Brendan Gleeson

Brendan Gleeson (born March 29, 1955) is an Irish actor and director. He is the recipient of three IFTA Awards, two BIFA Awards, and an Emmy Award, has been nominated for an Academy Award, 3 BAFTA Award and 5 Golden Globes. He’s the father of actors Domhnall Gleeson and Brian Gleeson. He made his film debut in Jim Sheridan‘s The Field (1990), with Richard Harris, John Hurt, Sean Bean, Brenda Fricker and Tom Berenger.

Other films in the 1990s include Ron Howard’s Far and Away (1992), with Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Thomas Gibson, Robert Prosky, and Cyril Cusack; Mike Newell’s Into the West (1992), with Gabriel Byrne, Ellen Barkin, Rúaidhrí Conroy, and Ciarán Fitzgerald; Braveheart (1995), with Mel Gibson (who also directed), Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Catherine McCormack, and Angus Macfadyen; Angela Mooney Dies Again (1997), with Mia Farrow and Patrick Bergin; Neil Jordan‘s Michael Collins (1996), with Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Alan Rickman, and Julia Roberts; and Gillies MacKinnon’s Trojan Eddie (1996), with Richard Harris, Rea, Seán McGinley, Angeline Ball, Bríd Brennan, Aislín McGuckin, Pecker Dunne, and Stuart Townsend.

Films in the late 1990s include Turbulence (1997), with Ray Liotta, Lauren Holly, Hector Elizondo, Hector Elizondo, Rachel Ticotin, Jeffrey DeMunn, and Ben Cross; The Butcher Boy (1997), with Eamonn Owens, Rea, Fiona Shaw, and Sinéad O’Connor; Robert Dornhelm’s A Further Gesture (1997), with Rea and Alfred Molina; Paddy Breathnach’s I Went Down (1997), with Peter McDonald; John Boorman’s The General (1998), with Adrian Dunbar, McGinley, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Angeline Ball, and Jon Voight; This Is My Father (1999), with Aidan Quinn, James Caan, Rea, John Cusack, Jacob Tierney, Colm Meaney, Donal Donnelly, and Moya Farrelly; Lake Placid (1999), with Oliver Platt, Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman, Meredith Salenger, Mariska Hargitay, and Betty White; and Hugh Hudson’s My Life So Far (1999), with Colin Firth, Rosemary Harris, Irène Jacob, Tchéky Karyo, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Malcolm McDowell, Kelly Macdonald, and Robert Norman.

Films in the 2000s include John Woo’s Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), with Cruise, Thandiwe Newton, Richard Roxburgh, John Polson,, Rade Šerbedžija and Ving Rhames; Elie Chouraqui’s Harrison’s Flowers (2000), with Andie MacDowell, Elias Koteas, Adrien Brody, Marie Trintignant, Gerard Butler, and David Strathairn; Conor McPherson’s Stillwater (2000), with McDonald, Brian Cox, Conor Mullen, Laurence Kinlan, Eva Birthistle, and Paul Cooper; Wild About Harry (2000), with Amanda Donohoe, James Nesbitt, Adrian Dunbar, Bronagh Gallagher and Ruth McCabe; The Tailor of Panama (2001), with Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Rush, Jamie Lee Curtis, McCormack, Leonor Varela, and Harold Pinter; Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), with Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O’Connor, and William Hurt; Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (2002), with Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, and Megan Burns; Martin Scorsese‘s Gangs of New York (2002), with Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Henry Thomas, Stephen Graham, and Eddie Marsan; Ron Shelton’s Dark Blue (2002), with Kurt Russell, Scott Speedman, Michael Michele, Lolita Davidovich, and Rhames; Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain (2003), with Law, Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Eileen Atkins, Kathy Baker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jack White, Giovanni Ribisi, Donald Sutherland, and Ray Winstone; In My Country (2004), with Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche; Wolfgang Petersen‘s Troy (2004), with Brad Pitt, Brian Cox, Bean, and Peter O’Toole; M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village (2004), with Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Brody, Hurt, and Sigourney Weaver;

He is perhaps best known for his performance as Alastor “Mad Eye” Moody in the Harry Potter films from 2005–2010, with Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Robbie Coltrane, , Robbie Coltrane, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, and Ralph Fiennes.

Other films in the mid to late 2000s include Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven (2005), with Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Neeson, Edward Norton, and Michael Sheen; Breakfast on Pluto (2005), with Murphy, Rea, Neeson, Ruth Negga, and Ian Hart; The Tiger’s Tail (2006), with Kim Cattrall, Sinéad Cusack, McGinley, and Ciarán Hinds; Black Irish (2007), with Michael Angarano, Tom Guiry, Emily VanCamp, and Melissa Leo; Robert Zemeckis’s Beowulf (2007), with Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Alison Lohman, and Angelina Jolie; Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges (2008), with Colin Farrell, Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, and Jérémie Renier; Perrier’s Bounty (2009), with Murphy, Broadbent, and Jodie Whittaker.

