My favorite Irish actors and actresses
by meerschweinchen_freunde | created - 27 Mar 2015 | updated - 18 Oct 2021 | Public
1. Maria Doyle Kennedy
Actress | The Tudors
Maria Doyle Kennedy was born on September 25, 1964 in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. She is an actress and director, known for The Tudors (2007), The Commitments (1991) and Orphan Black (2013). She has been married to Kieran Kennedy since June 11, 1988. They have four children.
2. Amy McAllister
Actress | Philomena
Amy McAllister is known for Philomena (2013), The Man on Her Mind (2014) and For Love or Money (2019).
3. Megan Cusack
Actress | Call the Midwife
Megan Cusack was born in Cork on 23 May, 1996 and was brought up just outside Skibbereen, West Cork on the Ilen River. She is the granddaughter of actors Cyril Cusack and Maureen Cusack, daughter of producer Pádraig Cusack and niece of actresses Sinéad Cusack, Sorcha Cusack, Niamh Cusack, and ...
4. Sinéad Cusack
Actress | V for Vendetta
Sinéad Cusack was born on February 18, 1948 in Dalkey, Ireland. She is an actress, known for V for Vendetta (2005), Eastern Promises (2007) and Stealing Beauty (1996). She has been married to Jeremy Irons since March 28, 1978. They have two children.
5. Deirdre O'Kane
Actress | Boy Eats Girl
Deirdre O'Kane was born on March 25, 1970 in Dundalk, Ireland. She is an actress and casting director, known for Boy Eats Girl (2005), Moone Boy (2012) and Noble (2014). She is married to Stephen Bradley.
6. Caitríona Balfe
Actress | Belfast
Caitriona Balfe was born in Dublin, Ireland, and grew up in the village of Tydavnet, in County Monaghan. She started modeling at the age of 19 after she was scouted by an agent while she was collecting money for charity at a local mall. She has both walked the runway and been featured in ...
7. Fiona Shaw
Actress | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Shaw was already an accomplished theater actress when director Jim Sheridan awarded her a role in his film, My Left Foot (1989). The film is a telling of Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis), an Irishman disgruntled with his confinement to a body horribly crippled by cerebral palsy but who found ...
8. Charlie Murphy
Actress | Happy Valley
Charlie Murphy is an award-winning actress, known for Peaky Blinders (2013-2022), Happy Valley (2014-2022) and '71 (2014). She features as series regular Makee in the Halo TV adaptation of the popular video game series for Paramount / Amblin.
She is the recipient of four IFTA awards as Best Actress ...
9. Fiona Glascott
Actress | Julia
Fiona Glascott was born on November 22, 1982 in Waterford, Ireland. She is an actress, known for Julia (2022), Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022) and Brooklyn (2015).
10. Eva Birthistle
Actress | Imagine Me & You
Eva Birthistle was born in April 1974 in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. She is an actress and director, known for Imagine Me & You (2005), Brooklyn (2015) and A Fond Kiss (2004). She is married to Ross John Barr. They have two children. She was previously married to Raife Patrick Burchell.
11. Finbar Lynch
Actor | Child 44
Finbar Lynch was born on August 28, 1959 in Dublin, Ireland. He is an actor, known for Child 44 (2015), Proof (2004) and Suffragette (2015). He has been married to Niamh Cusack since 2001. They have one child.
12. Stephen Rea
Actor | The Crying Game
Stephen Rea was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He attended Belfast High School and the Queen's University, where he studied English. He later trained at the Abbey Theatre School in Dublin. In 1970s, he acted in the Focus Company in Dublin with the talented Gabriel Byrne and Colm Meaney. After ...
13. Ciarán Hinds
Actor | Belfast
Ciarán Hinds was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on February 9, 1953. He was one of five children and the only son. His father was a doctor who hoped to have Ciarán follow in his footsteps, but that was not to be. It was his mother Moya, an amateur actress, who was the real influence behind his ...
14. Adrian Dunbar
Actor | The Crying Game
Adrian Dunbar was born on August 1, 1958 in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for The Crying Game (1992), Hear My Song (1991) and Line of Duty (2012). He has been married to Anna Nygh since 1986. They have one child.
15. Aidan Turner
Actor | The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Aidan Turner was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1983. After graduating from the Gaiety School of Acting in 2004, Aidan appeared in a number of stage productions, many with Ireland's national theatre, The Abbey. Such productions included The Plough & The Stars, Romeo & Juliet and A Cry from Heaven. In ...
