His imposing stature might have confined him to tough-guy roles. Yet Brendan Gleeson brings them an uneasy gentleness, dry humour and a vulnerability capable of cracking even the most intimidating characters. Whether as a Scottish soldier in Braveheart, a Dublin gangster in The General, a wizarding teacher in Harry Potter or an obstinate musician in The Banshees of Inisherin, the Irish actor has moved between genres without ever losing his identity.
His career did not begin at a London drama school or on Hollywood sets in his youth. Brendan Gleeson was first an English and Irish teacher in Dublin. He was already over 35 when he left teaching to become a full-time actor, giving his career the feel of a second life begun halfway through.
Brendan Gleeson was born on 29 March 1955 in Dublin, not in 1956 as some biographies state. The son of Pat and Frank Gleeson, he grew up in the Irish capital and developed an early taste for reading, classical literature and the great Irish playwrights.
He attended St Joseph’s CBS in Fairview, where he took part in the school’s theatrical activities. He then studied English and Irish at University College Dublin, graduating from the university.
Brendan Gleeson became a secondary-school teacher, teaching English and Irish in particular at Belcamp College in north Dublin. He worked in the profession for around ten years while also performing in theatre productions.
Contrary to widely repeated claims, he did not undertake a three-year course at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He learned his craft primarily on Irish stages, working with Dublin theatre companies and writers.
During the 1980s, Brendan Gleeson joined the Passion Machine Theatre Company, among others. He appeared in several of the company’s productions, including Wasters, Brownbread and Home.
He did not simply perform other people’s texts. He wrote and directed plays including The Birdtable and Breaking Up, before taking part in Babies and Bathwater. The experience enabled him to hone a style of acting rooted in listening, rhythm and precision of language.
In 1991, aged 36, he left teaching for good to devote himself to stage and screen. It was a late choice by the standards of an acting career, but one that soon bore fruit.
After several appearances in film and television, Brendan Gleeson landed one of his first major roles in The Treaty. Broadcast by RTÉ in 1991, this historical television film revisits the negotiations surrounding the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty.
Gleeson plays Michael Collins, the Irish revolutionary and negotiator whose decisions deeply divided the independence movement. The performance earned him a Jacob’s Award and brought him to the attention of Irish audiences.
He then appeared in Ron Howard’s Far and Away and Into the West, both released in 1992. The latter, rooted in Ireland’s legends and Traveller communities, allowed him to take part in one of the most significant Irish family films of the 1990s.
In 1995, Brendan Gleeson joined Mel Gibson in Braveheart. He played Hamish Campbell, William Wallace’s childhood friend and fellow fighter. His character, imposing and loyal, brings a rough warmth to this sweeping medieval epic.
His name is indeed “Hamish”, not “Amish”. This supporting role helped introduce Gleeson to international audiences and opened the door to larger productions.
He appeared in Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins as Liam Tobin, followed by Turbulence, Mission: Impossible 2, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Gangs of New York.
In 1998, Brendan Gleeson took the lead role in John Boorman’s The General. He played Martin Cahill, the notorious Dublin criminal known as “The General”, whose robberies and personality defied the Irish authorities for years.
Gleeson avoids turning him into a mere folkloric figure. His portrayal reveals a charismatic, manipulative and violent man, capable of drawing those around him into a spiral of which he himself seems a prisoner.
The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, where John Boorman received the Best Director award. Brendan Gleeson won several critics’ awards, including the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor. The General confirmed his ability to carry a film while embodying the contradictions of Irish society.
In the early 2000s, Brendan Gleeson alternated between international productions and more intimate films. In Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, he played Frank, a father trying to protect his daughter in an England devastated by an epidemic.
Martin Scorsese then cast him as Walter “Monk” McGinn in Gangs of New York. He also appeared in Cold Mountain, where his violin skills were put to use, before playing King Menelaus in Troy in 2004.
In Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven, he brought his power to the role of the knight Raynald of Châtillon. He thus moves with great ease from historical drama to war film, from thriller to black comedy.
Brendan Gleeson joined the world of Harry Potter in 2005 with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He played Alastor Moody, known as “Mad-Eye”, a former Auror recognisable by his many scars and magical eye, which can see through walls.
