Gabriel Byrne

Gabriel James Byrne (born May 12, 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, cultural ambassador, audiobook narrator and author. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London’s Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne’s screen debut came in the Irish drama serial The Riordans and the spin-off show Bracken. His first major film role was in John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981), with Nigel Terry, Nicol Williamson, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi, Helen Mirren, Liam Neeson, Corin Redgrave, and Patrick Stewart.

Other films in the 1980s include Costa-Gavras’s Hannah K. (1983), with Jill Clayburgh; Michael Mann’s The Keep (1983), with Scott Glenn, Jürgen Prochnow, Alberta Watson, and Ian McKellen; Reflections (1984), with Donal McCann and Fionnula Flanagan; Defence of the Realm (1985), with Greta Scacchi, Denholm Elliott, Ian Bannen, Bill Paterson, Fulton Mackay, and Robbie Coltrane; Ken Russell’s Gothic (1986), with Julian Sands, Natasha Richardson, and Timothy Spall; and Franklin J. Schaffner’a Lionheart (1987), with Eric Stoltz, Nicola Cowper, Dexter Fletcher, Deborah Moore, and Nicolas Clay.

More films in the late 1980s include Frank Perry’s Hello Again (1987), with Shelley Long, Judith Ivey, Corbin Bernsen, Sela Ward, Austin Pendleton, Carrie Nye, Robert Lewis, Madeleine Potter, Thor Fields, and Illeana Douglas; Peter Del Monte’s Julia and Julia (1987), with Kathleen Turner, Sting, and Gabriele Ferzetti; Siesta (1987), with Ellen Barkin (who became his first wife), Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, Isabella Rossellini, Grace Jones, Sands and Alexei Sayle; The Courier (1988), with Padraig O’Loinsigh, Cait O’Riordan, Ian Bannen, Patrick Bergin, and Andrew Connolly; A Soldier’s Tale (1989), with Marianne Basler; and Dark Obsession (1989), with Amanda Donohoe, Michael Hordern, and Judy Parfitt.

Films in the 1990s include Joel & Ethan Coen’s Miller’s Crossing (1990), with Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Jon Polito, J.E. Freeman, Steve Buscemi, and Albert Finney; Mike Newell’s Into the West (1992), with Barkin, Rúaidhrí Conroy, and Ciarán Fitzgerald; Ralph Bakshi’s Cool World (1992), with Kim Basinger and Brad Pitt; John Badham’s Point of No Return (1993), with Bridget Fonda, Dermot Mulroney, Anne Bancroft, and Harvey Keitel; Stephen Gyllenhaal’s A Dangerous Woman (1993), with Debra Winger, Barbara Hershey, David Strathairn, Chloe Webb, John Terry, and Laurie Metcalf; A Simple Twist of Fate (1994), with Steve Martin, Catherine O’Hara, and Laura Linney; Trial by Jury (1994), with Joanne Whalley, Armand Assante and William Hurt; and Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women (1994), with Winona Ryder, Trini Alvarado, Samantha Mathis, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, Christian Bale, Stoltz, Mary Wickes, and Susan Sarandon.

Films in the mid to late 1990s include The Usual Suspects (1995), with Stephen Baldwin, Benicio del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, and Kevin Spacey; Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man (1995), with Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, Mili Avital, and Robert Mitchum; Frankie Starlight (1995), with Anne Parillaud and Matt Dillon; Mad Dog Time (1996), with Barkin, Richard Dreyfuss, Jeff Goldblum, Diane Lane, Gregory Hines, Kyle MacLachlan, Michael J. Pollard. Richard Pryor, Rob Reiner, Burt Reynolds, and Henry Silva; The Last of the High Kings (1996), with Jared Leto, O’Hara, Christina Ricci, Colm Meaney, Stephen Rea, and Emily Mortimer; and Somebody Is Waiting (1996), with Nastassja Kinski and Shirley Knight.

Films in the late 1990s include Billie August’s Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1997), with Julia Ormond, Richard Harris, Robert Loggia, and Vanessa Redgrave; Wim Wenders’s The End of Violence (1997), with Bill Pullman, Andie MacDowell, Traci Lind, Rosalind Chao, and Loren Dean; Mary McGuckian’s This Is the Sea (1997), with Samantha Morton; Polish Wedding (1998), with Lena Olin and Danes; The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, and Gérard Depardieu; The Brylcreem Boys (1998), with Billy Campbell, Angus Macfadyen, and Jean Butler; voicing in Quest for Camelot (1998), with Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman, Eric Idle, Don Rickles, Jaleel White, Jane Seymour, Pierce Brosnan, and John Gielgud; Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State (1998), with Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet, Dan Butler, Dean, Jake Busey, Barry Pepper, Regina King, and Jason Lee; Stigmata (1999), with Patricia Arquette, Jonathan Pryce, Nia Long, and Rade Šerbedžija; and Peter Hyam’s End of Days (1999), with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robin Tunney, Pollak, Rod Steiger, CCH Pounder, and Udo Kier.

