Gabriel Byrne Biography

Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the spin-off show Bracken. He has now starred in over 35 feature films, such as The Usual Suspects, Miller's Crossing, Stigmata and End of Days, in addition to writing two. Byrne's producing credits include the Academy Award-nominated In the Name of the Father. More recently, he has received much critical acclaim for his role as Dr. Paul Weston in the HBO drama In Treatment.

Early life

Byrne, the first of six children, was born in Walkinstown, Dublin 12, Dublin, Ireland, the son of a cooper and soldier, Dan, and a hospital nurse from Elphin, Eileen (née Gannon). He has four siblings: Donal, Thomas, Breda, and Margaret; another, Marian, died at a young age. Byrne was raised a strict Roman Catholic and educated in Ardscoil "?anna in Crumlin, where he later taught Spanish and History. About his early training to become a priest, he said in an interview, "I spent five years in the seminary and I suppose it was assumed that one had a vocation. I realised subsequently that I didn't." He attended University College Dublin, where he studied archaeology and linguistics, becoming proficient in Irish. He played football in Dublin with the Stella Maris Football Club, in Drumcondra.

In January 2011, he spoke in an interview on The Meaning of Life about being sexually abused by priests during his childhood.

Career

Byrne worked in archaeology when he left UCD. He maintained his love of his language, later writing the first television drama in Irish, Draíocht, on Ireland's national Irish-language television station, TG4, when it began broadcasting in 1996.

Before becoming an actor, Byrne had many jobs, including archaeologist, cook, and Spanish and History schoolteacher at Ardscoil "?anna in Crumlin, Dublin. He started acting at age 29, and began his career on stage with the Focus Theatre and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. He later joined the Royal Court Theatre and the Royal National Theatre in London. Byrne came to prominence on the final season of the Irish television show The Riordans, subsequently starring in his own spin-off series, Bracken. His first play for television was Michael Feeney Callan's Love Is ... (RTE). He made his film debut in 1981, as King Uther Pendragon in John Boorman's King Arthur epic, Excalibur.

In 1983, he appeared with Richard Burton in the miniseries Wagner (1983), co-starring Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson. In 1985, Byrne starred in the acclaimed political thriller Defence of the Realm, though he subsequently claimed he had been upstaged by his co-star, veteran actor Denholm Elliott: "I amended the actor's cliché to 'Never work with children, animals or Denholm Elliott'."

In 2007 Gabriel Byrne topped Kerry Film Festival's jury lineup.

Upon his return to theatre in 2008, he appeared as King Arthur in Camelot with the New York Philharmonic from 7 to 10 May, following the footsteps of veteran actors Richard Burton and Richard Harris.

Byrne was cast in a film adaptation of Flann O'Brien's metafictional novel At Swim-Two-Birds, alongside Colin Farrell and Cillian Murphy. Actor Brendan Gleeson was set to direct the film. In October 2009, however, Gleeson expressed fear that, should the Irish Film Board be abolished as planned by the Irish State, the production might fall through.

Byrne starred as therapist Dr. Paul Weston in the critically acclaimed HBO primetime weeknight series In Treatment from 2008 to 2010. He was named as TV's "latest Dr. McDreamy" by the New York Times for this role, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series in 2008. He also received his first Emmy Award nomination (Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series) for the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards (Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad won.) that same year.

In 2011, Byrne signed up to appear in the new movie by Oscar-winning director Costa Gavras; 'Le Capital' an adaptation of Stéphane Osmont's novel of the same name.

He was cultural ambassador for Ireland for a while until he criticised the tourism initiative "The Gathering", describing it as an attempt by Ireland's politicians and media to fleece wealthy Americans. Byrne also criticised the marketing strategy employed by Guinness known as Arthur's Day as "a cynical piece of exercise in a country which has a huge drinking problem."

