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1-50 of 56
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Stuart Townsend was born in Howth, County Dublin in 1972. Although his father, Peter Townsend was a professional golfer, Stuart was determined to be an actor and began his career by appearing in a number of student films, while attending the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin. He supported himself by boxing until his first feature film debut in Trojan Eddie (1996). Although his part was small, Townsend attracted a London agent and began appearing in numerous stage and film productions in England and Ireland. America began to take notice of Stuart's talents when he appeared in two films featured in the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, in one of which, About Adam (2000), he took the title role. He also played Lestat de Lioncourt in Queen of the Damned (2002). Townsend was in a romantic relationship with actress Charlize Theron from 2001 to 2009.- Actor
- Producer
Allen Leech was born on 18 May 1981 in Killiney, County Dublin, Ireland. He is an actor and producer, known for The Imitation Game (2014), Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) and Downton Abbey (2010). He has been married to Jessica Blair Herman since 5 January 2019.- Actress
- Soundtrack
In America, the early performing arts accomplishments of young Maureen FitzSimons (who we know as Maureen O'Hara) would definitely have put her in the child prodigy category. However, for a child of Irish heritage surrounded by gifted parents and family, these were very natural traits. Maureen made her entrance into this caring haven on August 17, 1920, in Ranelagh (a suburb of Dublin), Ireland. Her mother, Marguerita Lilburn FitzSimons, was an accomplished contralto. Her father, Charles FitzSimons, managed a business in Dublin and also owned part of the renowned Irish soccer team "The Shamrock Rovers." Maureen was the second of six FitzSimons children - Peggy, Florrie, Charles B. Fitzsimons, Margot Fitzsimons and James O'Hara completed this beautiful family.
Maureen loved playing rough athletic games as a child and excelled in sports. She combined this interest with an equally natural gift for performing. This was demonstrated by her winning pretty much every Feis award for drama and theatrical performing her country offered. By age 14 she was accepted to the prestigious Abbey Theater and pursued her dream of classical theater and operatic singing. This course was to be altered, however, when Charles Laughton, after seeing a screen test of Maureen, became mesmerized by her hauntingly beautiful eyes. Before casting her to star in Jamaica Inn (1939), Laughton and his partner, Erich Pommer, changed her name from Maureen FitzSimons to "Maureen O'Hara" - a bit shorter last name for the marquee.
Under contract to Laughton, Maureen's next picture was to be filmed in America (The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)) at RKO Pictures. The epic film was an extraordinary success and Maureen's contract was eventually bought from Laughton by RKO. At 19, Maureen had already starred in two major motion pictures with Laughton. Unlike most stars of her era, she started at the top, and remained there - with her skills and talents only getting better and better with the passing years.
Maureen has an enviable string of all-time classics to her credit that include the aforementioned "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," How Green Was My Valley (1941), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Sitting Pretty (1948), The Quiet Man (1952), and The Parent Trap (1961). Add to this the distinction of being voted one of the five most beautiful women in the world and you have a film star who was as gorgeous as she was talented.
Although at times early in her career Hollywood didn't seem to notice, there was much more to Maureen O'Hara than her dynamic beauty. She not only had a wonderful lyric soprano voice, but she could use her inherent athletic ability to perform physical feats that most actresses couldn't begin to attempt, from fencing to fisticuffs. She was a natural athlete.
In her career Maureen starred with some of Hollywood's most dashing leading men, including Tyrone Power, John Payne, Rex Harrison, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Brian Keith, Sir Alec Guinness and, of course, her famed pairings with "The Duke" himself, John Wayne. She starred in five films with Wayne, the most beloved being The Quiet Man (1952).
In addition to famed director John Ford, Maureen was also fortunate to have worked for some other great directors in the business: Alfred Hitchcock, William Dieterle, Henry Hathaway, Henry King, Jean Renoir, John M. Stahl, William A. Wellman, Frank Borzage, Walter Lang, George Seaton, George Sherman, Carol Reed, Delmer Daves, David Swift, Andrew V. McLaglen and Chris Columbus.
In 1968 Maureen found much deserved personal happiness when she married Charles Blair. Gen. Blair was a famous aviator whom she had known as a friend of her family for many years. A new career began for Maureen, that of a full-time wife. Her marriage to Blair, however, was again far from typical. Blair was the real-life version of what John Wayne had been on the screen. He had been a Brigadier General in the Air Force, a Senior Pilot with Pan American, and held many incredible record-breaking aeronautic achievements. Maureen happily retired from films in 1973 after making the TV movie The Red Pony (1973) (which on the prestigious Peabody Award for Excellence) with Henry Fonda. With Blair, Maureen managed Antilles Airboats, a commuter sea plane service in the Caribbean. She not only made trips around the world with her pilot husband, but owned and published a magazine, "The Virgin Islander," writing a monthly column called "Maureen O'Hara Says."