Films in the 2000s include Canone inverso – Making Love (2000), with Hans Matheson, Mélanie Thierry, and Peter Vaughan; David Cronenberg’s Spider (2002), with Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, John Neville, and Lynn Redgrave; Emmett’s Mark (2002), with Scott Wolf, Khandi Alexander, Talia Balsam, Sarah Clarke, John Doman, and Tim Roth; Ghost Ship (2002), with Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington, Isaiah Washington, Karl Urban, and Emily Browning; Shade (2003), with Stuart Townsend, Thandiwe Newton, Jamie Foxx, Melanie Griffith, and Sylvester Stallone; Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair (2004), with Reese Witherspoon, Eileen Atkins, Jim Broadbent, Romola Garai, Bob Hoskins, Rhys Ifans, James Purefoy, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers; and P.S. (2004), with Laura Linney, Topher Grace, Harden, Paul Rudd, and Lois Smith.

Films in the mid to late 2000s include Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), with Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, John Leguizamo, Maria Bello, Ja Rule, Drea de Matteo, Brian Dennehy, and Aisha Hinds; The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2005), with F. Murray Abraham, Kathy Bates, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert De Niro, Keitel, and Pilar López de Ayala; Richard E. Grant’s Wah-Wah (2006), with Nicholas Hoult, Emily Watson, Richardson and Julie Walters; Played (2006), with Val Kilmer, Vinnie Jones, Bergin, Whalley, Bruno Kirby, Anthony LaPaglia, Roy Dotrice, Patsy Kensit, Andy Nyman, and Mick Rossi; and Emotional Arithmetic (2008), with Roy Dupuis, Christopher Plummer, Sarandon, and Max von Sydow.

Films in the 2010s include Leningrad (2010), with Mira Sorvino and Armin Mueller-Stahl; narrating Perrier’s Bounty (2010), with Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Broadbent, and Jodie Whittaker; I, Anna (2012), with Charlotte Rampling, Eddie Marsan, Jodhi May, Ralph Brown, Honor Blackman, and Hayley Atwell; All Things to All MenRufus Sewell, Toby Stephens, and Sands; Just a Sigh (2014), with Emmanuelle Devos; The 33 (2015), with Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche, James Brolin, Lou Diamond Phillips, Mario Casas, Adriana Barraza, Kate del Castillo, Cote de Pablo, Bob Gunton, and Oscar Nunez; Louder Than Bombs (2015), with Jesse Eisenberg, Isabelle Huppert, Strathairn, and Amy Ryan; and Isabel Coixet’s Endless Night (2015), with Binoche and Rinko Kikuchi.

Films in the late 2010s include No Pay, Nudity (2016), with Frances Conroy, Donna Murphy, and Nathan Lane; Carrie Pilby (2017), with Bel Powley, Lane, Jason Ritter, William Moseley, Vanessa Bayer, and Colin O’Donoghue; Mad to Be Normal (2017), with David Tennant, Elisabeth Moss, Michael Gambon, David Bamber, Olivia Poulet and Trevor White; In the Cloud (2018), with Justin Chatwin, Adetomiwa Edun, Nora Arnezeder, Laura Fraser, Charlie Carver, and Max Carver; An L.A. Minute (2018), with Kiersey Clemons, Bob Balaban, and Ned Bellamy; and Hereditary (2018), with Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, and Ann Dowd.

Films in the 2020s include Lost Girls (2020), with Amy Ryan, Thomasin McKenzie, Lola Kirke, Oona Laurence, Dean Winters, Miriam Shor, Reed Birney, and Kevin Corrigan; Death of a Ladies’ Man (2021), with Jessica Paré, Brian Gleeson, Antoine Olivier Pilon, Karelle Tremblay, Suzanne Clément, Joel Bissonnette, Pascale Bussières, and Tyrone Benskin; Murder at Yellowstone City (2022), with Thomas Jane, Isaiah Mustafa, Anna Camp, Nat Wolff, and Richard Dreyfuss; Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend (2022), with Frank Grillo and Mira Dorvino.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

