It’s no secret that Irish actors are having a big, and much deserved, moment. From the early-pandemic success of “Normal People,” the Sally Rooney novel-to-TV-series adaptation which boosted Paul Mescal’s star — especially in the U.S. — to Barry Keoghan’s first lead role in December’s class warfare flick, “Saltburn,” Emerald Isle talent and storylines have been racking up awards and finding resonance with American viewers.
That streak has also included “The Banshees of Inisherin,” a very Irish story, set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, and starring an Irish cast of Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Keoghan; and an outstanding performance by Daryl McCormack in “The Woman in the Wall,” a dark and emotional tale about survivors of one of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries.
They’re good looking, charming, and playing complex, compelling characters. What’s not to root for? If you want to brush up on who some of the main players are, here are some of the rising stars — and seasoned — Irish actors you should know.
Andrew Scott
The 47-year-old Dublin native has had a long, award-winning career on the stage and screen, but some viewers may have first discovered Scott in his role as the “hot priest” on “Fleabag” — a role which earned him the Critics Choice Television Award for best supporting actor in a comedy series — or his performance as the riveting, emotional lead in the “Smithereens” episode of “Black Mirror.”
He played James Moriarity on the BBC’s “Sherlock” from 2010-2017, and more recently, he starred opposite his countryman, Paul Mescal, in the romantic drama “All of Us Strangers,” which earned him a Golden Globe nom.
Paul Mescal
Mescal began acting at age 16, but his first television role in the drama miniseries “Normal People” — an adaptation of Sally Rooney’s 2018 novel — is what really launched his career, earning him a BAFTA TV Award for best actor and several other awards nominations. He starred alongside Andrew Scott in “All of Us Strangers,” Andrew Haigh’s emotionally wrenching drama.
Mescal has captivated audiences with his complex and brooding, yet emotionally vulnerable, portrayals, and his scruffy, athletic good looks, too.
Barry Keoghan
Audiences were captivated by Keoghan’s no-holds-barred antics in “Saltburn,” as his obsession-driven character descended into debauchery. His misunderstood and shunned Dominic in 2022′s “The Banshees of Inisherin” was a secondary character, but the film wouldn’t have worked without him.
He’s also had roles in “Dunkirk,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” and 2022′s “The Batman,” alongside Colin Farrell. Keoghan is a rising star, and perhaps due to his own experiences losing his mother at an early age and growing up in foster care, he brings a rare rawness and depth to his roles.
Cillian Murphy
The “Oppenheimer” star may have stolen 2023 with his Oscar-winning role as the Jewish physicist behind the atomic bomb, becoming a Hollywood heavyweight in the process, but prior to that, one of the roles the 47-year-old is best known for is his six-season run as Birmingham gangster Tommy Shelby on the BBC period drama series “Peaky Blinders.”
The Cork native has massive range, as evidenced by his breakthrough role as a survivor wandering London’s empty streets wearing ill-fitting scrubs in the 2003 zombie film “28 Days Later,” and his portrayal of a wistful transgender woman in the 2005 comedy-drama “Breakfast on Pluto.”
Colin Farrell
A leading man and Hollywood heartthrob since the early aughts with a bad boy image, Farrell is kind of the OG Irish guy on the big screen, known for his roles as hyper-masculine working class cops, hitmen, action heroes and the like.
His breakthrough role was Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report,” and he has starred in blockbusters like “Alexander” and “The Batman,” as well as dark comedies and thrillers like “The Lobster” and “The Beguiled.” Farrell remains one of Ireland’s most successful actors who have achieved crossover success in the U.S. He earned a Golden Globe and Academy Award nom for his role in “The Banshees of Inisherin.”
Jonathan Rhys Meyers
He wasn’t just the handsome soccer coach that Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra’s characters — and tons of preteen fans — fawned over in the iconic 2002 soccer film “Bend it Like Beckham.” Rhys Meyers has commanded the screen as King Henry VIII on “The Tudors” and transformed into the King of Rock ’n’ Roll himself in the biopic miniseries “Elvis” (a role that earned him a Golden Globe nomination).