Films in the 2010s include Paul Greengrass’s Green Zone (2010), with Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Khalid Abdalla, and Jason Isaacs; John Michael McDonagh’s The Guard (2011), with Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, and Fionnula Flanagan; Rodrigo García’s Albert Nobbs (2011), with Glenn Close
Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Janet McTeer, and Brenda Fricker; Simon Wincer’s The Cup (2011), with Stephen Curry, Daniel MacPherson, Tom Burlinson, and Bill Hunter; Safe House (2012), with Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Sam Shepard, Rubén Blades, Nora Arnezeder, and Robert Patrick; The Raven (2012), with John Cusack, Alice Eve, and Luke Evans; a voice role in The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012), with Hugh Grant, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Martin Freeman, Salma Hayek, and Jeremy Piven; The Company You Keep (2012), with Robert Redford (who also directed) Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Anna Kendrick, Terence Howard, Richard Jenkins, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Sam Elliott, Stephen Root, and Stanley Tucci; The Smurfs 2 (2013), with Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Jacob Tremblay, Hank Azaria, and the voices of Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, Anton Yelchin, Christina Ricci, J.B. Smoove, and Alan Cumming; Don McKellar’s The Grand Seduction (2013), with Taylor Kitsch, Gordon Pinsent, Liane Balaban, Mark Critch, Peter Keleghan, Mary Walsh, Margaret Killingbeck, Cathy Jones, and Matt Watts; Cavalry (2014), with Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Domhnall, M. Emmet Walsh, and Isaach de Bankolé; Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow (2014), with Cruise, Emily Blunt, and Bill Paxton; and Brad Anderson’s Stonehearst Asylum (2014), with Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess, Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, David Thewlis, and Jason Fleming.

Films in the mid to late 2010s include Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette (2015), with Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne-Marie Duff, and Meryl Streep; In the Heart of the Sea (2015), with Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Murphy, Tom Holland, and Ben Whishaw; Pursuit (2015), with Ruth Bradley, Barry Ward, and Cunningham; Vincent Pérez’s Alone in Berlin (2016), with Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, and Mikael Persbrandt; Trespass Against Us (2016), with Sean Harris, Lyndsey Marshal, Rory Kinnear, and Killian Scott; Live by Night (2016), with Ben Affleck (who also directed), Elle Fanning, Chris Messina, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldaña, and Cooper; Assassin’s Creed (2016), with Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Charlotte Rampling, and Michael K. Williams; Joel Hopkins’s Hempstead (2017), with Diane Keaton, James Norton, Lesley Manville, Jason Watkins, Hugh Skinner, and Simon Callow; Paddington 2 (2018), with Wishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, and Grant; Joel & Ethan Coen‘s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), with James Franco, Zoe Kazan, Liam Neeson, Tim Blake Nelson, Tom Waits, Tyne Daly, Bill Heck, Grainger Hines, Harry Melling, Jonjo O’Neill, Chelcie Ross, and Saul Rubinek; Frankie (2019), with Isabelle Huppert, Kinnear, Marisa Tomei, and Renier.

He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), with Farrell, Kerry Condon, and Barry Keoghan. Other films in the 2020s include The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), with Washington, Frances McDormand, Bertie Carvel, Alex Hassell, Corey Hawkins, Harry Melling, and Kathryn Hunter; and Joker: Folie à Deux (2024), with Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey, and Leigh Gill.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

