Biography
Date of Birth
25 December 1976, Douglas, Cork, Ireland
Nickname
Cilly
Height
5' 7¾" (1.72 m)
Mini Biography
Striking Irish actor Cillian Murphy was born in Douglas, the oldest child of Brendan Murphy, who works for the Irish Department of Education, and a mother who is a teacher of French. He has three younger siblings. Murphy was educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork. He went on to study law at University College Cork, but dropped out after about a year. During this time Murphy also pursued an interest in music, playing guitar in various bands. Upon leaving University, Murphy joined the Corcadorca Theater Company in Cork, and played the lead role in "Disco Pigs", amongst other plays.
Various film roles followed, including a film adaptation of Disco Pigs (2001). However, his big film break came when he was cast in Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later... (2002), which became a surprise international hit. This performance earned him nominations for Best Newcomer at the Empire Awards and Breakthrough Male Performance at the MTV Movie Awards.
Murphy went on to supporting roles in high-profile films such as Cold Mountain (2003) and Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), and then was cast in two villain roles: Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka The Scarecrow, in Batman Begins (2005) and Jackson Rippner in Red Eye (2005). Although slight in nature for a villain, Murphy's piercing blue eyes helped to create creepy performances and critics began to take notice. Manhola Dargis of the New York Times cited Murphy as a "picture-perfect villain", while David Denby of The New Yorker noted he was both "seductive" and "sinister".
Later that year, Murphy starred as Patrick "Kitten" Braden, an Irish transgender in search of her mother, in Neil Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto (2005), a film adaptation of the Pat McCabe novel. Although the film was not a box office success, Murphy was nominated for a Golden Globes for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical and he won Best Actor for the Irish Film and Television Academy Awards.
The following year, Murphy starred in Ken Loach's The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006). The film was the most successful independent Irish film and won the Palm D'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Murphy continued to take roles in a number of independent films, and also reprised his role as the Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008). Nolan is known for working with actors in multiple films, and cast Murphy in Inception (2010), as Robert Fischer, the young heir of the multi-billion dollar empire, who was the target of DiCaprio's dream team.
Murphy continues to appear in high profile films such as In Time (2011), Red Lights (2012), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), the final film in Nolan's Batman trilogy.
Murphy is married to Yvonne McGuinness, an artist. The couple has two sons, Malachy and Aran.
Trivia
His father was a school inspector and his mother was a French teacher.
Attended and graduated from Presentation Brothers College, Cork.
Has a younger brother: Páidi Murphy, a design engineer.
He used to play in a Frank Zappa-influenced band called 'Sons of Mr. Greengenes' with his brother.
Has two younger sisters: Sile and Orla Murphy.
His first name is pronounced "Kill-ian".
He was planning a career in law until he discovered the world of acting.
Although he is a vegetarian, he learned to chop up meat in an abattoir for his role as butcher in Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003).
Auditioned for the role of Batman in Batman Begins (2005). The role was eventually given to Christian Bale. But director Christopher Nolan liked Cillian's audition so much that he gave him a role as Batman's enemy Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow, who is a developing character in this movie.
Though he did not get the role of Batman in Batman Begins (2005), he did get to wear the batsuit during an audition with Christopher Nolan.
Proposed to his wife Yvonne McGuinness while hill-walking in Ireland.
Son Malachy Murphy was born December 4, 2005, weighing 7 pounds and 5 ounces.
Has played two sociopaths in 2005: Dr. Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow) in Batman Begins (2005) and Jackson Rippner in Red Eye (2005).
As of 2006, he is the most nominated Irish actor at the Irish Film and Television Awards with six nominations.
He greatly admires actor Liam Neeson. Looks at him as a surrogate movie father.
Is fluent in English, French, and Irish.
Had been pegged to play the lead in the independent movie, Once (2007). This did not materialize when he was hired for another project. Instead, the role went to Glen Hansard, the person who created the songs for the film.
Good friends with Colin Farrell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
Is the only actor playing a villain to appear in all three of Christopher Nolan's Batman films.
Is the first actor to play a DC Comics villain (The Scarecrow) in three consecutive films. Gene Hackman played Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor in three films but did not appear consecutively.
Is a huge fan of Doctor Who (1963).