On a Paving Stone Mounted (1978) – directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan
Wings of Ash: A Dramatization of the Life of Antonin Artaud (1978) – directed by Marcus Reichert – short
The Outsider (1979) – directed by Tony Luraschi
Excalibur (1981) – directed by John Boorman
The Search for Alexander the Great (1981) – directed by Peter Sykes – miniseries
Joyce in June (1982) – directed by Donald McWhinnie – TV movie
The Rocking Horse Winner (1983) – directed by Robert Bierman – short
Hannah K. (1983) – directed by Costa-Gavras
The Keep (1983) – directed by Michael Mann
The Treatment (1984) – directed by Christopher Menaul – TV movie
Reflections (1984) – directed by Kevin Billington
Christopher Columbus (1985) – directed by Alberto Lattuada – miniseries
Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985) – directed by William A. Graham
Defence of the Realm (1986) – directed by David Drury
Gothic (1986) – directed by Ken Russell
Lionheart (1987) – directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Hello Again (1987) – directed by Frank Perry
Siesta (1987) – directed by Mary Lambert
Julia and Julia (1988) – directed by Peter Del Monte
The Courier (1988) – directed by Frank Deasy & Joe Lee
A Soldier’s Tale (1989) – directed by Larry Parr
Miller’s Crossing (1990) – directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
Shipwrecked (1990) – directed by Nils Gaup
Dark Obsession (1991) – directed by Nick Broomfield
Cool World (1992)* – directed by Ralph Bakshi
Into the West (1992) – directed by Mike Newell – also executive producer
Point of No Return (1993) – directed by John Badham
A Dangerous Woman (1993) – directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal
In the Name of the Father (1993) – directed by Jim Sheridan – executive producer only
All Things Bright and Beautiful (1994) – directed by Barry Devlin – TV movie
Prince of Jutland (1994) – directed by Gabriel Axel
A Simple Twist of Fate (1994) – directed by Gillies MacKinnon
Trial by Jury (1994) – directed by Heywood Gould
Little Women (1994)* – directed by Gillian Armstrong
The Usual Suspects (1995) – directed by Bryan Singer
Buffalo Girls (1995) – directed by Rod Hardy – miniseries
Dead Man (1995) – directed by Jim Jarmusch
Frankie Starlight (1995) – directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Divine Rapture (1995) – directed by Thom Eberhardt – short
Mad Dog Time (1996) – directed by Larry Bishop
The Last of the High Kings (1996) – directed by David Keating – also co-writer, producer
Somebody Is Waiting (1996) – directed by Martin Donovan
Draiocht (1996) – directed by Aine O’Connor – TV movie
Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1997) – directed by Bille August
The End of Violence (1997 directed by Wim Wenders
Weapons of Mass Distraction (1997) – directed by Stephen Surjik – TV movie
This Is the Sea (1997) – directed by Mary McGuckian
Polish Wedding (1998) – directed by Theresa Connelly
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)* – directed by Randall Wallace
The Brylcreem Boys (1998) – directed by Terence Ryan – also co-producer
Quest for Camelot (1998)* – directed by Frederik Du Chau
Enemy of the State (1998) – directed by Tony Scott
Stigmata (1999) – directed by Rupert Wainwright
End of Days (1999) – directed by Peter Hyams
Canone inverso – Making Love (2000) – directed by Ricky Tognazzi
When Brendan Met Trudy (2000) – directed by Kieron J. Walsh – cameo
Mad About Mambo (2000) – directed by John Forte – executive producer only
Virginia’s Run (2002) – directed by Peter Markle
Emmett’s Mark (2002) – directed by Keith Snyder
Spider (2002) – directed by David Cronenberg
Ghost Ship (2002) – directed by Steve Beck
Shade (2003) – directed by Damian Nieman
Patrick (2004) – directed by Pamela Mason Wagner – TV movie
Flight from Death (2004) – directed by Patrick Shen – narrator – documentary
Vanity Fair (2004) – directed by Mira Nair
P.S. (2004) – directed by Dylan Kidd
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) – directed by Jean-François Richet
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2005) – directed by Mary McGuckian
Wah-Wah (2006) – directed by Richard E. Grant
Played (2006) – directed by Sean Stanek
Jindabyne (2006) – directed by Ray Lawrence
Emotional Arithmetic (2008) – directed by Paolo Barzman
Still Birth Chicken (2008) – directed by Byron Karabatsos – short
2:22 (2008) – directed by Phillip Guzman – uncredited
Butte, America (2008) – directed by Pamela Roberts – narrator – documentary
Perrier’s Bounty (2010) – directed by Ian Fitzgibbon
Leningrad (2010) – directed by Aleksandr Buravsky
Capital (2012) – directed by Costa-Gavras
I, Anna (2012) – directed by Barnaby Southcombe
Secret State (2012) – directed by Ed Fraiman – miniseries
All Things to All Men (2013) – directed by George Isaac
Just a Sigh (2014) – directed by Jérôme Bonnell
Vampire Academy (2014) – directed by Mark Waters
Quirke (2014) – directed by John Alexander, Diarmuid Lawrence, & Jim O’Hanlon – miniseries
The 33 (2015) – directed by Patricia Riggen
Louder Than Bombs (2015) – directed by Joachim Trier
Endless Night (2015) – directed by Isabel Coixet
No Pay, Nudity (2016) – directed by Lee Wilkof
Carrie Pilby (2017) – directed by Susan Johnson
Mad to Be Normal (2017) – directed by Robert Mullan
Lies We Tell (2017) – directed by Mitu Misra
In the Cloud (2018) – directed by Robert Scott Wildes
An L.A. Minute (2018) – directed by Daniel Adams
Hereditary (2018) – directed by Ari Aster – also executive producer
Maniac (2018) – directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga – miniseries
Lost Girls (2020) – directed by Liz Garbus
Death of a Ladies’ Man (2021) – directed by Matt Bissonnette
Murder at Yellowstone City (2022) – directed by Richard Gray
Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend (2022) – directed by Robert Moresco
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2022) – directed by Peter Baynton & Charlie Mackesy – short
Dance First (202-) – directed by James Marsh

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