Dear Sarah (1989) – directed by Frank Cvitanovich – TV movie
Hard Shoulder (1990) – directed by Mark Kilroy – TV movie
The Field (1990) – directed by Jim Sheridan
The Treaty (1991) – directed by Jonathan Lewis – TV movie
Saint Oscar (1991) – directed by Guy Slater – TV movie
Far and Away (1992) – directed by Ron Howard
Conneely’s Choice (1992) – directed by Barra de Bhaldraithe – short
Into the West – directed by Mike Newell
The Bargain Shop (1992) – directed by Johnny Gogan
M.A.N.: Matrix Adjusted Normal (1992) – directed by Connor O’Mahoney – short
Braveheart (1995) – directed by Mel Gibson
The Life of Reilly (1995) – directed by Alan Archbold – short
Kidnapped (1995) – directed by Ivan Passer – TV movie
Michael Collins (1996) – directed by Neil Jordan
Trojan Eddie (1996) – directed by Gillies MacKinnon
Spaghetti Slow (1996) – directed by Valerio Jalongo – aka Mesaggi quasi segreti – Italy/Ireland
Angela Mooney (1996) – directed by Tommy McArdle – aka Angela Mooney Dies Again
Turbulence (1997) – directed by Robert Butler
The Butcher Boy (1997) – directed by Neil Jordan
The Break (1997) – directed by Robert Dornhelm
I Went Down (1997) – directed by Paddy Breathnach
Before I Sleep (1997) – directed by Paul Mercier – short
The General (1998) – directed by John Boorman
This Is My Father (1998) – directed by Paul Quinn
The Tale of Sweety Barrett (1998) – directed by Stephen Bradley
Making the Cut (1998) – directed by Martyn Friend – TV movie
Lake Placid (1999) – directed by Steve Miner
My Life So Far (1999) – directed by Hugh Hudson
Mission: Impossible II (2000) – directed by John Woo
Harrison’s Flowers (2000) – directed by Élie Chouraqui
Saltwater (2000) – directed by Connor McPherson
Wild About Harry (2000) – directed by Declan Lowney
The Tailor of Panama (2001) – directed by John Boorman
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) – directed by Steven Spielberg
The Cake (2001) – directed by Jennifer Keegan – short
28 Days Later (2002) – directed by Danny Boyle
Gangs of New York (2002)* – directed by Martin Scorsese
Dark Blue (2002) – directed by Ron Shelton
Cold Mountain (2003) – directed by Anthony Minghella
Wild Stories: The Devoted Friend (2003) – directed by Maurice Joyce – TV short
In My Country (2004) – directed by John Boorman
Troy (2004)* – directed by Wolfgang Petersen
The Village (2004)* – directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Six Shooter (2004) – directed by Martin McDonagh – short
Kingdom of Heaven (2005) – directed by Ridley Scott
Breakfast on Pluto (2005) – directed by Neil Jordan
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)* – directed by Mike Newell
Studs (2006) – directed by Paul Mercier
The Tiger’s Tail (2006) – directed by John Boorman
Black Irish (2007) – directed by Brad Gann
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)* – directed by David Yates
Beowulf (2007) – directed by Robert Zemeckis
In Bruges (2008) – directed by Martin McDonagh
The Secret of Kells (2008) – directed by Tomm Moore & Nora Twomey
Into the Storm (2009) – directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan
Perrier’s Bounty (2009) – directed by Ian Fitzgibbon
Green Zone (2010) – directed by Paul Greengrass
Noreen (2010) – directed by Domhnall Gleeson – short
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)* – directed by David Yates
The Guard (2011) – directed by John Michael McDonagh
Albert Nobbs (2011) – directed by Rodrigo García
The Cup (2011) – directed by Simon Wincer
Safe House (2012) – directed by Daniel Espinosa
The Raven (2012) – directed by James McTeigue
The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)* – directed by Peter Lord & Jeff Newitt – aka The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
So You Want to Be a Pirate! (2012) – directed by Jay Grace – short
The Company You Keep (2012) – directed by Robert Redford
The Smurfs 2 (2013) – directed by Raja Gosnell
The Grand Seduction (2013) – directed by Don McKellar
Calvary (2014) – directed by John Michael McDonagh
Edge of Tomorrow (2014) – directed by Doug Liman
Stonehearst Asylum (2014) – directed by Brad Anderson
Song of the Sea (2014) – directed by Tomm Moore
The Money (2014) – directed by Justin Chadwick – TV movie
Pursuit (2015) – directed by Paul Mercier
In the Heart of the Sea (2015) – directed by Ron Howard
Suffragette (2015) – directed by Sarah Gavron
Alone in Berlin (2016) – directed by Vincent Perez
Trespass Against Us (2016) – directed by Adam Smith
Assassin’s Creed (2016) – directed by Justin Kurzel
Live by Night (2016) – directed by Ben Affleck
Hampstead (2017) – directed by Joel Hopkins
Paddington 2 (2017) – directed by Paul King
Captain Morten and the Spider Queen (2018) – directed by Kasper Jancis, Henry Nicholson, & Riho Unt
Psychic (2018) – also director – short
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) – directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
Frankie (2019) – directed by Ira Sachs
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) – directed by Joel Coen
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) – directed by Martin McDonagh
A Greyhound Of A Girl (2023) – directed by Enzo D’Alò
Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) – directed by Todd Phillips
H Is for Hawk (202-) – directed by Philippa Lowthorp

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