16. Liam Cunningham
Actor | Hunger
Irish actor Liam Cunningham was an electrician in the mid 80's. He saw an ad for an acting school and he decided to give acting a try. His first film role was as a policeman in "Into the West." Since then, he has been involved in many films and theater productions on both sides of the Atlantic.
17. Aidan Gillen
Actor | Game of Thrones
Aidan Gillen is an Irish actor. He is best known for portraying Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011), CIA operative Bill Wilson in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Stuart Alan Jones in the Channel 4 series Queer as Folk (1999), John Boy in the RTÉ Television series ...
18. Brendan Coyle
Actor | Downton Abbey
Brendan Coyle was born in Corby, Northamptonshire to an Irish father and Scottish mother; his parents moved to Corby from County Tyrone, Ireland. Brendan holds Irish citizenship and has previously lived in Dublin and London. However, according to a video clip from the site for "Rockface" he resides...
19. Brían F. O'Byrne
Actor | Million Dollar Baby
Brían F. O'Byrne was born on May 16, 1967 in Mullagh, County Cavan, Ireland. He is an actor, known for Million Dollar Baby (2004), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) and Bug (2006). He is married to Heather Goldenhersh. They have two children.
20. Richard Dormer
Actor | '71
Richard Dormer is an actor, playwright and screenwriter from Northern Ireland. He is best known for his roles as Beric Dondarrion in the HBO television series Game of Thrones and Dan Anderssen in Sky Atlantic's Fortitude. Dormer was born in Portadown, Northern Ireland. He studied at the RADA school...
21. Michael McElhatton
Actor | Game of Thrones
Michael McElhatton was born in 1963 in Terenure, Dublin, Ireland. He is an actor and writer, known for Game of Thrones (2011), Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) and The Fall (2013).
22. Ian Beattie
Actor | Alexander
Ian Beattie is a Northern Irish actor best known for his roles as Antigonus in Oliver Stone's film Alexander, and as Ser Meryn Trant in the HBO series, Game of Thrones.
For Beattie, acting has always been a part of his life, beginning at an early age when he toured Northern Ireland in a circus with ...
23. Andrew Scott
Actor | Spectre
Andrew Scott was born in Dublin, Ireland, the middle child with two sisters, Sarah and Hannah. His parents, Jim and Nora, sent him to a private Catholic school for boys. He did a little acting as a child when he was in a couple of commercials on Irish TV. At 17 he was chosen to star in his first ...
24. Jack Gleeson
Actor | Game of Thrones
Jack Gleeson was born on May 20, 1992 in Cork, Ireland. He is an actor, known for Game of Thrones (2011), Batman Begins (2005) and A Shine of Rainbows (2009). He has been married to Roisin O'Mahony since September 3, 2022.
25. Francis Magee
Actor | Layer Cake
Francis Magee was raised in Ireland and on the Isle of Man. He spent eight years as a fisherman before becoming an actor and has also been a member of several music groups including Namoza - who released four singles and an album - and Disco D'Oro. He studied acting at the Poor School at London's ...
26. Brendan Gleeson
Actor | Calvary
Brendan Gleeson was born in Dublin, Ireland, to Pat and Frank Gleeson. From a very young age, he loved to learn, especially reading classical text in and outside the classroom. He took great attention to Irish play writers such as Samuel Beckett, which eventually led to him performing in his high ...
27. Mark Tandy
Actor | The Crown
Mark Tandy was born on February 8, 1957 in Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland. He is an actor, known for The Crown (2016), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and The Foreigner (2017). He has been married to Amanda Marmot since 1992. They have two children.
28. Lorcan Cranitch
Actor | Cracker
Lorcan Cranitch was born on August 28, 1959 in Dublin, Ireland. He is an actor, known for Cracker (1993), Bloodlands (2021) and Ballykissangel (1996). He is married to Susan Jackson.
29. Colin Morgan
Actor | Legend
Colin Morgan is a Northern Irish film, television, theater and radio actor who attended Integrated College Dungannon, winning the 'Denis Rooney Associates Cup' for best overall student in the third year, before gaining a National Diploma in Performing Arts from the Belfast Institute of Further and ...
30. Domhnall Gleeson
Actor | Ex Machina
Domhnall Gleeson is an Irish actor and writer. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter film franchise (2010-2011), About Time (2013), Ex Machina (2015) and The Revenant (2015).
He is the son of actor Brendan Gleeson, alongside whom he has appeared in several films and ...
31. Cillian Murphy
Actor | 28 Days Later...
Striking Irish actor Cillian Murphy was born in Douglas, the oldest child of Brendan Murphy, who works for the Irish Department of Education, and a mother who is a teacher of French. He has three younger siblings. Murphy was educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork. He went on to study law ...
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