Michael McElhatton

Early life

McElhatton was born on 12 September 1963 in Terenure, a suburb in the south of Dublin. He began studying acting at Terenure College, and afterward spent eight years in London where he graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1987. McElhatton returned to Ireland in the early nineties, where he began his acting career mainly in theatre and television.

Career

He appeared in a short film titled The Loser in 1990. In 1996, he was directed by John Carney in the film November Afternoon, in which he plays the main character. In the late nineties and early 2000s, McElhatton appeared in I Went Down (1997), Saltwater (2000), Blow Dry (2001), and The Actors (2003). Between 2000 and 2002, McElhatton gained fame from appearing in the situation comedies Paths to Freedom and Fergus's Wedding. In addition to acting, he also took on the role of screenwriter, writing the screenplay for all of the episodes. The character of Rats in Paths to Freedom (2000), which he wrote and starred in, became popular with the public and allowed it to be adapted into an entire feature film Spin the Bottle (2003). As his career went on, McElhatton continued playing minor characters in films by directors such as Lenny Abrahamson, John Boorman, and Kari Skogland. McElhatton also appeared in Perrier's Bounty (2009), and Death of a Superhero (2011).

He returned to his role as writer in 2010, writing six episodes of the sitcom Your Bad Self. Over the next decade, McElhatton began appearing in much larger roles. In 2011, he had a role in the film *Albert Nobbs *, directed by Rodrigo García, and Death of a Superhero (2011). The following year the short Pentecost, which received a nomination for Best Short Film at the 2012 Academy Awards. That same year he took part in the James Marsh directed film Shadow Dancer.

In 2012, McElhatton joined the cast of the HBO television series Game of Thrones, beginning in the second season, playing the character of warlord Roose Bolton. From the fifth season on he was promoted to series regular.

In 2013, he appeared in The Fall, alongside Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan. In 2015, he played one of the protagonists in the horror film The Hallow, which was presented at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. He appeared in the screen adaptation of the true story of World War II drama The Zookeeper's Wife in 2017.

In 2019, he starred as Andrei Stepashin in Chernobyl (2019). In 2020, he was Deputy Inspector Thomas O'Leary in Das Boot (2020), and starred in the series The Alienist: Angel of Darkness (2020).

In 2021, McElhatton appeared as Tam al'Thor in the adaptation of The Wheel of Time (2021) on Amazon Prime Video. His casting was announced on 6 November 2019 through Twitter.

In 2025, he played the butler's role of John Potter in the Netflix series House of Guinness based on the Dublin brewing family.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Writing credits

• Paths to Freedom
• Fergus's Wedding
• Spin the Bottle
• Your Bad Self

Selected stage career

• The Night Alive, as Doc, Donmar Warehouse, London, and the Atlantic Theater, New York City
• The Seafarer, as Nicky Giblin, National Theatre, London
• Shining City, Royal Court Theatre, London
• The Wexford Trilogy, Tricycle Theatre
• An Ideal Husband, Gate Theatre
• The White Devil, Project at The Mint
• Car Show, Corn Exchange
• Twenty Grand, Abbey Theatre
• Greatest Hits, Project Arts Centre
• The Way of the World, Project Arts Centre
• A Decision Pure and Simple, Riverside Studios
• An Enemy of the People, for Young Vic
• As You Like It, Rose Theatre
• Midnight Court, Project Theatre
• Wind in the Willows, Sheffield Crucible
• Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs, BAC
• Water Music, Cockpit Theatre

Awards and nominations

• 2003 IFTA Award nomination, Best Actor – Film for "Spin the Bottle"
• 2003 IFTA Award nomination, Best Script for "Spin the Bottle" – Ian Fitzgibbon/Michael McElhatton/Grand Pictures
• 2007 IFTA Award nomination, Best Actor – Television for "Hide & Seek"
• 2013 IFTA Award nomination, Best Supporting Actor – Film for "Death of a Superhero"
• 20th Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

References

References

1. "Michael McElhatton Credits". tvguide.com.
2. Dwyer, Ciara. (30 November 2003). "Rat's tale is a glass act, low on spin and high on bottle". The Independent.
3. "RADA Student & graduate profiles – Michael McElhatton". rada.ac.uk.
4. Selcke, Dan. (2020). "Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton) joins The Wheel of Time show". [[FanSided]].
5. Watchers on the Wall. (19 August 2014). "Carice van Houten heads back to Westeros, and new photos from Lokrum and Moneyglass".
6. The Wheel of Time. (2019-11-06). "The choice isn't always about what you do, son, but why you do it." Please welcome Michael McElhatton (Tam Al'Thor) to the #WOTonPrime family".
7. "Please welcome Michael McElhatton (Tam Al'Thor) to the #WOTonPrime family.". Amazon Prime Video.
8. "Michael McElhatton discusses ‘House of Guinness’ {{!}} The Irish Film & Television Network".
9. (May 15, 2025). "British Council UK Films Database: White". British Council UK Films Database.
10. "Game of Thrones: Cast". [[HBO]].
11. Smith, Andrew. (2019-11-06). "Game of Thrones Actor Joins Wheel of Time as Rand's Father Tam".
12. "Michael McElhatton (IMDB)". [[IMDb]].
13. "Winners 2003 – Irish Film & Television Awards". Irish Film & Television Academy.
14. "Winners 2007 – Irish Film & Television Awards". Irish Film & Television Academy.
15. "Winners 2013 – Irish Film & Television Awards". Irish Film & Television Academy.
16. (11 December 2013). "SAG Awards Nominations: '12 Years A Slave' And 'Breaking Bad' Lead Way".