Personal life

Byrne, who retains his Irish citizenship, did not arrive in the United States until 1987, when he was 37. He had begun a relationship with actress Ellen Barkin, and had relocated to New York City to be with her. A year later, in 1988, Byrne married Barkin, with whom he has two children, John "Jack" Daniel (born 1989) and Romy Marion (born 1992). The couple separated amicably in 1993, and then divorced in 1999.

Byrne currently resides in Manhattan.

Byrne is also actively involved in various charities, in addition to being a human rights activist. In 2004, Byrne was appointed a UNICEF Ireland Ambassador. He became a patron of Croí (The West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation) in 1997 in response to the care given to his mother while she was a patient in a Galway hospital.

At the 5th Jameson Dublin International Film Festival in 2007, Byrne was presented with the first of the newly created Volta awards, for lifetime achievement in acting. He also received the Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society, of Trinity College, Dublin on 20 February 2007. In November of that same year, he was awarded an honorary degree by the National University of Ireland, Galway; the president of the University, Dr Iognáid " Muircheartaigh, said that this award is in recognition of the actor's "outstanding contribution to Irish and international film".

Although the actor is noted as a fiercely private person, he released a documentary for the 20th Galway Film Fleadh in the summer of 2008 called Stories from Home, an intimate portrait about his life.

Byrne mentioned in interviews and his 1995 autobiography, Pictures In My Head that he hates being called "brooding". He has been listed by People as one of the "Sexiest Men Alive". Entertainment Weekly has also dubbed Byrne as one of the hottest celebrities over the age of 50.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1978	The Riordans	Pat Barry
	Bracken	Pat Barry	Jacob's Award for Best Actor in a Television Series in 1979.
1981	Love Is ...	Larry	(TV play)
1981	Excalibur	Uther Pendragon
1983	Hanna K.	Joshua Herzog
	The Keep	Major Erich Kaempffer
	Wagner	Karl Ritter
1984	Reflections	William Masters
1985	Christopher Columbus	Christopher Columbus
1985	Defence of the Realm	Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen
1986	Gothic	Lord Byron
1987	Lionheart	The Black Prince
	Hello Again	Dr. Kevin Scanlon
	Julia and Julia	Paolo Vinci
	Siesta	Augustine	Byrne met his future wife, Ellen Barkin, on the set of this movie.
	The Courier	Val
1988	A Soldier's Tale	Saul
1989	Dark Obsession	Lord Hugo Bruckton
1990	Miller's Crossing	Tom Reagan
	Shipwrecked	Lt. John Merrick
1992	Into the West	Papa Reilly	Also the associate producer
	Cool World	Jack Deebs
1993	Point of No Return	Bob
	A Dangerous Woman	Colin Mackey
1994	A Simple Twist of Fate	John Newland
	Trial by Jury	Daniel Graham
	Little Women	Professor Friedrich Bhaer
	Prince of Jutland	Fenge
1995	The Usual Suspects	Dean Keaton
	Buffalo Girls	Teddy Blue
	Dead Man	Charlie Dickinson
	Frankie Starlight	Jack Kelly
1996	Draíocht	Father	Byrne wrote this Irish-language drama.
	Mad Dog Time	Ben London
	The Last of the High Kings	Jack Griffin	Also the writer and executive producer
	Dr. Hagard's Disease		Also the executive producer
	The Lark in the Clear Air	Executive producer, writer and director
	Somebody is Waiting	Roger Ellis	Also the co-producer
1997	Smilla's Sense of Snow	The mechanic
	The End of Violence	Ray Bering
	Weapons of Mass Distraction	Lionel Powers
	This is the Sea	Rohan
1998	Polish Wedding	Bolek
	The Man in the Iron Mask	D'Artagnan
	The Brylcreem Boys	Sean O'Brien	Also the co-producer
	Quest for Camelot	Sir Lionel	(animated) (voice)
	Enemy of the State	Fake Brill
1999	Stigmata	Father Andrew Kiernan
	End of Days	The Man/Satan
2000	Madigan Men	Benjamin 'Ben' Madigan	Also the co-executive producer
	Canone inverso	Jeno Varga
2002	Virginia's Run	Ford Lofton
	Spider	Bill Cleg
	Emmett's Mark	Jack Marlow/Stephen Bracken
	Ghost Ship	Captain Sean Murphy
2003	Shade	Charlie Miller
2004	Vanity Fair	The Marquess of Steyne
	P.S.	Peter Harrington
	The Bridge of San Luis Rey	Brother Juniper
2005	Assault on Precinct 13	Captain Marcus Duvall
	Wah-Wah	Harry Compton
2006	Played	Eddie
	Jindabyne	Stewart Kane
	Emotional Arithmetic	Christopher Lewis
2008"2010	In Treatment	Dr. Paul Weston	Golden Globe Award win and Emmy Award nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series
2009	Butte, America	Narrator
	Perrier's Bounty	Voice of The Reaper
	Leningrad	Phillip Parker
2012	Le Capital	Dittmar Rigule
	I, Anna	Detective Bernie Reid
2013	Secret State	Tom Dawkins (Deputy Prime Minister/Prime Minister)
	Le temps de L'aventure	l'homme
	Vikings	Earl Haraldson (Viking chieftain)	6 episodes
	All Things to All Men	Joseph Corsco
2014	Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters	Victor Dashkov

