Brendan Gleeson Biography

BRENDAN GLEESON

Date of Birth: November 9, 1955

Born in Dublin, Brendan Gleeson started performing as a child in local stage productions. While furthering his studies at University College, he underwent an audition for the National Theatre of Ireland, Abbey Theatre, that was a complete disaster. He put aside his dreams of acting professionally and instead, went on to become a high school teacher. In 1989, after ten years of teaching, he decided to give acting another try. In a strange twist of fate, the first role he landed was in a stage production at the Abbey Theatre. Not long after, he made his feature film debut playing a small role in The Field (1990) starring Richard Harris. A variety of work in both feature films and TV movies followed, and in 1994, he landed a regular role in the television series Lifeboat.

Brendan's big break came when he landed the role of Hamish in Mel Gibson's blockbuster, Braveheart (1995). The film was nominated for no less than 10 Academy Awards and won five, including Best Picture and a Best Director award for Gibson. Brendan had hit the big time, and he went on to appear in 10 films in the next two years, including Michael Collins (1996) starring Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts, and Turbulence (1996) starring Ray Liotta. In 1998, he landed the starring role in The General, playing true-life gangster Martin Cahill. Gleeson won several awards for his portrayal, including the Boston Society Film Critics Award for Best Actor, the Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture and the London Critics Circle Film award for British Actor of the Year.

He has since gone on to play roles in major Hollywood films such as Mission: Impossible II (2000), Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001), Gangs of New York (2002), Cold Mountain (2003) and Troy (2004), and back home in Britain, played Mad-Eye Moody in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix(2007). Some of his films include Albert Nobbs (2011) alongside Glenn Close, Safe House (2012)with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, The Raven (2012) and the animated feature The Pirates! Band of Misfits where he voiced the character of The Pirate with Gout.

He also starred in The Edge of Tomorrow (2014), The Grand Seduction (2014), Suffragette (2015), In the Heart of the Sea (2015), Trespass Against Us (2016), Assassin's Creed (2016), the crime drama Live by Night (2017) and the family film Paddington 2 (2018).

Not long after he received critical acclaim when he teamed up with his In Bruges director Martin McDonagh and co-star Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin (2022). For his role as a gruff man who decides he doesn't like his best friend anymore, he received nominations from the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Screen Actors Guild, and many other film organizations.

Brendan married his wife, Mary, in 1982. They have four sons: Domhnall Gleeson, Fergus Gleeson, Brian Gleeson and Rory Gleeson.

Filmography:

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
Frankie (2019)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Captain Morten and the Spider Queen (2018)
Paddington 2 (2018)
Alone in Berlin (2017)
Live by Night (2017)
Assassin's Creed (2016)
Trespass Against Us (2016)
In the Heart of the Sea (2015)
Suffragette (2015)
Calvary (2014)
The Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
The Grand Seduction (2014)
The Smurfs 2 (2013)
The Company you Keep (2012)
The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)
The Company you Keep (2012)
The Raven (2012)
Safe House (2012)
The Cup (2012)
Albert Nobbs (2011)
The Guard (2011)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (2010)
Green Zone (2010)
Into the Storm (2008)
The Tiger's Tail (2008)
In Bruges (2008)
Beowulf (2007)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Black Irish (2007)
Studs (2006)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Breakfast on Pluto (2005)
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
In My Country (2005)
Six Shooter (2005)
The Village (2004)
Troy (2004)
Cold Mountain (2003)
Dark Blue (2002)
Gangs of New York (2002)
28 Days Later (2002)
Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
Tailor of Panama, The (2001)
Wild About Harry (2000)
Saltwater (2000)
Harrison's Flowers (2000)
Mission: Impossible II (2000)
My Life So Far (1999)
Lake Placid (1999)
The Tale of Sweety Barrett (1998)
This Is My Father (1998)
The General (1998)
Before I Sleep (1997)
I Went Down (1997)
Butcher Boy, The (1997)
Turbulence (1997)
Angela Mooney (1996)
Further Gesture, A (1996)
Spaghetti Slow (1996)
Trojan Eddie (1996)
Michael Collins (1996)
Braveheart (1995)
Bargain Shop, The (1992)
Into the West (1992)
M.A.N.: Matrix Adjusted Normal (1992)
Far and Away (1992)
The Field (1990)