Colm Meaney Biography

Colm J. Meaney (Irish: Colm Maonaigh; born 30 May 1953) is an Irish actor known for playing Miles O'Brien in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He has guest-starred on many TV shows from Law & Order to The Simpsons, and during its run, starred as railroad magnate Thomas Durant on AMC's drama series Hell on Wheels.

He has also had a significant career in motion pictures, and appeared in the film The Damned United, all three film adaptations of Roddy Doyle's The Barrytown Trilogy, and in Get Him to the Greek, and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.

Early life

Meaney was born in Dublin. He began studying acting when he was 14 years old and entered the Abbey Theatre School of Acting after secondary school. He became a member of the Irish National Theatre and worked for the next eight years in England, touring with several theatre companies.

Career

Meaney's first television appearance was in Z-Cars on BBC 1, in 1978. He guest-starred on shows such as Remington Steele and Moonlighting before embarking on a successful film career; he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his role in The Snapper.

Meaney first appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation in its 1987 pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint", as an unnamed helm officer. His character became a frequently recurring one, and was given the name of Miles O'Brien as he became more prominent in the crew as Transporter Chief. In 1993, Meaney left The Next Generation for a more prominent regular role in its spin-off Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and remained on that show until its final episode, in 1999. With 225 total appearances on Star Trek, he has made more appearances on the franchise than any other actor except Michael Dorn.

Meaney played Colum O'Hara in the 1994 miniseries Scarlett, the sequel to Gone With the Wind. He has played a minor recurring role as Cowen, leader of the Genii on the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) series Stargate Atlantis, guest-starred on Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and appeared as Bob O'Donnell on the ABC show Men in Trees.

He was the only actor to appear in all three film adaptations of Roddy Doyle's The Barrytown Trilogy, wherein he played the father of the Rabbitte family. Due to rights issues, the family name was changed from film to film. His stage appearances include the Old Vic production of Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten. Meaney starred in British comedy film Three and Out released in the UK on 25 April 2008. In July of the same year An Post (Irish mail agency) issued a postage stamp showing Meaney as Joe Mullen in the film Kings.

In 2009, Meaney co-starred with Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx in Law Abiding Citizen, wherein Meaney played Detective Dunnigan. In March 2009, Meaney guest-starred as an Irish bartender on the St. Patrick's Day episode of The Simpsons, "In the Name of the Grandfather". In the same month the film The Damned United was released, chronicling the 44-day period in which Brian Clough was manager of Leeds United. Meaney played the former Leeds manager Don Revie. He also co-starred in Soldiers of Fortune with Christian Slater and Ving Rhames. In 2013, Meaney co-starred with Steve Coogan in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. In 2014, he appeared as The Horse in the BBC's three-part crime story, The Driver.

Personal life

Meaney married Irish actress Bairbre Dowling in 1977, with whom he had a daughter, Brenda, in 1984. The couple divorced in 1994. He married French costume designer Ines Glorian in March 2007. They have a daughter together, Ada, born in 2005.

Meaney supported Sinn Fin candidate Martin McGuinness during the 2011 Irish Presidential Election.