Agreed to a cameo in TRON: Legacy (2010) because he is a huge fan of the original TRON (1982).
In 2012, he won the Drama Desk Award for Best Solo performance in "Misterman".
Used to be a vegetarian for 12 years. When he started eating meat again, it was venison.
His American accent, when auditioning for Batman Begins (2005), was so convincing that the casting directors had no clue he was really from Ireland.
He still plays music and writes songs but has no intention of starting another band or pursuing it professionally.
An intensely private person, he prefers not to speak about his personal life and did not appear on any live TV chat shows until 2010.
He does not have a stylist or a personal publicist, travels without an entourage, and often attends premieres alone.
Has been in six films with Brendan Gleeson, Sweety Barrett (1998), 28 Days Later... (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), Perrier's Bounty (2009) and In the Heart of the Sea (2015).
Sons Malachy and Aran Murphy were both born in Sweden.
Took part in a campaign video in support of the repealing of Article 8 of the Constitution of Ireland that consecrated human lives from their conception and banned abortion.
Is an occasional guest DJ on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Watching the film Scarecrow when he was about 14 it stayed with him, particularly the scene where Al Pacino has a breakdown in a public fountain. At 23 he auditioned for director Wiliiam Boyd for a part in The Trench but didn't get it despite the fact that Boyd he'd also written it, However Boyd, impressed by him wrote a small part for him.
Trademarks:
Bright blue eyes
Strong defined jawline
Frequently works with director Christopher Nolan
Quotes
I'd probably have been wealthier if I had stayed with law, but pretty miserable doing it.
It's basically lazy journalism if they say I'm the new Colin Farrell. This thing about heat, it's all just hot air.
[on breaking the Irish typecast] You're an actor who's Irish, not an Irish actor. And you shouldn't be limited by your extraction.
[on auditioning for Batman Begins (2005)] Well, the first part of the question, I think if you ask any male if you really want to get into a real suit, that was a dream come true, obviously, and then just to get to work with Chris, even for that little test, was amazing as well; and then, I don't know, he saw something in it that he thought maybe he could use for the other characters.
[on accepting the role of the Scarecrow in Batman Begins (2005)] I can have a bit of fun with it, too, because my only motivation really is being bad. I love doing proper dramatic character studies, but it's also good to have a bit of fun, dress up and stuff.
Well, we are doppelgangers. - On that Howard Stern nearly played the Scarecrow, Cillian's role in Batman Begins (2005), in an early attempted adaptation.
If there's an opportunity to work with Ken Loach, you can't really turn that down. He's made some of the finest films of the past 25 years. Whether you like or dislike his movies, there's never a bad performance in them, ever. There's none of the bullshit. There's no trailers, no nonsense, no pampering. It's a breath of fresh air.
It's easy to take the check, you know, but if you want to have any longevity, just take things that have artistic merit in them. I want to do quality. If it's good telly, I'll do it. If it's good theater, I'll do it.
I've a very, very close-knit group of friends from Ireland. They and my family are the most important things to me.
[on his role as a terrorist in Red Eye (2005)] I don't know if anyone will ever sit beside me on a plane again.
Journalists have a myopic view of your versatility. They're like "You only play the creep".
If you behave like a celebrity, then people will treat you like a celebrity, and if you don't, they won't. There's not much to write about me in the tabloids.
Today, I pick and choose my films very carefully. There's nothing I've done so far that I can't talk about with commitment and passion.
But you can make wonderful films within a small, independent environment and you can make wonderful films in Los Angeles, within the studio system. You hear a lot of actors saying, "I'd never go to Hollywood and sell out." But if it's a good script and a good director, why not? To shut oneself off completely is, I think, very limiting.
Too many filmmakers today are trying to put their work into a box. I can't stand that! Making movies is a lot of work. Let's take some risks.
[on his character in Breakfast on Pluto (2005)] To me, someone's sexuality is usually the least interesting thing about them. It's secondary. The only reason it becomes a source for dramatic storytelling is because people have made such an issue out of it.
I'm not worried about being pegged, but it's important for me to knock down any perceptions of me that are out there.
I think there's such a thing as a performance gene. If it's in your DNA it needs to come out. For me, it originally came out through music, then segued into acting and came out through there. I always needed to get up and perform.
