Domhnall Gleeson

Domhnall Gleeson
Gleeson at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International
Born	(1983-05-12) 12 May 1983 Dublin, Ireland
Occupation	Actor, writer
Years active	2004–present
Parent(s)	Brendan Gleeson Mary Weldon
Relatives	Brian Gleeson (brother)

Domhnall Gleeson (/ˈdoʊnəl ˈɡliːsən/;^[1] born 12 May 1983) is an Irish actor and writer. He is best known for his portrayal of General Hux in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter film franchise, Caleb in Ex Machina, Captain Andrew Henry in The Revenant (2015 film) and Tim Lake in About Time. He has acted on both stage and screen, earning a Tony Award nomination in 2006 for his role in the Broadway production The Lieutenant of Inishmore. He has performed in several shows at Dublin's Gate Theatre, including adaptations of American Buffalo and Great Expectations.

Gleeson's television roles includes appearances in the television series The Last Furlong (2006) and the comedy sketch show Your Bad Self (2010), as well as the films Six Shooter (2004), Boy Eats Girl (2005), Never Let Me Go (2010), True Grit (2010), Anna Karenina (2012), Dredd (2012), Frank (2014), Calvary (2014), and Unbroken (2014). In 2015, he starred in four films, all of which received multiple Academy Award nominations: Ex Machina, Brooklyn, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and The Revenant.

Early life

Gleeson was born in Dublin, Ireland, the oldest son of Mary (née Weldon) and actor Brendan Gleeson.^[2] He has three brothers: Fergus, Brian (also an actor), and Rúairí. He attended Malahide Community School, and later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Media Arts from the Dublin Institute of Technology.^[3]

Career

Domhnall Gleeson at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival

After graduating, Gleeson began directing and writing for both film and stage. He appeared in the British television miniseries Rebel Heart in 2001 with James D'Arcy and Paloma Baeza.^[3] In 2006, Gleeson starred in the feature film Studs, with his father appearing alongside him.^[3]

Gleeson also starred in the Academy Award-winning movie short Six Shooter^[4] and Boy Eats Girl, as well as the RTÉ television series The Last Furlong.^[3] He also appeared on the Broadway theatre show The Lieutenant of Inishmore at age twenty-three, receiving a Tony Award nomination for the role.^[3][4]

In late 2007, Gleeson played Herbert Pocket in the Hugh Leonard adaptation of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations at the Gate Theatre in Dublin.^[5] The role was described as "wittily played" by Irish Independent critic Bruce Arnold.^[6] Earlier that year he had a role as Bobby in the David Mamet play American Buffalo, also at the Gate Theatre.^[7]

In 2008, Gleeson starred in the one-off RTÉ comedy sketch show Your Bad Self, which was broadcast on 26 December that year.^[3][4] Other roles in 2008 included A Dog Year and Paddyville.^[3]

In March 2009, it was confirmed that he had been cast as Bill Weasley in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.^[8][9] His father, Brendan, plays Alastor Moody in the series.^[8][9] Gleeson had initially been reluctant to act alongside his father in the same film but later changed his mind.^[10] In 2006, he said of his acting: "I'd been very certain about not wanting to do the acting thing because of my father. I thought I'd always have the father-son thing of 'He got you the role'."^[9]

In the 2009 film Sensation, Gleeson plays the role of a young farmer whose "soulless encounter" with a call-girl "develops into a bittersweet love story".^[11][12]

He had his break-out year in 2010 with his role in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Also in 2010, he starred alongside Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan in Never Let Me Go, and with Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon in the Academy Award–nominated Coen Brothers' film True Grit.

Gleeson won the 2011 Ifta Award for Best Actor for his performance as Bob Geldof in the biopic When Harvey Met Bob.

He appeared in "Be Right Back", an episode of the science-fiction horror series Black Mirror alongside Hayley Atwell as a man who is killed in a car crash, but returns to his lover as an android. Gleeson played Konstantin Levin in the film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel Anna Karenina,^[13] directed by Joe Wright. It was released in late 2012. In 2013 Gleeson starred in About Time, a romantic comedy written and directed by Richard Curtis.^[14] The story follows a young man, played by Gleeson, who uses time travel to win over "the girl of his dreams", played by Rachel McAdams. Filming took place in London, England, in June 2012.^[15] In 2014, he portrayed Jon in the Lenny Abrahamson film Frank, starring alongside Michael Fassbender, and in 2015, played Caleb in Alex Garland's directorial debut Ex Machina and Jim Farrell in Brooklyn.^[16]

Personal life

Gleeson shares a love of the English Championship team Aston Villa with his father Brendan. He described the team's FA Cup semifinal win over Liverpool at Wembley Stadium in 2015, as one of the "great days of my life".^[17]

Along with his father and brother Brian, Gleeson created and stars in the Immatürity For Charity sketches, which raises money for the St. Francis Hospice in Raheny, Dublin. It also stars Laurence Kinlan, Tadhg Murphy and Amy Huberman.^[18]

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Domhnall Gleeson.

• Domhnall Gleeson at the Internet Movie Database
• Domhnall Gleeson appreciation blog.