Brendan Gleeson Bio

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Brendan Gleeson (born 29 March 1955) is an Irish actor who has starred in many films. His best-known movies include the Harry Potter films, Kingdom of Heaven, Beowulf, Troy, Gangs of New York, 28 Days Later, In Bruges, Braveheart, The General, Lake Placid, and the role of Michael Collins in The Treaty.

Brendan Gleeson: Early life

Gleeson was born in Dublin, Ireland. He has said that he was an avid reader as a child. After leaving school for a short while, he worked for two years in an office with a health board. He then graduated from University College Dublin and went onto Drama School in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Just after completing the 3 Year Acting Drama Course at RADA, Gleason built a very respectable CV at the Royal National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. Gleeson became known for his tremedous stage presence, particuarily while performing in such the works of William Shakespeare as King Lear, Richard III, and Hamlet. Gleeson was also known for performing the works of Anton Chekhov throughout the theaters of Londons West End. Gleeson then returned to Ireland and worked for several years as a secondary school teacher at Belcamp College in North County Dublin where he taught Gaelic. During that time Gleeson was very active with the Dublin Shakespeare Festival.

Brendan Gleeson: Career

Gleeson started his film career at the age of 34. He first came to prominence in Ireland for his role as Michael Collins in The Treaty a television film broadcast on RTí‰ One, and for which he won a Jacob's Award in 1992.

Gleeson has subsequently acted in more than 60 films including Braveheart, I Went Down, Michael Collins, Gangs of New York, Cold Mountain, 28 Days Later, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, Lake Placid, Artificial Intelligence: AI and The Village. He won critical acclaim for his performance as Irish gangster Martin Cahill in John Boorman's 1998 film The General.

While Gleeson played Michael Collins in The Treaty, he later portrayed Liam Tobin in the film Michael Collins with Liam Neeson taking the role of Collins.

Ironically, Gleeson later went on to portray Collins' nemesis Winston Churchill in Churchill at War.

Gleeson frequently appears in the role of mentor or authority figure, and always displays his advanced shakespearian acting skills when delivering dialogue; he played Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody in the fourth and fifth Harry Potter films, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Roger Ebert described him as having a "noble shambles of a face and the heft of a boxer gone to seed" in praising his performance in In Bruges, in which Gleeson played a mentor-like figure for Colin Farrell's hitman, a role that garnered him his first Golden Globe nomination, among other accolades. Gleeson provides the voice of Abbot Cellach in The Secret of Kells, an animated film by Cartoon Saloon which premiered at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival in February 2009.

He starred in the short film Six Shooter in 2006, which won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short.

Brendan Gleeson: Personal life

Gleeson lives in Malahide, County Dublin. Gleeson is a very talented fiddle player, with an interest in folklore. He played the fiddle during his role in Cold Mountain and in Michael Collins. He can be found from time to time playing at traditional music seisiúin in Hughes's pub in Chancery Street in Dublin 7. His brother, Barry Gleeson, is a well-known singer in An Góilí­n traditional singers' club. Brendan has long been known for his love of football and recounts tales of attempting to get a clear radio reception so he could listen to how his team, Aston Villa were faring on a Saturday.