Gabriel Byrne facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel Byrne in 2010
Born	Gabriel James Byrne (1950-05-12) 12 May 1950 (age 75) Dublin, Ireland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978–present
Spouse(s)	Ellen Barkin ​ ​ (m. 1988; div. 1999)​ Hannah Beth King ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	3

Gabriel James Byrne (born on May 12, 1950) is a famous actor from Ireland. He has won a Golden Globe Award and has been nominated for many other big awards, like a Grammy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2018, he received a special Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irish Film and Television Academy. He was also named one of Ireland's greatest film actors by The Irish Times in 2020.

Gabriel Byrne started his acting career in Dublin at the Focus Theatre. Later, he joined the Royal Court Theatre in London. He first appeared on screen in Irish TV shows like The Riordans and Bracken. He has starred in many well-known movies, including Miller's Crossing (1990), Little Women (1994), The Usual Suspects (1995), and Hereditary (2018). He also helped write The Last of the High Kings (1996) and produced In the Name of the Father (1993).

For his work on Broadway, Gabriel Byrne was nominated twice for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. These nominations were for his roles in the plays A Moon for the Misbegotten (2000) and Long Day's Journey into Night (2016). On television, he played Paul Weston in the HBO series In Treatment (2008–2010). For this role, he won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards. He also appeared in popular TV shows like Vikings (2013) and War of the Worlds (2019–2022).

Early Life and Education

Gabriel James Byrne was born in Walkinstown, Dublin, Ireland, on May 12, 1950. His parents were Catholic. His father, Dan, was a soldier and a cooper (someone who makes barrels). His mother, Eileen, was a nurse. Gabriel has five younger brothers and sisters.

He went to Ardscoil Éanna in Crumlin. Later, he even taught Spanish and history there. For a time, he thought about becoming a priest and spent five years in a seminary, which is a school for priests. However, he later realized it wasn't the right path for him.

Gabriel then attended University College Dublin. He studied archaeology (the study of old things and history) and linguistics (the study of language). He became very good at speaking Irish. He also played football (soccer) in Dublin for a team called Stella Maris.

His Acting Journey

Before becoming an actor, Gabriel Byrne had many different jobs. He worked as an archaeologist, a cook, and a school teacher. He started acting when he was 29 years old. His first roles were on stage at the Focus Theatre and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

He became well-known on the last season of the Irish TV show The Riordans. After that, he starred in his own spin-off series called Bracken. His first TV play was Love Is ... for RTÉ. In 1981, he made his first movie appearance as King Uther Pendragon in the King Arthur film, Excalibur.

In 1983, Gabriel Byrne acted alongside famous actors like Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier in the miniseries Wagner. In 1985, he starred in the thriller Defence of the Realm. He later joked that his co-star, Denholm Elliott, was so good that he "upstaged" him!

Gabriel Byrne holding his Herald Angel award in 2006.

Gabriel Byrne continued to work in both movies and TV. In 2008, he returned to theatre to play King Arthur in the musical Camelot with the New York Philharmonic. From 2008 to 2010, he starred as Dr. Paul Weston in the HBO series In Treatment. This role earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series in 2008.

In 2017, he appeared in Mad to Be Normal, a movie about a Scottish psychiatrist. More recently, in 2022, Gabriel Byrne performed his one-man show called Walking with Ghosts. This show is based on his own memories and stories from his life. It was performed in Dublin, Edinburgh, London, and on Broadway in New York.

Personal Life

Gabriel Byrne was in a relationship with TV producer Aine O'Connor for 12 years. He later moved to New York and married actress Ellen Barkin in 1988. They had two children together. They separated in 1993 and divorced in 1999, but remained friends. In 2014, he married Hannah Beth King. As of 2021, Gabriel Byrne lives with his family in Rockport, Maine.

