Irish actors
by paulliambyrne | created - 05 Dec 2021 | updated - 2 months ago | Public
1. Aisling Bea
Actress | This Way Up
Aisling Bea is an actor, stand-up comedian, and writer from Ireland. In 2020 she won a BAFTA for Breakthrough Talent for her television series This Way Up, in which she also starred. In 2014 she won the British Comedy Award for Best Female TV Comedian. She trained at LAMDA (The London Academy for ...
2. 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 ...
3. David Pearse
Actor | The Banshees of Inisherin
David Pearse was born in Dublin, Ireland. He is known for The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), The Serpent Queen (2022) and The Foreigner (2017).
4. Aisling Franciosi
Actress | The Nightingale
Aisling Franciosi is an Irish-Italian actress, known for The Fall (2013), Game of Thrones (2011) and The Nightingale (2018). She was born in Dublin in 1993, moved with her family to Italy soon after, and returned to Ireland 4 years later with her mother. She attended acting classes as a child and ...
5. Michael Gambon
Actor | Gosford Park
Sir Michael Gambon was born in Cabra, Dublin, Ireland, to Mary (Hoare), a seamstress, and Edward Gambon, an engineer. After joining the National Theatre, under the Artistic Directorship of Sir Laurence Olivier, Gambon went on to appear in a number of leading roles in plays written by Alan Ayckbourn...
6. 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.
7. Fionnula Flanagan
Actress | The Others
Fionnula Flanagan was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. From an early age she grew up speaking both English and Irish on a daily basis. Her parents weren't native Irish speakers but wanted Fionnula and her four siblings to learn the language. Her mother used to say, "A nation without a language ...
8. 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 ...
9. Kenneth Branagh
Actor | Henry V
Kenneth Charles Branagh was born on December 10, 1960, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to parents William Branagh, a plumber and carpenter, and Frances (Harper), both born in 1930. He has two siblings, William Branagh, Jr. (born 1955) and Joyce Branagh (born 1970). When he was nine, his family ...
10. 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 ...
11. Michael Fassbender
Actor | Shame
Michael Fassbender is an Irish actor who was born in Heidelberg, Germany, to a German father, Josef, and an Irish mother, Adele (originally from Larne, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland). Michael was raised in the town of Killarney, Co. Kerry, in south-west Ireland, where his family moved to when ...
12. Liam Neeson
Actor | Kinsey
Liam Neeson was born on June 7, 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, to Katherine (Brown), a cook, and Bernard Neeson, a school caretaker. He was raised in a Catholic household. During his early years, Liam worked as a forklift operator for Guinness, a truck driver, an assistant architect and an ...
13. Maureen O'Hara
Actress | Miracle on 34th Street
In America, the early performing arts accomplishments of young Maureen FitzSimons (who we know as Maureen O'Hara) would definitely have put her in the child prodigy category. However, for a child of Irish heritage surrounded by gifted parents and family, these were very natural traits. Maureen made...
14. Jamie Dornan
Actor | The Fall
Jamie Dornan was born on May 1, 1982 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. He is an actor, known for The Fall (2013), A Private War (2018) and Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021). He has been married to Amelia Warner since April 27, 2013. They have three children.
15. 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 ...
16. Nika McGuigan
Actress | Philomena
Nika McGuigan was born on January 4, 1986 in Newry, Northern Ireland, UK. She was an actress, known for Philomena (2013), Wildfire (2020) and Malicious Intent (2000). She died on July 23, 2019 in Dublin, Ireland.
17. Jessie Buckley
Actress | I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Jessie Buckley is an Irish singer and actress, who came in second place in the BBC talent show-themed television series I'd Do Anything, and subsequently played Anne Egermann in the West End revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Most recently, Buckley played Lyudmilla Ignatenko in the...
18. Elaine Cassidy
Actress | Disco Pigs
Elaine Cassidy was born on December 31, 1979 in Kilcoole, County Wicklow, Ireland. She is an actress and producer, known for Disco Pigs (2001), Felicia's Journey (1999) and The Wonder (2022). She has been married to Stephen Lord since December 31, 2007. They have two children.
19. Nora-Jane Noone
Actress | The Descent
Nora-Jane Noone was born on March 8, 1984 in Galway, Ireland. She is an actress and writer, known for The Descent (2005), The Magdalene Sisters (2002) and Brooklyn (2015).
20. Sarah Greene
Actress | The Guard
Sarah is originally from Cork and trained in Dublin where she graduated from the Gaiety School of Acting in 2006.
Sarah played Helen McCormick (Slippy Helen) opposite Daniel Radcliffe as Billy Claven in Martin McDonaghs's The Cripple of Inishmaan, directed by Michael Grandage at the Cort Theatre on ...
21. Kerry Condon
Actress | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Kerry Condon is an Irish television and film actress, best known for her role as Octavia of the Julii in the HBO/BBC series Rome, as Stacey Ehrmantraut in AMC's Better Call Saul, and as the voice of F.R.I.D.A.Y. in various films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She is also the youngest actress ...
22. 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 ...
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