Cillian Murphy (/ˈkɪliən/; born 25 May 1976) is an Irish actor. Originally the lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist of the rock band The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, he turned down a record deal in the late 1990s and began acting on stage and in short and independent films. His first notable film credits include Jim in the zombie horror 28 Days Later (2002), the dark comedy Intermission (2003), and the action thriller Red Eye (2005). He played a transgender Irish woman in the comedy-drama Breakfast on Pluto (2005), which earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.
Murphy is also known for his collaborations with director Christopher Nolan, playing the Scarecrow in The Dark Knight Trilogy of superhero films (2005–2012) and appearing in the sci-fi action thriller Inception (2010), the war drama Dunkirk (2017), and starring in the upcoming biopic Oppenheimer (2023) as the titular physicist. Other films in which he has appeared include the war drama The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006), the sci-fi thriller Sunshine (2007), the sci-fi action thriller In Time (2011), Jozef Gabčík in the war drama Anthropoid (2016), and the horror A Quiet Place Part II (2021). From 2013 to 2022, he starred as Tommy Shelby in the BBC crime drama series Peaky Blinders, for which he won the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor in 2017 and 2018.
In 2011, Murphy won the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Actor and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for the one-man play Misterman. In 2020, The Irish Times named him one of the greatest Irish film actors.
Early life :
Murphy (third from the left) with Tim Smyth, Eoin O'Sullivan, and Maria-Theresa Grandfield in 1992
Murphy was born on 25 May 1976 in Douglas, Cork. His mother taught French while his father, Brendan, worked for the Department of Education and Skills. His grandfather, aunts, and uncles were also teachers. He was raised in Ballintemple, Cork, alongside his younger brother Páidi and two younger sisters Sile and Orla. He started writing and performing songs at the age of 10. He was raised Catholic and attended the fee-paying Catholic secondary school Presentation Brothers College, where he did well academically but often got into trouble, sometimes being suspended; he decided in his fourth year that misbehaving was not worth the hassle. Not keen on sports, which was a major part of the school's curriculum, he found that artistic pursuits were neglected at the school.
Murphy got his first taste of performing in secondary school, when he participated in a drama module presented by Corcadorca Theatre Company director Pat Kiernan. He later described the experience as a "huge high" and a "fully alive" feeling that he then set out to chase. Novelist William Wall, who was his English teacher, encouraged him to pursue acting but he was set on becoming a rock star. In his late teens and early 20s, he sang and played the guitar in several bands alongside his brother, Páidi, and the Beatles-obsessed duo named their most successful band The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, which they adopted from the Frank Zappa song of the same name. He later said the band "specialised in wacky lyrics and endless guitar solos". They were offered a five-album deal by Acid Jazz Records, which they rejected because Páidi was still in school and the duo did not agree with the small amount of money they would get for giving the record label the rights to Murphy's compositions. Murphy later confessed, "I'm very glad in retrospect that we didn't sign because you kind of sign away your life to a label and the whole of your music."
Murphy began studying law at University College Cork (UCC) in 1996, but failed his first-year exams because he "had no ambitions to do it". Not only was he busy with his band, but he knew within days after starting at UCC that law was not what he wanted to do. After seeing Corcadorca's stage production of A Clockwork Orange, directed by Kiernan, acting began to garner his interest. His first major role was in the UCC Drama Society's amateur production of Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, which starred Irish-American comedian Des Bishop. Murphy also played the lead in their production of Little Shop of Horrors, which was performed in the Cork Opera House. He later admitted that his primary motivation at the time was not to pursue an acting career, but to go to parties and meet women.
