Colm Meaney

In 1977, he got married to Irish actress Bairbre Dowling. She is the daughter of Irish actor and director Vincent Dowling and actress Brenda Doyle. Meaney has a daughter, Brenda, with Bairbre. Meaney’s marriage with Bairbre culminated into divorce in 1994.

He got married for a second time to French costume designer Ines Glorian on March 15, 2007. The couple has a daughter, Ada, who was born in 2005.

Colm was born on May 30, 1953, in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland. Not much is known about his early life, family background, and schooling.

He started learning acting at age fourteen. Following his secondary school studies, he enrolled at the ‘Abbey Theatre School of Acting’ to further his acting skills.

He joined ‘Irish National Theatre’ as a member and went on to work with many theatre companies for the next 8 years touring England.

In 1978, he made his television debut as ‘McGlin’ in the episode ‘Pressure’ from the British television drama series ‘Z-Cars.’

He appeared as Michael Kavanaugh in the television miniseries ‘Les roses de Dublin’ in 1981. That year, he made his film debut playing Younger Protestant in the flick ‘Nailed.’

Moving on, he featured in single episodes of many other TV series, such as ‘Play for Tomorrow’ (1982), ‘Strangers’ (1982), ‘Moonlighting’ (1986), and ‘Remington Steele’ (1987); TV films like ‘Playboy of the Western World’ (1983) and ‘Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues’ (1987).

In 1987, he featured in two films: ‘Omega Syndrome’ and ‘The Dead.’ In September 1987, he appeared as an unnamed helm officer in the first episode and series premiere ‘Encounter at Farpoint’ from the Gene Roddenberry created American sci-fi television series ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation.’

His character in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ later transcended into a recurring role of Miles Edward O'Brien, a transporter chief of the USS Enterprise-D. Starting from 1987, he featured in the series for 52 episodes. He left the series in 1993 to join the main cast of another American sci-fi TV series in the Star Trek franchise titled ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ where he reprised the role of O'Brien.