Stage

Year	Theatre	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Broadway	A Moon for the Misbegotten	James 'Jim' Tyrone, Jr.	Nominated for a Tony Award (Best Actor in a Play) and Drama Desk Award (Outstanding Actor in a Play); Winner of the Theatre World Award
2003	Off-Broadway	The Exonerated	Kerry Max Cooke
2005	Broadway	A Touch of the Poet	Cornelius Melody	Winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play
2008	Off-Broadway	Camelot	King Arthur	Performance for the New York Philharmonic's annual musical event from 7"10 May 2008

Awards and nominations

Year	Event	Category	Outcome	Notes
1979	Jacob's Awards	Jacob's Award for Best Actor in a TV Series (Drama)	Won	For Bracken
1987	Fantasporto	International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actor	Won	For Gothic and Defence of the Realm
1995	National Board of Review of Motion Pictures	NBR Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble	Won	For The Usual Suspects
1998	Satellite Awards	Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television	Nominated	For Weapons of Mass Distraction
	Grammy Awards	Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album (Children)	Nominated	For The Star-Child and The Nightingale and the Rose (Oscar Wilde)
1999	Cinequest Film Festival	Maverick Tribute Award	Won
2000	Theatre World Awards	Theatre World Award for Acting	Won	For A Moon for the Misbegotten
	Tony Awards	Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play	Nominated	For A Moon for the Misbegotten
	Razzie Awards	Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor	Nominated	For End of Days and Stigmata
	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favourite Actor (Horror)	Nominated	For Stigmata
2005	Irish Film and Television Awards	IFTA Award for Best Lead Actor in a Feature Film	Nominated	For Wah-Wah
2006	Inside Film Awards	IF Award for Best Actor	Nominated	For Jindabyne
	Australian Film Institute Awards	AFI Award for Best Lead Actor	Nominated	For Jindabyne
	Outer Critics Circle Awards	Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play	Won	For A Touch of the Poet
2007	Jameson Dublin International Film Festival	Volta Award for Lifetime Achievement in Acting	Won	This was the first year for the presentation of the award.
2008	Irish Film and Television Awards	IFTA Award for Best Lead Actor in a Feature Film	Nominated	For Jindabyne
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated	For In Treatment
	Dingle Film Festival	Gregory Peck Excellence in the Art of Film Award	Won	This is the first year for the presentation of the award, which was named in honour of the late Gregory Peck.
	Golden Globe Awards	Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series " Drama	Won	For In Treatment
Satellite Awards	Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series " Drama	Nominated	For In Treatment
2009		Primetime Emmy Awards	Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated	For In Treatment