After building a strong onscreen resume in the ‘90s and early aughts, Rhys Meyers faded a bit from mainstream roles due to personal tragedies and a struggle with addiction, but he’s still considered one of Ireland’s greatest film actors.
Domhnall Gleeson
The 40-year-old actor and screenwriter is the son of Irish actor and film director Brendan Gleeson, and is likely best known to millennial viewers for his role as Bill Weasley in the “Harry Potter” film series.
You may also recognize the red headed chameleon from such roles as the naive programmer who ends up manipulated by a robot in the award-winning 2014 psychological thriller “Ex Machina,” the time-traveling husband of Rachel McAdams in “About Time,” and more recently, his gripping, terrifying role as a serial killer alongside Steve Carell in the limited series “The Patient,” which earned him a Golden Globe and Critics Choice nomination.
Saoirse Ronan
Though she’s one of the greatest young talents the Emerald Isle has produced this generation, Ronan was born in the Bronx, and she’s become something of a muse for director Greta Gerwig, who cast the 29-year-old in leading roles in her films “Ladybird” and “Little Women.”
Much of her work has been in period dramas, and some of her notable early roles were as Keira Knightley’s 13-year-old little sister Briony Tallis in “Atonement,” the narrator and main character murdered by her neighbor in Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones,” and the whimsical baker in Wes Anderson’s “Grand Budapest Hotel.”
Nicola Coughlan
Known and beloved for her roles on Netflix’s “Bridgerton” and as the pathologically anxious Clare on the sitcom “Derry Girls,” set during the Troubles in the early 1990s in Northern Ireland, Coughlan also played Diplomat Barbie in the blockbuster “Barbie” film last summer. Offscreen, the 37-year-old actress has been an advocate for women’s rights and has spoken out about body shaming and unfair scrutiny of women’s bodies in the film and theater world.
Jessie Buckley
Buckley is an Irish actress and singer who’s delivered powerful performances in feature dramas including “Women Talking,” the careening younger version of Olivia Colman’s character in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel “The Lost Daughter,” and the girlfriend in Charlie Kaufman’s surrealist psychological thriller, “I’m Thinking Of Ending Things.” She also appeared in the TV series “Chernobyl” and “Fargo.”
Brenda Fricker
Many millennials may know her as the pigeon lady from “Home Alone 2,” but Fricker is that and so much more.
Though she initially set out to be a journalist and stumbled into thespianism, the storied character actress has had a six-decades spanning career in film and television. She became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award for her supporting role in the biopic “My Left Foot.” She was the motherly caretaker figure to Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character in “Angels in the Outfield” and the mother of Mike Meyers in “So I Married An Axe Murderer.”
Fiona Shaw
Harry Potter fans will recognize Shaw best as the tight-lipped aunt of The Boy Who Lived, Petunia Dursley. Shaw has much more on her resume, though; most recently, her supporting role as a hardened Alaskan who can see the dead on the new season of “True Detective” and as the mother of Andor in the “Star Wars” universe TV series.
She had a recurring role as a powerful medium in the fourth season of the vampire TV show “True Blood” and earned an Emmy nomination for her role as MI6 agent Carolyn Martens on “Killing Eve.” She’s often played supporting roles in television and film, but she brings gravitas to her scenes, and, as she put it in an interview with Shondaland, “if you’re playing a supporting role, the word ‘supporting’ itself is wrong; you’re creating the world of that film.”
Daryl McCormack
Sensational in “The Woman in The Wall” as a detective investigating the truth behind one of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries, and the son of a woman kept in a mother-and-baby home himself, a role McCormack played alongside Ruth Wilson, the 31-year-old has also appeared in the BBC series “Peaky Blinders,” “The Wheel of Time” and the Apple TV+ Irish black comedy TV series “Bad Sisters.”
McCormack’s star is on the rise and he seems to be popping up in more and more projects; he’ll be in the much anticipated “Twisters” sequel this summer, and will star alongside Diane Lane in an upcoming American thriller film called “Anniversary.”