Gabriel Byrne Bio

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Gabriel James Byrne (Irish: Gabriel Séamas Ó Broin ; born May 12, 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, and writer, as well as an audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen début came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the spin-off show Bracken. The actor has now starred in over thirty-five feature films, such as The Usual Suspects, Miller's Crossing and Stigmata, in addition to writing two. Byrne's producing credits include the Academy Award-nominated In the Name of the Father. Currently, he is receiving much critical acclaim for his role as the troubled Dr. Paul Weston in HBO's drama about psychotherapy, In Treatment.

Gabriel Byrne: Early life

Byrne, the first of six children, was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of a cooper and soldier, Dan, and a hospital nurse from Galway, Eileen (née Gannon). His siblings are Donal, Thomas, Breda, Margaret, and Marian, who had passed away at a young age. Byrne was raised Catholic and educated by the Irish Christian Brothers. Despite spending five years of his childhood in a seminary training to be a priest, he said in an interview, "I spent five years in the seminary and I suppose it was assumed that you had a vocation. I have realised 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 archaeology and linguistics, becoming proficient in Irish. He played football in Dublin with the famous Stella Maris Football Club in Drumcondra and has fond memories of his time spent there.

Gabriel Byrne: Career

Byrne worked in archaeology when he left UCD but maintained his love of his language, writing the first drama in Irish, Draíocht, on Ireland's national Irish language television station, TG4, when it began broadcasting in 1996.

He discovered his passion for acting later in his life. Before becoming an actor, Byrne had many jobs, including: archaeologist, cook, bullfighter, and Spanish schoolteacher. He finally found acting at age 29 and began his career on stage with the Focus Theatre and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. He later joined the Royal Court Theatre and the Royal National Theatre in London.

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

Byrne currently stars as therapist Dr. Paul Weston in the new, critically acclaimed HBO primetime weeknight series In Treatment. He was named as TV's "latest Dr. McDreamy" by the New York Times for this role, and won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series- Drama in 2008. He also received his first Emmy Award nomination (Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series) for the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards (Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad won.) that same year.

Upon his return to theatre in 2008, he appeared as King Arthur in Lerner and Loewe's Camelot with the New York Philharmonic from May 7 to May 10, following the footsteps of veteran actors Richard Burton and Richard Harris.

Gabriel Byrne: Personal life

The actor did not set foot in America until he was 37. He now holds both Irish and US citizenship.

In 1988, Byrne married actress Ellen Barkin with whom he has two children, John "Jack" Daniel (born 1989) and Romy Marion (born 1992). The couple separated amicably in 1993 and divorced in 1999.

Byrne currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, and is a fan of Chelsea FC.

The actor is also actively involved in various charities, in addition to being a human rights activist. In 2004, Byrne was appointed a UNICEF Ireland Ambassador. He became a patron of Croi (The West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation) in 1997 in response to the superb care given to his mother while she was a patient in a Galway hospital, and has worked tirelessly for the Foundation since.

At the 5th Jameson Dublin International Film Festival in 2007, Byrne was presented with the first of the newly created Volta awards, for lifetime achievement in acting. He also received the Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society, of Trinity College, Dublin on February 20, 2007. In November of that same year, he was awarded an honorary degree by the National University of Ireland, Galway; the president of the University, Dr Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh, said that this award is in recognition of the actor's "outstanding contribution to Irish and international film".

As of 2008, he is dating actress Anna George. In the past, Byrne has been romantically linked with actress Julia Ormond (his co-star in Smilla's Sense of Snow) and model Naomi Campbell.

Although the actor is noted as a fiercely private person, he released a documentary for the 20th Galway Film Fleadh in the summer of 2008 called Stories from Home; an intimate portrait about his life.

Byrne mentioned in interviews and his 1995 autobiography, Pictures In My Head that he hates being called brooding. He has been listed by People as one of the "Sexiest Men Alive". Entertainment Weekly has also recently dubbed Byrne as one of the hottest celebrities over the age of 50.