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IMDbPro

Gabriel Byrne

  • Actor
  • Producer
  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,000396
Gabriel Byrne
The life story of Ferruccio Lamborghini, the founder of Lamborghini.
Play trailer2:12
Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend (2022)
83 Videos
99+ Photos
Byrne was the first of six children, born in Dublin, Ireland. His father was a cooper and his mother a hospital worker. He was raised Catholic and educated by the Irish Christian Brothers. He spent five years of his childhood in a seminary training to be a Catholic priest. He later said, "I spent five years in the seminary and I suppose it was assumed that you had a vocation. I have realized subsequently that I didn't have one at all. I don't believe in God. But I did believe at the time in this notion that you were being called." He attended University College Dublin, where he studied archeology and linguistics, and became proficient in Irish. He played football (soccer) in Dublin with the Stella Maris Football Club.

Byrne worked in archeology after he left UCD but maintained his love of his language, writing Draíocht (Magic), the first drama in Irish on Ireland's national Irish television station, TG4, in 1996.

He discovered his acting ability as a young adult. Before that he worked at several occupations which included being an archaeologist, a cook, a bullfighter, and a Spanish schoolteacher. He begin acting when he was 29. He began on stage at the Focus Theatre and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, later he joined the Royal Court Theatre and the Royal National Theatre in London.

Byrne came to prominence on the final season of the Irish television show The Riordans, later starring in the spin-off series, Bracken. He made his film début in 1981 as Lord Uther Pendragon in John Boorman's King Arthur epic, Excalibur.

Byrne is featured as therapist Dr. Paul Weston in the critically acclaimed HBO series In Treatment (2008).

In his return to theater in 2008, he appeared as King Arthur in Lerner and Loewe's Camelot with the New York Philharmonic which was featured in a PBS broadcast in the Live From Lincoln Center series in May of 2008.

Byrne did not visit America until he was 37. In 1988, Byrne married actress Ellen Barkin with whom he has two children. The couple separated amicably in 1993 and divorced in 1999. Byrne resides in Brooklyn, New York.

In November 2004, Byrne was appointed a UNICEF Ireland Ambassador.

In 2007 Byrne was presented with the first of the newly created Volta awards at the 5th Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. This was for lifetime achievement in acting. He also received the Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society, of Trinity College, Dublin on February 20, 2007. He was awarded an honorary degree in late 2007 by the National University of Ireland, Galway, in recognition of Byrne's "outstanding contribution to Irish and international film".
BornMay 12, 1950
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornMay 12, 1950
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,000396
  • Unlock contact info on IMDbPro
  • Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys
    • 11 wins & 18 nominations total

Photos297

Gabriel Byrne in The Usual Suspects (1995)
Gabriel Byrne in War of the Worlds (2019)
Gabriel Byrne in ZeroZeroZero (2019)
Gabriel Byrne and Dane DeHaan in ZeroZeroZero (2019)
Gabriel Byrne and Andrea Riseborough in ZeroZeroZero (2019)
Gabriel Byrne, Elizabeth McGovern, Natasha Little, Aaron Heffernan, Bayo Gbadamosi, Ty Tennant, and Daisy Edgar-Jones in War of the Worlds (2019)
Gabriel Byrne in War of the Worlds (2019)
Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern in War of the Worlds (2019)
Gabriel Byrne in Excalibur (1981)
Gabriel Byrne in Excalibur (1981)
Gabriel Byrne in Excalibur (1981)
Gabriel Byrne and Stian Smestad in Shipwrecked (1990)

Known for

Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, and Kevin Pollak in The Usual Suspects (1995)
The Usual Suspects
8.5
  • Keaton
  • 1995
Arnold Schwarzenegger in End of Days (1999)
End of Days
5.8
  • The Man
  • 1999
Gabriel Byrne and John Turturro in Miller's Crossing (1990)
Miller's Crossing
7.7
  • Tom Reagan
  • 1990
Toni Collette and Milly Shapiro in Hereditary (2018)
Hereditary
7.3
  • Steve
  • 2018