I've always felt that the less the public knows about you, the more effective you can be when you go to portray someone else.
[Asked whether he finds himself drawn to dark characters] For me, drama is conflict. I'm not interested in a good man's life. I'm interested in contradiction. I'm interested in pressure, I'm interested in duress. All the great works of art, or film or literature, in my opinion, have elements of those in them. Because who wants to write about happy people?
[2004] Don't fucking call this article Murphy's Law!
[2004] A lot of this success-if it happened to me when I was 18-well then, I don't know. But I'm a bit older, and I've been there, and it's not that alluring to me now. When I act, I want it to be the most important thing that I do, but when I'm not doing it, I don't give a shit about it.
[2004, on how he prepared for his role in Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)] We went to this abattoir in Luxembourg and chopped shit up. It was my idea. [Why would a vegetarian take it upon himself to hack swine into little bits?] Have you ever seen someone smoking on film who doesn't smoke? They always do something dumb, and immediately it's obvious they don't smoke. [he laughs] It's not method acting-it's just so, when I come on screen, people don't go, 'Hang on a minute, that guy's never carried a pig before!' Otherwise some butcher in the audience will stand up and rip on the whole movie.
[2004] I don't consider myself copy. Most magazines just want to know who you're fucking or who you're slagging off. My objective is simply to make good art.
[2004] I spend a lot of time at home, actually. I don't really do the party or the premiere thing-unless it's my own, and then it would be rude not to go. It's not a very hectic life at all, really.
[2017, on his concerns about the Irish education system, which he feels did him few favours, focusing as it does on multiple disciplines] You get these really bright and creative kids who get eaten up by that system. If they [my own children] come out from education with some degree of self-confidence and self-awareness, that's enough. And, hopefully, they will make some good friends. Initially, I was the reluctant one when it came to moving back, but I was quite quickly convinced. Irish people are brilliant and you have to go away and come back to realise it.
[2017, on moving back to Ireland after having lived in London for 14 years] [It is a common Irish narrative] to move away in your 20s to England or America to establish yourself and find your calling, and then come home. I always thought that it was retrogressive, but now I realise that it is just natural. You want to be with your parents as they get older and you want your children to be aware of their culture. [Did your boys rebel when they were told they'd be leaving their schoolfriends behind?] We promised them a dog so that was just fine. I am the only one that walks it, of course.
[2017] A director, I forget who, told me that it takes 30 years to make an actor. And I believe that. You have to learn your craft, learn your trade - and also you have to live a life and experience things. I have been doing this for 20 years now so, hopefully, in another 10 years I will be an actor. Honestly, if you stick around long enough, don't make an idiot of yourself and aspire to make good work, people go: 'All right. He is here to stay.'
[2004, on the odd write-up where his polite reticence to bare his soul has been misconstrued as some kind of inner dullness] I remember doing an interview, and it was only a half-hour thing, but the man did a massive piece. At the end, he was like, 'Cillian Murphy: nice guy, but not very interesting.' I was like, 'Fuck you, man!'
[2017, on struggling with press duties and avoiding TV chat shows until a few years ago] I was very uncomfortable with this. [gesture at journalist's tape recorder and notepad] The reductive nature nowadays of most journalism is very frustrating. [One newspaper report on the most recent series of Peaky Blinders focused on the baring of his bottom.] It is getting absurd with the dumbing down, the level of questions you get asked. Seriously, though, if someone asks a stupid question, you can only give a stupid answer or appear arrogant. But all of this stuff I tolerate a lot better now. Patience is something that as a young man I didn't have - when waiting for parts to arrive or waiting for people to behave as I wanted them to.
[2017] Having just turned 40 I hope I've achieved some sort of wisdom or patience.
[2004, on 28 Days Later... (2002)'s alternate ending] If you see Matt Damon in that role, you know he's gonna survive. He ain't dyin'. He's not turning into a zombie. If someone of that caliber was in there, the ending would be different. I personally like the one where I die. I get shot and then they try to resuscitate me on the table. I die and end up where I began-in a hospital, yeah? On this slab.
I suppose professionally, as an actor, empathy is the most powerful tool you have, really, in trying to understand a character and trying to understand other people's motivations and so on.
