Cillian Murphy - Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Biography

This page uses content from the Cillian Murphy biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Cillian Murphy (born May 25, 1976) is an Irish actor and musician. Cillian is an Irish name and is also commonly spelled Killian; both spellings are pronounced .

Early life

Murphy was born in Douglas, Cork in Ireland. He attended the Presentation Brothers College, Cork, where one of his teachers was the writer William Wall, and later studied law at University College Cork (UCC). Initially his interest in performing was led by music. He played guitar with a Frank Zappa influenced band called Sons of Mr. Greengenes. However, by the time he left college his primary interest was acting. His first major role was in the UCC Drama Society production of Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme. He went on to appear on the professional stage in Disco Pigs, directed by Pat Kiernan and written by Enda Walsh.

After touring with Disco Pigs in London, Edinburgh and Cork, he left UCC without graduating.

Career

Disco Pigs was Murphy's first big break. He was cast in the central role of Pig in Corcadorca's 1996 production of Enda Walsh's original play. He later reprised that role for the 2001 feature film version by Kirsten Sheridan. Also, he wrote and sang the song So New for the soundtrack. He was also well-known from his role in Intermission. However, it was not until Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later became a sleeper hit in the USA in 2003, that the bigger studios and directors started to take notice. As for the actor's full-frontal nudity in the film, Murphy claimed he was perfectly comfortable doing nudity if the role called for it.

In recent years he has had smaller parts in such Hollywood films as Girl with a Pearl Earring and Cold Mountain. 2005 was the year that brought Murphy into more renown with his acclaimed performance as Dr. Jonathan Crane (also known as The Scarecrow) in Batman Begins and his role as Jackson Rippner in Red Eye. Murphy received a nomination for the Best Villain honor at the  2006 MTV Movie Awards for his performance in Batman Begins, but lost to Hayden Christensen for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

He originally auditioned for the role of Batman (Bruce Wayne) in Batman Begins. Though the part was eventually given to Christian Bale, director Christopher Nolan was reportedly very impressed with Murphy's audition and persuaded him to take on the role of Crane. It is not known if the character of Dr. Crane will appear in the upcoming sequel, though Murphy has stated that he would be glad to reprise the role if asked.

Recently, he starred in the movie Breakfast on Pluto, based on the novel of the same title by Patrick McCabe. Additionally, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in Musical or Comedy for this movie, though he lost to Joaquin Phoenix for his role in Walk the Line. He also starred as Damien in Ken Loach's film The Wind That Shakes the Barley , which won the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Personal life

Murphy married his long term girlfriend Yvonne McGuinness (b. 1972), in August 2004 in Provence, France. The couple lives in London, England, with their son Malachy.

According to Entertainment Weekly magazine, he was #3 of "The Most Valuable Players of Summer 2005", a list for entertainers who have outstanding breakthrough performances for the year 2005. He was placed behind Terrence Howard and Matt Dillon. The magazine went on to compare him with Robert Mitchum.

Filmography

Telepathy (2007)[1]
Watching the Detectives (2007)
Sunshine (2007) ... as Capa
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)...as Damien O'Donovan
Breakfast on Pluto (2005)...as Patrick "Kitten" Braden
Red Eye (2005) ... as Jackson Rippner
Batman Begins (2005) ... as Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow
Cold Mountain (2003) ... as King Union Soldier
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) ... as Pieter
Intermission (2003) ... as John
Zonad (2003)... as Guy Hendrickson
28 Days Later (2002) ... as Jim
The Way We Live Now (2001) (mini series)... as Paul Montague
Disco Pigs (2001) ... as Pig
How Harry Became a Tree (2001)... as Gus
On the Edge (2001)... as Jonathan Breech
Filleann an Feall (also known as The Treachery Returns) (2000)
The Trench (1999)... as Rag Rockwood
Sunburn (1999)... as Davin McDerby
At Death's Door (1999)
Eviction (1999)... as Brendan McBride
The Tale of Sweety Barrett (1998)... as Pat the Barman
Quando (1997)... as Pat

External links

Radio Interview with Cillian Murphy from FBi 94.5 Sydney Australia
Sunshine Official Site

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