Tragically, Charles Blair died in a plane crash in 1978. Though completely devastated, Maureen pulled herself together and, with memories of ten of the happiest years of her life, continued on. She was elected President and CEO of Antilles Airboats, which brought her the distinction of being the first woman president of a scheduled airline in the United States.
Fortunately, she was coaxed out of retirement several times - once in 1991 to star with John Candy in Only the Lonely (1991) and again, in 1995, in a made-for-TV movie, The Christmas Box (1995) on CBS. In the spring of 1998, Maureen accepted the second of what would be three projects for Polson Productions and CBS: Cab to Canada (1998) - and, in October, 2000, The Last Dance (2000).
On St. Patrick's Day in 2004, she published her New York Times bestselling memoir, 'Tis Herself, co-authored with her longtime biographer and manager Johnny Nicoletti.
On November 4, 2014 Maureen was honored by a long overdue Oscar for "Lifetime Achievement" at the annual Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Governors Awards.
Maureen O'Hara was absolutely stunning, with that trademark red hair, dazzling smile and those huge, expressive eyes. She has fans from all over the world of all ages who are utterly devoted to her legacy of films and her persona as a strong, courageous and intelligent woman.- Ruairi O'Connor was born on 9 July 1991 in County Dublin, Ireland. He is an actor, known for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021), The Postcard Killings (2020) and The Morning Show (2019).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Gavan O'Herlihy was born on 29 July 1951 in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for The Descent: Part 2 (2009), Willow (1988) and Never Say Never Again (1983). He was married to Juliette. He died on 15 September 2021 in Bath, England, UK.- Lochlann O'Mearáin was born on 8 August 1973 in Killiney, County Dublin, Ireland. He is an actor, known for Outlander (2014), Love & Friendship (2016) and Genius (2017).
- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Frank Kelly was born on 28 December 1938 in Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Father Ted (1995), Evelyn (2002) and Rat (2000). He was married to Bairbre Neldon. He died on 28 February 2016 in the UK.- Ciara is a well-established Irish actress with over 20 years experience in the industry. She has a BA in Drama and Theatre from The Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin and a degree in Dance and Film from Université Nanterre, Paris.
Ciara most recently returned to her role of Julie O'Brien in series 2 of the Irish legal drama Striking Out.(2018),(RTE, Blinder)
Ciara would be familiar to audiences for her regular appearances in Brendan O'Carroll's popular series Mrs. Brown's Boys (2015) including the role of Irma Bike in Mr's Brown's Boys D'Movie (2014) and Betty Brown in the stage production How Now Mrs Brown Cow! which toured arenas across the UK in 2015.
Television credits include the role of Mary in Bridget& Eamon(2017), guest role of Lucretia Moon in the BBC series Doctors (2016), The Clinic (RTÉ) Flight of the Earls (Midas Films) and Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (BBC). Ciara was also nominated Best Actress (Irish Film and Television Awards, TV Now Awards) for her regular role of Yvonne Doyle Gleeson in Ireland's long-running soap Fair City. Notable film appearances include Spacejacked (1997) Insect Man (1998) and Insatiable (2009).
Ciara has also appeared in numerous stage productions around the world. Credits include Big Love directed by Selina Cartmell at Ireland's National theatre, The Abbey, The Playboy of the Western World directed by Ben Barnes, which toured Ireland and the US, Dancing at Lughnasa directed by Roger Haines for the Library Theatre, Manchester and The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde directed by Patrick Mason,Ireland's National theatre, The Abbey, with performances in Dublin, London and Melbourne. - Eoin McCarthy was born in 1963 in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland. He is an actor, known for Alien vs. Predator (2004), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and Made of Honor (2008).
- Writer
- Director
- Additional Crew
Samuel Beckett is an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator.
A resident of Paris for most of his life, he wrote in both French and English.
Beckett's work offers a bleak, tragi-comic outlook on human existence, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humor, and became increasingly minimalist in his later career. He is considered one of the last modernist writers, and one of the key figures in what Martin Esslin called the "Theatre of the Absurd".
Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Born of a prominent Irish journalist in Dublin, Ireland, Dave Allen started out working and touring through English theatres and night clubs. Only occasionally working on radio, he made his first TV appearance on the BBC's "New Faces." He managed to tour with The Beatles while they were still starting out and soon managed to get an eight-month TV engagement called Tonight with Dave Allen (1967), which ended as still one of the most successful shows in Australia. During 1969, he turned from comedy to making documentaries, but then in 1971, he returned to BBC television for Dave Allen at Large (1971), another top-rated show. In 1972, he lived out a lifetime ambition to do plays, soon playing both Mr. Darling and Captain Hook in "Peter Pan" for the London Coliseum. He followed up with two more TV specials in Australia. Floating between stage, television, and more documentaries, he premiered in America in 1981 with "An Evening With Dave Allen." He died suddenly in March 2005.- After completing her degree in Psychology and Psychoanalysis, Leigh was accepted to The American Academy of Dramatic Arts In New York, where she resided for four years. After completing drama school she was cast as Dr. Clodagh Delaney in the hit Irish Television Series The Clinic which she starred in for five years. Her talent was recognized by the industry when she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2006. Leigh is a U.N.I.C.E.F. Ambassador in Ireland and is the face of Gosh Cosmetics.
- Educated at Loreto College, North Great George's Street, Dublin. Joined Gaiety School of Acting in 1947, began acting professionally with the Radio Éireann Players in 1948, later joining the Abbey Theatre company. She soon became recognised as a character actress of exceptional force and talent. Received Jacob's Television Award in 1964 for her performance as Winnie in Beckett's Happy Days. Won nationwide popularity as Mrs Kennedy in the Radio Éireann serial 'The Kennedys of Castleross'. She later played with the Royal Shakespeare Company, toured France and Canada, and appeared on television and in films.
- Actor
- Producer
- Special Effects
Gordon, a Dublin native now based in London holds the lead role for a feature in production called "Love Lane" along with a supporting role in "The Hook."
His acting journey was cultivated through intensive training at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, complemented by studies in Speech and Drama at Betty Ann Norton School of Drama. He further refined his craft with Performance and Improvisation courses at ActUp, under the guidance of Shane Nestor.
Recent highlights in his career include a sold-out run of 'Disconnected,' 'Fintan and Sile Are Getting Married,' and 'Home.' He also toured nationally with 'Dubliners Women' and starred in 'Sucking Dublin,' which secured the Best Ensemble award at the 2018 Irish Times Theatre Awards.
Additionally, Gordon contributed to 'Network Diagnostics,' a production that received a nomination for a Nordic Fringe Network Award, and 'COAST,' which garnered two nominations at the 2016 Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival. In the realm of film, he took on a leading role in 'Ghost,' earning nominations for Best Director and Best Actor, and winning Best Picture at the Trinity SU Film Awards.
Notably, he also assumes a supporting role in the soon-to-be-released feature film "Caledonia."- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
His parents were a well known Balbriggan couple from George's Hill. Pat, the second son, left home to join the military and served in India as an officer, before deciding on a career in films, that ultimately bringing him to Hollywood.
Patrick Whyte had dreamed of being in films and was not going to let the chance pass. He was 46 when the King of the Khyber Rifles (1953) came around, having been born in March of 1907.
Clearly, his acting ability attracted attention. He had a role in the Beau Geste (1966) production of 1966 as well as The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) three years after his role with Tyrone Power.
But perhaps the hit American series Peyton Place (1964) would give him his greatest outlet. He would play the part of Theodore Dowell. It was a cult production and over the years starred the likes of Mia Farrow, whose mother Maureen O'Sullivan starred in a film in Lusk, Ryan O'Neal who featured alongside Marie Kean from Rush in 'Barry Lyndon', Leslie Nielson, Barbara Rush, Joan Van Ark and Wilfrid Hyde-White.
Patrick would not restrict himself to film work and featured in such productions as another epic of the 70s, McCloud (1970) and the 60s series Batman (1966). He was also afforded roles in The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1954) and The Twilight Zone (1959) in 1960.
Patrick Whyte, a great son of Balbriggan, died on June 11, 1984 at the age of 77.- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
William Butler Yeats was born on 13 June 1865 in Sandymount, County Dublin, Ireland, UK [now Republic of Ireland]. He was a writer, known for Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), Valentines. A Bouquet of Letters and Poetry of Lovers (1994) and Echoes. He was married to Georgiana Hyde-Lees. He died on 28 January 1939 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France.- Laura Woods was born in Foxrock, County Dublin, Ireland. She has been married to Mark Arigho since 12 September 2009.
- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Born in Ireland and of Italian descent, Sonya Macari began appearing in television commercials in Dublin at the age of 18, and her acting debut was in the Irish hit show "The Clinic," followed by a recurring role on Showtime's "The Tudors," for which she also appeared in the global print campaign. She now resides between Dublin and Los Angeles and has built on the success she has achieved as a stage and screen actress in Ireland, playing a variety of roles, to name a few: 'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia', 'House' a feature in the ten time Oscar nominated silent movie "The Artist," the title role of "Mary Magdalene" for the Hallmark channel, an Italian spy "Antonia" for the hit show "Chuck" on NBC, Francesca in TV series "Caravaggio And My Mother The Pope," the lead role of "Sara" in an apocalyptic science fiction movie entitled "Protocol" alongside Eric Lange, and "Eva Clark," a 1930's stage actress driven by the pressure of achieving and losing fame in "Behind The Curtain," a film noir homage and a festival favorite. In "Kiss the Devil in the Dark," a fantasy thriller, Sonya stars as "Vanessa" alongside Doug Jones, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at The Utah Film Festival. May 2023 Sonya has received Best Actress at 8 & Halfilm Awards, an event at Cannes Film Festival for an Irish short entitled 'Skylark'., Sonya has voiced over many commercials and is also a book narrator for Penguin Random House. Sonya trained at the HB Studios in New York and The Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin. She was also selected to work with Sir Anthony Hopkins in an intimate one off Masterclass. She is the author of The Actors Passport, which is a go to guide specifically geared for younger actors starting out in the business. Sonya is the Founder of Creative Acting Studios, an online platform for actors offering masterclasses and Talks with well renowned Casting Directors, Producers, writers and many other creatives from Los Angeles.- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Sound Department
Kevin McClory was born on 8 June 1924 in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland. He was a producer, known for Thunderball (1965), Never Say Never Again (1983) and The Boy and the Bridge (1959). He was married to Fredericka (Bo) Sigrist and Elizabeth O'Brien. He died on 20 November 2006 in Loughlinstown, County Dublin, Ireland.- Casting Director
- Casting Department
- Actress
Nuala Moiselle was born on 4 May 1928 in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland. She was a casting director and actress, known for Vikings (2013), The Devil's Own (1997) and King Arthur (2004). She was married to Louis Moiselle. She died on 5 November 2018 in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland.- Actress
- Producer
Celine Cawley was born in 1962 in Howth, County Dublin, Ireland. She was an actress and producer, known for Two Fat Ladies (2003). She was married to Eamon Lillis. She died on 15 December 2008 in Howth, Dublin, Ireland.- Holly White was born in 1983 in Killiney, County Dublin, Ireland. She is an actress, known for The Chronoscope (2009), Boy Eats Girl (2005) and Man About Dog (2004).
- Paddy O'Byrne was born on 8 December 1929 in Killiney, County Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980), The Professor and the Beauty Queen (1967) and The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989). He was married to Victoria Fitzpatrick. He died on 4 December 2013 in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland.
- Producer
- Actress
- Production Manager
Shari O'Donnell is a Producer and Business Development Executive. Her diverse entertainment portfolio spans Film, Documentary, TV, Theatre, Animation, Live Events, and the Ominverse.
Renowned for her adept negotiation skills, Shari has successfully secured filming incentives and major deal elements for motion pictures worldwide, with a focus on regions including the USA, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Notable achievements include securing finance for over 100 projects through various channels such as private equity, gap funding, incentives, grants, and pre-sales. In 2015, she played a pivotal role in securing Mel Gibson for the Asian motion picture, The Bombing.
Previously serving as Head of Development, Shari spearheaded the greenlighting of numerous award-winning projects for various film houses. As a Producer, she has garnered over 50 accolades, including recognition for "Penance," Ireland's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2020 Academy Awards. Noteworthy among her projects is "Obama's Irish Roots," a documentary showcasing her expertise in working with historians, uncovering the connection between Barack Obama and his Irish heritage, which contributed to a Presidential visit to Ireland during Obama's re-election campaign.
Shari holds the position of interim Chairman at Oscension Multimedia, an Entertainment, Immersive, and Gaming Company launched in 2024. Through her role, she facilitates upfront Gaming and Filming incentives in Ireland in partnership with the Godland Group. Additionally, she serves as the Chief Development Officer of the Godland Group and sits on the Board of Directors for Womenful Voice.
A frequent contributor to entertainment panels, Shari provides valuable insights to independent filmmakers and documentarians on securing funding and getting projects greenlit. Her academic background includes studies in law and film, complemented by operational experience gained from various roles in the industry. Early in her career, she honed her skills as a theater critic for the UK Theatre Network and other publications.- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Méav Ní Mhaolchatha was born in Donnybrook, County Dublin, Ireland. She is known for Celtic Woman: The Greatest Journey - Essential Collection (2008), Celtic Woman: Home for Christmas - Live from Dublin (2012) and Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (2009).