s the point? What’s the point of having children if I’m not going to be with them, so that was always number one consideration and always will be.”
Keep scrolling for more information about O’Hara and Welch’s two sons:
Matthew Welch
Catherine O’Hara and her husband, Bo Welch, welcomed their eldest son, Matthew Welch, two years after they exchanged marriage vows in 1992.
The actress revealed to People in 2024 that she once had a “sickening” parenting experience that was straight out of her 1990 festive classic Home Alone. (O’Hara starred in both Home Alone and 1992 sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York as Kate McCallister, a mom whose son Kevin is accidentally left alone for the holiday two separate times.)
Catherine looked back on a scary moment when she brought her two young children along for a subway ride in New York. Tragedy very nearly struck when the train doors closed before the boys stepped on board.
Catherine O’Hara and husband Bo Welch in February 2007. Kevin Winter/Getty Images
“We turned around, the doors are closing, and they just weren’t on,” she remembered. “I screamed and people screamed with me. Everybody joined in. … It makes me sick to think what could have happened!”
The actress went on, “What happens? You’re on the train, it goes to the next stop. And you think, are they going to stay in that spot? Are they going to be safe? Will we go back? Will they think, ‘Oh, I’ll get on the next train and go there?’ We didn’t have phones.”
Luke Welch
Luke Welch was born in 1997. Catherine O’Hara confirmed to 519 Magazine in 2019 that she and her husband, Bo Welch, chose early on to put their family ahead of any career prospects.
“I also know that when I am at work, I’m 100 percent at work. I actually forget that I’m married and have kids,” Catherine acknowledged. “That’s terrible, and I know I’m never really going to focus on the job at hand, which in most cases is being a wife and mother, but when I’m at work, I’m really focused on that. So, knowing that I’m going to be that way, I’ve always tried to be careful about what work I get myself involved in.”
She went on, “I have lovely friends. You know, you’ve got to have a life outside your work. I mean, you’re lucky if you do. I’m speaking as someone who’s blessed in that way. I do get to work and I get to be with my family and friends. Not everyone can do that.”
Catherine O’Hara’s Sons Are Both in the Entertainment Industry
Matthew and Luke Welch have chosen to live private lives and are not on social media, but Catherine O’Hara has shared some information about them over the years. She told Vanity Fair in 2020 that both sons worked on her hit comedy series Schitt’s Creek, one as a set dresser and the other in set construction.
During a 2024 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Catherine revealed that part of the reason she joined The Last of Us season 2 was because one of her sons worked on the HBO series.
“My son’s a set dresser on the show,” she confirmed.
Catherine O’Hara Said Her Sons Shared Her Sense of Humor
Catherine O’Hara was one of Canada’s most decorated comedy stars. She started off her career on groundbreaking sketch comedy show SCTV and later appeared in classic movies such as Home Alone, Best in Show, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Disney’s Elemental.
Catherine’s two Emmy Award wins were nearly 40 years apart — first for SCTV in 1982 and later for Schitt’s Creek in 2020. Her iconic portrayal of Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek also earned her a Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy Award at the Golden Globes in 2020.
Speaking to The Toronto Star in 2007, Catherine confirmed that her sons, Matthew and Luke, were already carrying on the family’s comedic legacy.
“They’re very funny, and we encourage it,” Catherine declared. “The older one does Warners cartoon bits, really old-fashioned, cheap-ass funny vaudeville stuff. And the little one does word play.”
She added, “I’m proud to say, we all make each other laugh. In my home, growing up. I learned that from my parents. They made each other laugh to the end, God bless ‘em. How great is that?”
