Brendan Gleeson

Early life

Gleeson was born in Dublin, the son of Pat (1925–2007) and Frank Gleeson (1918–2010). Gleeson has described himself as having been an avid reader as a child. He received his second-level education at St Joseph's CBS in Fairview, Dublin where he was a member of the school drama group. He received his Bachelor of Arts at University College Dublin, majoring in English and Irish. He worked for several years as a secondary school teacher of Irish and English at the now defunct Catholic Belcamp College in north County Dublin, which closed in 2004. He was working simultaneously as an actor while teaching, doing semi-professional and professional productions in Dublin and surrounding areas. He left the teaching profession to commit full-time to acting in 1991. In an NPR interview to promote Calvary in 2014, Gleeson stated he was molested as a child by a Christian Brother in primary school but was in "no way traumatised by the incident." During his twenties he played Gaelic football as a full-forward for St Finian's of Swords.

Career

As a member of the Dublin-based Passion Machine Theatre company, Gleeson appeared in several of the theatre company's early and highly successful plays such as Brownbread (1987), written by Roddy Doyle and directed by Paul Mercier, Wasters (1985) and Home (1988), written and directed by Paul Mercier. He has also written three plays for Passion Machine: The Birdtable (1987) and Breaking Up (1988), both of which he directed, and Babies and Bathwater (1994) in which he acted. Among his other Dublin theatre work are Patrick Süskind's one-man play The Double Bass and John B. Keane's The Year of the Hiker.

Gleeson started his film career at the age of 34. He first came to prominence in Ireland for his role as Michael Collins in The Treaty, a television film broadcast on RTÉ One, and for which he won a Jacob's Award in 1992. He has acted in such films as Braveheart, I Went Down, Michael Collins, Gangs of New York, Cold Mountain, 28 Days Later, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, Lake Placid, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Mission: Impossible 2, and The Village. He won critical acclaim for his performance as Irish gangster Martin Cahill in John Boorman's 1998 film The General.

In 2003, Gleeson was the voice of Hugh the Miller in an episode of the Channel 4 animated series Wilde Stories. While Gleeson portrayed Irish statesman Michael Collins in The Treaty, he later portrayed Collins' close collaborator Liam Tobin in the film Michael Collins with Liam Neeson taking the role of Collins. Gleeson later went on to portray Winston Churchill in Into the Storm. Gleeson won an Emmy Award for his performance. Gleeson played Barty Crouch Jr impersonating Hogwarts professor Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody in the fourth, and Alastor Moody himself in fifth and seventh Harry Potter films. His son Domhnall played Bill Weasley in the seventh and eighth films.

Gleeson provided the voice of Abbot Cellach in The Secret of Kells, an animated film co-directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey of Cartoon Saloon which premiered in February 2009 at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. Gleeson starred in the short film Six Shooter in 2006, which won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. This film was written and directed by Martin McDonagh. In 2008, Gleeson starred in the comedy crime film In Bruges, also written and directed by McDonagh. The film, and Gleeson's performance, enjoyed huge critical acclaim, earning Gleeson several award nominations, including his first Golden Globe nomination. In the movie, Gleeson plays a mentor-like figure for Colin Farrell's hitman. In his review of In Bruges, Roger Ebert described the elder Gleeson as having a "noble shambles of a face and the heft of a boxer gone to seed."

In July 2012, he started filming The Grand Seduction, with Taylor Kitsch, a remake of Jean-François Pouliot's French-Canadian La Grande Séduction (2003) directed by Don McKellar; the film was released in 2013. In 2016, he appeared in the video game adaptation Assassin's Creed and Ben Affleck's crime drama Live by Night. In 2017 he finished Psychic, a short he directed and starred in. In 2022, he reunited with Martin McDonagh in the tragic comedy The Banshees of Inisherin starring opposite Colin Farrell. For his performance as Colm Doherty, he received numerous awards nominations, including for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Musical talent

Gleeson is a fiddle and mandolin player, with an interest in Irish folklore. He played the fiddle during his roles in Cold Mountain, Michael Collins, The Grand Seduction, and The Banshees of Inisherin, and also features on Altan's 2009 live album. In the Coen brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), Gleeson sings "The Unfortunate Rake". He has also made a contribution in 2019 to the album by Irish folk group Dervish with a version of Rocky Road To Dublin.

Personal life

Gleeson has been married to Mary Weldon since 1982. They have four sons, including Domhnall and Brían. He has one grandson and one granddaughter. Gleeson speaks fluent Irish and is an advocate of the promotion of the Irish language. Gleeson is a fan of English football club Aston Villa.

Acting credits

Film

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Brendan Gleeson

References

References

1. Clarke, Donald. "The 50 greatest Irish film actors of all time – in order". [[The Irish Times]].
2. (17 February 2011). "The heart of the matter".
3. (10 November 2007). "In Conversations with Eamon Dunphy".
4. (23 July 1999). "School is out for Brandon Gleeson".
5. (10 September 2006). "Gannon to get €400m for Belcamp College site".
6. (12 August 2014). "Brendan Gleeson reveals abuse by Christian Brother".
7. Scully, Niall. (31 July 2024). "How the lessons of his footballing days followed Brendan Gleeson in his acting career". [[Irish Independent]].
8. "Irish Theatre Institute's Playography database". Irish Theatre Institute.
9. "STARS WHO HIT IT BIG AFTER 30". The Hype.
10. "The Devoted Friend". Channel 4.
11. "Brendan Gleeson".
12. "Interview – Brendan Gleeson on The Tiger's Tail".
13. (10 December 2008). "'The Secret Of Kells' to screen at the Dublin International Film Festival".
14. Ebert, Roger. "Review of ''In Bruges''".
15. Fleming, Mike. (30 July 2012). "Brendan Gleeson, Taylor Kitsch Find 'The Grand Seduction'". [[PMC (company).
16. "Shooting Wraps on Brendan Gleeson's Debut Short Film, Psychic | Irish Film Board".
17. "Altan EPK". Mpibands.com.
18. (16 July 2011). "Capturing the Glee factor".
19. (22 January 2024). "Sunday Miscellany: Birth registration for Tadhg, by Rory Gleeson".
20. (10 February 2024). "Domhnall Gleeson: 'I never saw myself as attractive, until my dad told me I should'".
21. (13 May 2015). "Star Wars actor Gleeson: Villa Wembley win was special day".
22. "Hugh Grant joins Paddington sequel as shooting begins".
23. Vlessing, Etan. (September 11, 2020). "Pierce Brosnan, Lilly Singh, Brendan Gleeson to Voice 'Riverdance: The Animated Adventure' Feature (Exclusive)".
24. (8 February 2023). "A Greyhound Of A Girl heads to the 73rd Berlin Film Festival".
25. Otterson, Joe. (July 9, 2024). "Spider-Man Noir Series at Amazon, MGM+ Casts Brendan Gleeson".
26. Canfield, David. (August 12, 2024). "Lamorne Morris Levels Up: 'I Want to Be Morgan Freeman'".