Brendan Gleeson

Brendan Gleeson has been married to Mary Weldon since 1982. The duo has four children, namely – Domhnall Gleeson, Brian Gleeson, Fergus Gleeson, and Rory Gleeson. Out of the four, Domhnall and Brian are actors and writers who have been cast for roles in Hollywood.

Brendan Gleeson was born in Dublin, Ireland on 29th March 1955 to Pat and Frank Gleeson. He has a younger brother, Frank Gleeson. As a young child he was described as an ardent reader of various Irish playwrights like Samuel Beckett.

As a teenager, he took drama classes and acted in various high-school plays like ‘Waiting for Godot’, and also devoted a couple of years to the ‘Dublin Shakespeare Festival.’ He received his education from ‘St Joseph’s CBS’, Fairview, Dublin.

As an aspiring actor, Brendan Gleeson received an invitation from the ‘Royal Shakespeare Company’ to audition, whereupon he spent a couple of years doing stage shows. It was in his mid-thirties that he started auditioning in the UK for short films and began playing different roles.

After a period of struggle, he started working as a theatre actor in noted plays like ‘Wasters’ (1985), ‘Brownbread’ (1987), and ‘Home’(1988). He also wrote and directed two successful plays during this period – ‘The Birdtable’ (1987) and ‘Breaking Up’ (1988).

He started his professional film career in 1989, playing the role of Brendan Dowd in the television film ‘Dear Sarah’. Soon he was given another role in the Irish television film, ‘Hard Shoulder’ (1990), where he played the role of a lorry driver.

His career actually took off with the movie called, ‘The Field’ (1990), directed by Jim Sheridan, where Brendan Gleeson played the character of a quarryman. Moving forward, he received mediocre roles in television films like ‘In the Border Country’ (1991) and ‘Saint Oscar’ (1991).

He played the role of Michael Collins, an Irish Republican, in the historical television film ‘The Treaty’ (1990) and won the Jacob’s Award in 1992.

Brendan Gleeson played the character of Winston Churchill in the television film ‘Into the Storm’ (2009) for which he was awarded the ‘Emmy Award’ for outstanding lead actor and the ‘Satellite Award’ for the best actor, and was nominated for the ‘IFTA Award’, ‘British Academy Television Award’, and the ‘Golden Globe Awards’.

He was highly appreciated for the role of Sergeant Gerry Boyle in the movie ‘The Guard’ (2011), for which he was nominated for awards like ‘Golden Globe Award’, ‘Satellite Award’, ‘IFTA Award’, and the ‘British Independent Film Award’ for the best actor in a lead role.