Gabriel Byrne is an internationally known actor who has many credits and awards to his name and has worked extensively in the world of film, theatre and literature, though he didn't start acting until the age of twenty nine.
Gabriel was born in Dublin, Ireland to a nurse and Guinness barrel maker who later had to stay at home because he became redundant.
Gabriel is the oldest of six children and at twelve years old he decided he wanted to become a priest, so he went to study at a seminary in England, only to be expelled at sixteen for smoking in a graveyard.
He decided to return to Ireland where he later did jobs such as a teddy bear eye installer and a cooking.
Still not content, Gabriel decided he wanted more academic stimulation and so went to Dublin's University College where he studied languages, archaeology and phonetics which later helped him in his archaeological digs and his three year course teaching Spanish at an all-girls school. It was here that Gabriel discovered his talent for acting, one day he had to stand in for someone during a play and was commented on how good his acting was.
Gabriel decided to persue his acting career further and appeared at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, then later the Royal Court and the National Theatre in London.
In 1981, Gabriel received his first acting role as a sheep farmer on the long running tv show 'The Riordans'. Six months later his character was transferred to his own programme, called 'Bracken'.
Also in 1981 saw Gabriel with his acting debut in 'Excalibur', courtesy of director John Boorman who spotted Gabriel in a Dublin play and decided to cast him. Byrne's acting career had reached a high point and so he moved to London to further his career.
Between theatre work in the West End, Gabriel appeared in numerous films and TV movies including 'Siesta', for which he met and fell in love with Ellen Barkin. They married a year later in 1988 and had two children, Jack Daniel born in 1989 and Romy Marion born in 1992. They parted in 1993 and divorced in 1999 but remain good friends.
Fortunately for Gabriel, after 'Siesta' and a few other films including 'Lionheart', 'A Soldier's Tale' and 'Dark Obsession', he began to be noticed by Hollywood after his starring role in 'Miller's Crossing' in 1990. He received numerous scripts and decided to star in films such as 'Point Of No Return' in 1993 and 'Little Women' in 1994.
But for Gabriel the big time came in 1995 when he played 'Dean Keaton' in 'The Usual Suspects' which was a huge success.
Since then, Gabriel's career has gone from strength to strength and is an internationally known actor. As well as acting, he also wrote and published his own book titled 'Pictures In My Head' which was published in 1997 and has appeared in successful films since then such as 'The Man In The Iron Mask' in 1998 and two very diverse roles in 1999, playing a priest in 'Stigmata' and 'Satan' in 'End Of Days'.
During 2000 he starred as 'James Tyrone, Jr' in Eugene O'Neil's Tony Award-winning Broadway play 'A Moon For The Misbegotten'.
In late 2000 Gabriel marked his first acting and producing for an American television series called 'Madigan Men' in which he played 'Benjamin Madigan'
but the show was later dropped by ABC.
In 2001 Gabriel is in Canada acting in a new film called 'Virginia's Run' which started filming in May and also another film called 'Emmett's Mark' which started filming in April.
He has also bought the rights to a book called 'The Nature Of Water And Air' which he will be filming and directing early next spring. |
