He studied acting at the Royal Academy of Music of Scotland in Glasgow. His screen credits include Kin, Outlander, and Vikings: Valhalla, but he is best known for his role as Gar Boyle in Fair City. He was a contestant on this year’s Dancing with the Stars.
Save by the Bell was a television series set in California that depicts the trials and tribulations of American high school life. I watched this movie when I was a kid in lonely Dublin in the 90s. At that time, the influence of American culture spread across Ireland like wildfire, and the Dublin accent changed forever.
There was something about Kurt Cobain. I don’t know anyone who isn’t captivated by his brilliance combined with his nonchalance. There’s something endearing about tortured artists. Music, dancing, and acting are cathartic. You can release the valve and go into darkness, but if you use it correctly, you can hear and see some of the greatest art. he was a true artist. There’s a reason Nirvana was the biggest band on the planet.
Frasier was a masterpiece. Kelsey Grammer and all the actors in the cast were at their best. The guys that came after Cheers had something they thought they could use and just finished it. Most of the settings had a dramatic feel to them, especially the penthouse apartment. The production borrows from the French farce style of theater and storytelling and incorporates it into an episodic television show set in America. When you look back on it as you get older, it becomes even more amazing.
I loved season 1 of True Detective. Acting is my job. Above all, I love seeing top-notch acting and authentic depictions of human emotion, and Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey are top-notch. I could hear them reading the ingredients from behind the baking sheet. It was very well-paced, well-thought-out, and even had an element of supernatural quantum physics injected into it at the end.
As a kid, I loved the adult humor in animated series like South Park and Family Guy. It was a combination of poignant social satire that could only be understood as a manga. Other forms of media can’t escape covering certain subjects, but for some reason comics have existed in a creative space where they can be downplayed and avoid being “cancelled.” Genius shows.
The kid in me loved the original 1994 version of The Lion King. It’s an untouchable production with great music by Phil Collins. Jeremy Irons as Scar was the epitome of a true villain, and his voice had a rich tone.
Warrior is an unknown film starring Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, and Joel Edgerton. I love Tom Hardy as an actor. I also love martial arts. This is a great story about two estranged brothers with a strange dynamic and an alcoholic father who showed love and commitment to one but alienated the other. There are well-choreographed fight scenes.
I love all of Christopher Nolan’s movies except Tenet. I loved Inception. Combining storytelling and deep philosophical thinking at the same time is my specialty. It’s a layered dream within a dream, about the birth of ideas in the human brain, but it’s also a heist movie. It’s a race against time. Great performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, and Cillian Murphy. Gold standard movie.
One of my favorite Irish playwrights is Conor MacPherson. He was one of the playwrights I read before I went to drama school. He is incredible about the brutal reality of being human, its vague and gray nature, the trials and tribulations of his life, and there are no bells and whistles. Every time I see a play like Rum and Vodka, I am shocked. There are such layers. A story about the struggle with alcoholism, well illustrated by a character who uses language, imagery, and storytelling vividly.
I’m a big fan of William Shakespeare’s plays. I love his comedy and history, especially King Lear, Richard II, and Henry IV. The history buff in me loves its beautiful Elizabethan language and blend of history, its richness. When you’re young and watch or read Shakespeare’s plays, you understand just a little bit of what’s right in front of you. And it’s great to come back as an adult and realize that you were looking at it in one dimension, when there are so many dimensions to things. Everything is a double will. All references to sex. It may be completely intuitive, but everything also depends on the actor’s interpretation.
I’m a big fan of fantasy and science fiction. It’s my guilty pleasure. My favorite book is Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos, his science fiction series. I first read this book when he was about 25 years old. This work, set in the future, combines the works of poet John Keats with his philosophical beliefs and beautiful poetic ideas, while also providing a background for his operas in this space. time.
Abercrombie published a series of books called “The First Law trilogy.” This is perhaps one of the most visceral depictions of truth in war. It’s not like people are swinging axes around their heads. He urinated in his pants, got stepped on, and tried to stick a dagger between his arms. Like most fantasy writers, he borrows from historical aspects of medieval Europe and warring Germanic settlements. he is excellent
Pumping Iron is a documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger in training for Mr. Olympia, which he had already won five years in a row in the 1970s. It chronicles California’s golden age of bodybuilding. At the time, Lou Ferrigno, who played the Incredible Hulk on the TV show, also received that training. He has always been Schwarzenegger’s big rival and followed his lead. It’s great to see his boardwalk in Venice in the 70’s as well. It’s a gem.
I love trad music. Lately I’ve been into 1920’s blues and bluegrass. I loved Muirian Bradley’s recent performance in Later with Jools Holland. She is only 16 or 17 years old. She’s incredible and definitely the next big thing to come out of Ireland. She sings this 1920s bluesy American sound of hers. It’s the kind of music that’s usually more gravelly and sung in deeper voices, but hearing it from a baby’s mouth opens up a whole new element to the music.