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Nailed	Younger Protestant
	Les Roses de Dublin	Michael Kavanaugh	TV miniseries
1983	Playboy of the Western World	Shawn	TV film
1984	The Hidden Curriculum	David Dunn	TV film
1987	Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues	Tinkerer	TV film
	Omega Syndrome	Sean
	The Dead	Mr. Bergin
1989	Perfect Witness	Meagher	TV film
1990	Die Hard 2	Pilot
	Dick Tracy	Cop at Tess's
	Come See the Paradise	Gerry McGurn
1991	The Commitments	Jimmy Rabbitte, Sr.
1992	Under Siege	Daumer
	The Last of the Mohicans	Maj. Ambrose
	Far and Away	Kelly
	Into the West	Barreller
1993	The Snapper	Dessie Curley	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1994	War of the Buttons	Jerome/Geronimo's father
	The Road to Wellville	Dr. Lionel Badger
1995	The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain	Morgan the Goat
1996	The Van	Larry
	The Last of the High Kings	Jim Davern
1997	Con Air	DEA Agent Duncan Malloy
	Owd Bob	Keith Moore
1998	This Is My Father	Seamus, Owner of the Bed-and-Breakfast
	Monument Ave.	Jackie O'Hara	a.k.a. Snitch
	22 October	Steve
	Claire Dolan	Roland Cain
	Money Kings	Al Sheehan	TV film; a.k.a. Vig
1999	Mystery, Alaska	Mayor Scott Pitcher
	The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns	Seamus Muldoon
	Chapter Zero	Frank Lazarus
	Four Days	Fury
	Most Important	Dan O'Neill
2001	Backflash	Gin O'Malley
	How Harry Became a Tree	Harry	Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor
2002	Random Passage	Thomas Hutchings	TV miniseries Nominated - Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series
	King of Texas	Mr. Tumlinson	TV film
2003	The Boys From County Clare	Jimmy
	Intermission	Jerry Lynch
2004	Blueberry	Jimmy McClure
	Bad Apple	Gibbons	TV film
	Layer Cake	Gene
	Nouvelle-France	Benjamin Franklin
2005	Turning Green	Tom
2006	Five Fingers	Gavin
	Caved In: Prehistoric Terror	Vincent	TV film
	Covert One: The Hades Factor	Peter Howell	TV film
	A Lobster Tale	Cody
2007	Kings	Joe Mullan	Nominated - Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor
	The Metrosexual	The Mayor	Great Lakes Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actor
2008	Clean Break	Trevor Jones
	Three and Out	Tommy
2009	ZOS: Zone of Separation	George Titac	TV miniseries
	The Damned United	Don Revie
	The Race	Frank Kensay
	Law Abiding Citizen	Detective Dunnigan
	Alice	King of Hearts	TV miniseries
2010	Get Him to the Greek	Jonathan Snow
	Alleged	H. L. Mencken
	Parked	Fred Daly
	The Conspirator	Gen. David Hunter
2011	El Perfecto Desconocido	Mark O'Reilly
2012	Whole Lotta Sole	Detective Weller
	Bel Ami	Monsieur Rousset
2013	Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa	Pat Farrell
	One Chance	Roland Potts
	A Belfast Story	Detective
	Free Birds	Myles Standish	Voice only
2014	The Devil's Hand	Elder Beacon
2016	Norm of the North	Grandfather	Voice
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Z-Cars	McGlin	One episode
1982	Play for Tomorrow	Kevin Murphy	One episode
	Strangers	Smollett	One episode
1986	Moonlighting	Katharina Suitor	One episode
1987	Remington Steele	Man in Tavern	One episode
	Tales from the Darkside	Constable	One episode
1987-1988	One Life to Live	Patrick London
1987-1992	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Chief Miles O'Brien	Recurring Character
1990	Equal Justice	Nucchi	One episode
	Father Dowling Mysteries	Ernie	One episode
1991	The New Adam-12	Father	One episode
	MacGyver	Dr. Irwin Malcolm	One episode
1993	Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman	Jake Slicker	Pilot episode
	Brooklyn Bridge	Mr. Kramer	One episode
1993-1999	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Chief Miles O'Brien	Series regular
1994	Scarlett	Father Colum O'Hara	TV miniseries
1996	Gargoyles	Mr. Dugan	Voice only; one episode
2004	The Murdoch Mysteries	Inspector Brackenreid	Two episodes
2004, 2006	Stargate Atlantis	Chief Cowen (leader of the Genii)	Three episodes
2005	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Judge Harold Garrett	Episode: In the Wee Small Hours
2006	The Unit	Charge D'Affaires	One episode
2007	Men in Trees	Bob O'Donnell	Two episodes
2008	Law & Order	Wyatt Landon	One episode
2009	The Simpsons	Tom O'Flanagan	Voice only; episode: In the Name of the Grandfather
2011-present	Hell on Wheels	Thomas "Doc" Durant	Series regular Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television
2014	The Driver	The Horse	TV series
2015	Childhood's End	Wainwright	TV miniseries

See also