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Four Letters of Love
    • In Production
  • Dance First
    • Samuel Beckett (old)
    • Post-production
  • Ballerina
    • Post-production
  • Frank Grillo in Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend (2022)
    Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend
    • Enzo Ferrari
    • 2022
  • Gabriel Byrne and Daisy Edgar-Jones in War of the Worlds (2019)
    War of the Worlds
    • Bill Ward
    • TV Series
    • 2019–2022
  • Gabriel Byrne, Idris Elba, Tom Hollander, and Jude Coward Nicoll in The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2022)
    The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
    • The Horse (voice)
    • Short
    • 2022
  • Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
    Murder at Yellowstone City
    • Sheriff Jim Ambrose
    • 2022
  • Gabriel Byrne, Suzanne Clément, Jessica Paré, and Brian Gleeson in Death of a Ladies' Man (2020)
    Death of a Ladies' Man
    • Samuel O'Shea
    • 2020
  • Amy Ryan and Sarah Wisser in Lost Girls (2020)
    Lost Girls
    • Richard Dormer
    • 2020
  • ZeroZeroZero (2019)
    ZeroZeroZero
    • Edward Lynwood
    • TV Mini Series
    • 2019
  • Emma Stone and Jonah Hill in Maniac (2018)
    Maniac
    • Porter Milgrim
    • TV Mini Series
    • 2018
  • Gabriel Byrne and Kiersey Clemons in An L.A. Minute (2018)
    An L.A. Minute
    • Ted Gold
    • 2018
  • Gabriel Byrne, Justin Chatwin, Laura Fraser, Nora Arnezeder, and Tomiwa Edun in In the Cloud (2018)
    In the Cloud
    • Doc Wolff
    • 2018
  • Toni Collette and Milly Shapiro in Hereditary (2018)
    Hereditary
    • Steve
    • 2018
  • Harvey Keitel, Gabriel Byrne, Sibylla Deen, Reece Ritchie, and Emily Atack in Lies We Tell (2017)
    Lies We Tell
    • Donald
    • 2017
  • Gabriel Byrne, Michael Gambon, Elisabeth Moss, and David Tennant in Mad to Be Normal (2017)
    Mad to Be Normal
    • Jim
    • 2017
  • No Pay, Nudity (2016)
    No Pay, Nudity
    • Lawrence Rose
    • 2016
  • Bel Powley in Carrie Pilby (2016)
    Carrie Pilby
    • Mr. Pilby
    • 2016

Producer

  • Land Without God (2019)
    Land Without God
    • executive producer
    • 2019
  • Toni Collette and Milly Shapiro in Hereditary (2018)
    Hereditary
    • executive producer
    • 2018
  • Tent City, U.S.A. (2011)
    Tent City, U.S.A.
    • executive producer
    • TV Movie
    • 2011
  • Gabriel Byrne, Roy Dotrice, and John Hensley in Madigan Men (2000)
    Madigan Men
    • co-executive producer
    • supervising producer
    • TV Series
    • 2000
  • Keri Russell and William Ash in Mad About Mambo (2000)
    Mad About Mambo
    • executive producer
    • 2000
  • Gabriel Byrne in The Brylcreem Boys (1998)
    The Brylcreem Boys
    • co-producer
    • 1998
  • Dr Hagard's Disease
    • executive producer
    • 1996
  • Somebody Is Waiting (1996)
    Somebody Is Waiting
    • co-producer
    • 1996
  • Jared Leto in The Last of the High Kings (1996)
    The Last of the High Kings
    • co-executive producer
    • 1996
  • Daniel Day-Lewis in In the Name of the Father (1993)
    In the Name of the Father
    • executive producer
    • 1993
  • Into the West (1992)
    Into the West
    • associate producer
    • 1992

Writer

  • Draiocht
    • Writer
    • TV Movie
    • 1996
  • Jared Leto in The Last of the High Kings (1996)
    The Last of the High Kings
    • Writer
    • 1996

Videos83

Shipwrecked
Clip 1:20
Shipwrecked
Shipwrecked
Clip 1:40
Shipwrecked
Official Trailer
Trailer 0:31
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:12
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:10
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:27
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:46
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 0:57
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:08
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:05
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:24
Official Trailer
Watch on EPIX
Trailer 1:01
Watch on EPIX

Personal details

Edit
  • Official site
    • The Agency - representation
  • Alternative name
    • Gebriel Birn
  • Height
    • 5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
  • Born
    • May 12, 1950
    • Dublin, Ireland
  • Spouses
      Hannah Beth KingAugust 4, 2014 - present
  • Children
    • Romy Byrne
  • Parents
      Eileen Gannon
  • Relatives
    • Rose Byrne(Not Related)
  • Other works
    Reads "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe on the CD "Closed On Account of Rabies."
  • Publicity listings
    • 10 Interviews
    • 11 Articles
    • 3 Pictorials
    • 6 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Before becoming an actor, he was an archaelogist, a schoolteacher, a short-order cook, and a plumber.
  • Quotes
    I would like to break out of this "dark, brooding" image, cause I'm actually not like that at all. In Ireland, brooding is a term we use for hens. A brooding hen is supposed to lay eggs. Everytime somebody says "He's dark and brooding" I think: "He's about to lay an egg".
  • Trademark
      Thick Dublin accent

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