Cillian Murphy
☼ Born on 25 December 1976, in Douglas, Cork, Ireland
Biography
Striking Irish actor Cillian Murphy was born in Douglas, Co Cork, the oldest child of Brendan Murphy, who works for the Irish Department of Education, and a mother who is a teacher of French. He has three younger siblings. Murphy was educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork. He went on to study law at University College Cork, but dropped out after about a year. During this time, Murphy also pursued an interest in music, playing guitar in various bands. Upon leaving University, Murphy joined the Corcadorca Theater Company in Cork, and played the lead role in "Disco Pigs", amongst other plays.
Various film roles followed, including a film adaptation of Disco Pigs (2001). However, his big film break came when he was cast in Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later (2002), which became a surprise international hit. This performance earned him nominations for Best Newcomer at the Empire Awards and Breakthrough Male Performance at the MTV Movie Awards.
Murphy went on to supporting roles in high-profile films such as Cold Mountain (2003) and Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), and then was cast in two villain roles: Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka The Scarecrow, in Batman Begins (2005) and Jackson Rippner in Red Eye (2005). Although slight in nature for a villain, Murphy's piercing blue eyes helped to create creepy performances and critics began to take notice. Manhola Dargis of the New York Times cited Murphy as a "picture-perfect villain", while David Denby of The New Yorker noted he was both "sed
(click to expand)
uctive" and "sinister".
Later that year, Murphy starred as Patrick "Kitten" Braden, an Irish transgender woman in search of her mother in Neil Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto (2005), a film adaptation of the Pat McCabe novel. Although the film was not a box office success, Murphy was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical and he won Best Actor for the Irish Film and Television Academy Awards.
The following year, Murphy starred in Ken Loach's The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006). The film was the most successful independent Irish film and won the Palm D'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Murphy continued to take roles in a number of independent films, and also reprised his role as the Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008). Nolan is known for working with actors in multiple films, and cast Murphy in Inception (2010) as Robert Fischer, the young heir of the multi-billion dollar empire, who was the target of DiCaprio's dream team. His most well-known work is starring as Thomas Shelby in the British TV show Peaky Blinders beginning in 2013.
Murphy continues to appear in high-profile films such as In Time (2011), Red Lights (2012), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), the final film in Nolan's Batman trilogy.
Murphy is married to Yvonne McGuinness, an artist. The couple have two sons, Malachy and Aran.
In the role of actor
Oppenheimer Wins Big at Oscars (11/03/2024)
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was the big winner at the 96th Academy Awards, winning 7 of its 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Cillian Murphy and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr. The runner-up was Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, which won four Oscars. This includes a surprise Best Actress win […]
Oppenheimer (23/07/2023)
The story of the man who created the atomic bomb is told in Oppenheimer. As a young man, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) was responsible for helping bring the study of quantum physics to the United States. This results in Oppenheimer being recruited by General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) to lead the Manhattan Project and […]
The Dark (24/07/2018)
An undead teenage girl befriends blind boy in The Dark. Mina (Nadia Alexander) is a cannibalistic undead teenager, who haunts an isolated forested area known as the “Devil’s Den.” After dispatching of a fugitive criminal that enters the area, Mina meets the criminal’s blinded hostage Alex (Toby Nichols). Mina decides to help Alex get back to […]
Free Fire (23/04/2017)
A arms deal devolves into a shootout in Free Fire. IRA members Chris (Cillian Murphy) and Frank (Michael Smiley) arrive at a warehouse in 1978 Boston to perform an arms deal, arranged by their intermediary Justine (Brie Larson). They are soon met by representative Ord (Armie Hammer), who leads them to conduct business with South African […]
Red Lights (22/08/2012)
Red Lights is director Rodrigo Cortés’ follow-up to his 2010 film Buried. The film follows psychologist Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and her assistant Tom (Cillian Murphy) as they venture out to debunk psychics using their scientific explanations. A blind psychic named Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) decides to come out of retirement and all signs to see to point […]
Inception (18/07/2010)
Christopher Nolan has developed into one of my favourite directors and while his work on the Batman films have made him popular, I always like the other projects he does on the side. Inception is a very interesting science fiction/action film about the world of dreams and the difference between fantasy and reality. It’s a bit […]
The Dark Knight (22/07/2008)
Batman Begins set things up, and now The Dark Knight set things into full motion. I could say that I thought it was a very good film and I like the fact that equal screen time was given to both heroes and the villains. Heath Ledger was definitely wonderful as The Joker, however I also […]
Sunshine (25/07/2007)
Danny Boyle, known for Trainspotting and 28 Days Later enters the Sci-Fi genre with Sunshine. In fact there are quite a few technical similarities between this film and 28 Days Later. They both have the same director (Boyle), screenwriter (Alex Garland), star (Cillian Murphy), and composer (John Murphy). The film even features Rose Byrne (one […]
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (17/03/2007)
Since it’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’m partly of Irish heritage, I thought I would check out this film about the Irish war of independence and the start of the Irish civil war. At the focus of the film is the Irish Republican Army. At first thought, I thought this was the same IRA that […]