He has received several honors for his acting. In 2007, he was given the first Volta award for his lifetime achievements in acting at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. He also received an honorary degree from the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2007, recognizing his great contributions to film and theatre. In 2008, he released a documentary about his life called Stories from Home.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	On a Paving Stone Mounted	Unknown
1981	Love Is ...	Larry
1981	Excalibur	Uther Pendragon
1983	Hanna K.	Joshua Herzog
1983	The Keep	Sturmbannfuhrer Erich Kaempffer
1984	Reflections	William Masters
1985	Defence of the Realm	Nick Mullen
1986	Gothic	Lord Byron
1987	Lionheart	The Black Prince
1987	Hello Again	Dr. Kevin Scanlon
1987	Julia and Julia	Paolo Vinci
1987	Siesta	Augustine
1988	The Courier	Val
1989	A Soldier's Tale	Saul
1989	Diamond Skulls	Lord Hugo Bruckton
1990	Miller's Crossing	Tom Reagan
1990	Shipwrecked	Lieutenant John Merrick
1992	Into the West	Papa Reilly	Also associate producer
1992	Cool World	Jack Deebs
1993	Point of No Return	Bob	aka The Assassin
1993	A Dangerous Woman	Colin Mackey
1993	In the Name of the Father	N/A	Executive producer
1994	A Simple Twist of Fate	John Newland
1994	Trial by Jury	Daniel Graham
1994	Little Women	Professor Friedrich Bhaer
1994	Prince of Jutland	Fenge
1995	The Usual Suspects	Dean Keaton / Keyser Söze (flashback)
1995	Dead Man	Charlie Dickinson
1995	Frankie Starlight	Jack Kelly
1996	Mad Dog Time	Ben London
1996	The Last of the High Kings	Jack Griffin	Also writer and executive producer
1996	Somebody Is Waiting	Roger Ellis	Also executive producer
1996	Dr. Hagard's Disease	Unknown	Unreleased; also executive producer
1997	Smilla's Sense of Snow	The Mechanic
1997	The End of Violence	Ray Bering
1997	This Is the Sea	Rohan
1998	Polish Wedding	Bolek
1998	The Man in the Iron Mask	D'Artagnan
1998	The Brylcreem Boys	Sean O'Brien	Also co-producer
1998	Quest for Camelot	Sir Lionel (voice)
1998	Enemy of the State	NSA Agent Fake Brill
1999	Stigmata	Father Andrew Kiernan
1999	End of Days	The Man / Satan
2000	Canone inverso	The Violinist ('Jeno Varga')
2000	Mad About Mambo	N/A	Executive producer
2002	Virginia's Run	Ford Lofton
2002	Spider	Bill Cleg
2002	Emmett's Mark	Jack Marlow / Stephen Bracken
2002	Horses: The Story of Equus	Narrator (voice)
2002	Ghost Ship	Captain Sean Murphy
2003	Shade	Charlie Miller
2003	Flight from Death	Narrator (voice)
2004	Vanity Fair	The Marquess of Steyne
2004	P.S.	Peter Harrington
2004	The Bridge of San Luis Rey	Brother Juniper
2005	Assault on Precinct 13	Captain Marcus Duvall
2005	Wah-Wah	Harry Compton
2006	Played	Eddie
2006	Jindabyne	Stewart Kane
2007	Emotional Arithmetic	Christopher Lewis
2008	2:22	Detective Swain	Uncredited
2009	Butte, America	Narrator (voice)
2009	Perrier's Bounty	The Reaper (voice)
2009	Leningrad	Phillip Parker
2012	Le Capital	Dittmar Rigule
2012	I, Anna	Detective Bernie Reid
2013	Just a Sigh (Le Temps de l'aventure)	Doug
2013	All Things to All Men	Joseph Corsco
2014	Vampire Academy	Victor Dashkov
2015	The 33	André Sougarret
2015	Louder Than Bombs	Gene Reed
2015	Nobody Wants the Night	Bram Trevor
2016	Carrie Pilby	Mr. Daniel Pilby
2016	No Pay, ...	Lawrence Rose
2017	Mad to Be Normal	Jim
2017	Lies We Tell	Donald
2018	In the Cloud	Doc Wolff
2018	An L.A. Minute	Ted Gold
2018	Hereditary	Steve Graham	Also executive producer
2018	Atlantic Salmon: Lost at Sea	Narrator (voice)
2020	Lost Girls	Richard Dormer
2020	Death of a Ladies' Man	Samuel O'Shea
2022	Murder at Yellowstone City	Sheriff James Ambrose
2022	Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend	Enzo Ferrari
2022	The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse	The Horse (voice)	Short film
2023	Dance First	Samuel Beckett	Post-production
2025	From the World of John Wick: Ballerina	The Chancellor	Post-production

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Theatre

Awards and Recognitions

Honours

In 2007, NUI Galway gave him an honorary doctorate. This was to celebrate his amazing work in Irish and international film, theatre, and the arts.

See also

In Spanish: Gabriel Byrne para niños