The character initially appears as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. However, the plot reveals that the man at Hogwarts for most of the film is actually Barty Crouch Jr, played by David Tennant, who has assumed Moody’s appearance.
Gleeson reprised the role of the real Alastor Moody in Order of the Phoenix in 2007 and Deathly Hallows – Part 1 in 2010. His son Domhnall also joined the saga as Bill Weasley.
In 2008, Brendan Gleeson reunited with Colin Farrell in In Bruges, Martin McDonagh’s first feature film. The two actors play hitmen sent to Belgium after a mission ends in tragedy.
Beneath the sharp dialogue and absurd situations, Gleeson gives Ken a profound melancholy. His character gradually becomes the film’s moral conscience, caught between his affection for Ray and the orders of the gangster played by Ralph Fiennes.
In 2011, he took the leading role in The Guard, directed by John Michael McDonagh. He played Gerry Boyle, an irreverent, cultured and deliberately provocative Garda from Connemara, forced to work with an FBI agent played by Don Cheadle.
The film became one of the great successes of independent Irish cinema. Brendan Gleeson received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy.
In 2014, Brendan Gleeson reunited with John Michael McDonagh in Calvary. He played Father James, an honest priest threatened with death by a man who was sexually abused during his childhood.
The film directly addresses abuse within the Irish Catholic Church, along with the anger, guilt and collective silence that surrounded it for so long. Gleeson’s priest is not personally accused: he becomes the symbolic target of an institution whose weight he bears despite himself.
His restrained yet devastating performance earned him, among other honours, the British Independent Film Award for Best Actor. It ranks among the most important of his career.
Images from the film The Banshees of Inisherin
In 2022, Brendan Gleeson reunited with Martin McDonagh and Colin Farrell for The Banshees of Inisherin. On a fictional Irish island in 1923, Colm Doherty suddenly tells his friend Pádraic that he no longer wishes to speak to him.
This almost trivial premise becomes a tragedy about the passing of time, loneliness, creation and the impossibility of making a clean break with those one has loved. Colm wants to devote his remaining years to music and leave behind a work that someone will remember.
Brendan Gleeson played the violin himself in the film, giving the character particular credibility. His performance earned him nominations for the Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor.
The Banshees of Inisherin received nine nominations at the 2023 Academy Awards, but won no statuettes. Nevertheless, the film was widely recognised at other ceremonies, notably the Golden Globes and BAFTAs.
Television has also provided Brendan Gleeson with several of his most memorable characters. In 2009, he played Winston Churchill in the television film Into the Storm, about the British Prime Minister’s wartime years and private life. His performance earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.
Between 2017 and 2019, he took the lead role in Mr. Mercedes, adapted from Stephen King’s novels. He played Bill Hodges, a retired detective obsessed with an unsolved case.
In 2020, he played Donald Trump in the miniseries The Comey Rule, opposite Jeff Daniels as former FBI Director James Comey. Far from a simple impersonation, his performance sought to convey the American president’s gestures, voice and intimidating power. It earned him a Golden Globe nomination.
In 2022, he shared the screen with Patricia Clarkson in the second season of State of the Union. The series follows a couple before their marriage counselling sessions, through very short, dialogue-driven episodes.
In 2024, Brendan Gleeson played Jackie Sullivan, the guard at Arkham Asylum, in Joker: Folie à Deux. He starred alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in this musical sequel directed by Todd Phillips.
In 2025, he returned to the theatre in Conor McPherson’s The Weir. The play was first staged at Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre before transferring to London’s Harold Pinter Theatre. The production marked his return to a Dublin stage as well as his West End debut.
His performance as Jack, a garage owner taking part in an evening of storytelling in a rural pub, earned him Best Actor at the 2026 Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards.
That same year, Brendan Gleeson appeared in the series Spider-Noir, a live-action adaptation of the Marvel universe starring Nicolas Cage. Set in 1930s New York, the series is available on Prime Video in two versions: colour or black and white.
In 2025, he also lent his voice to the nature documentary Kerry: Tides of Time, broadcast by RTÉ. The series explores the geological, human and ecological history of County Kerry’s landscapes.
Brendan Gleeson has played the violin and mandolin for many years. Traditional Irish music is part of his personal life, but also of several of his characters.
He played the violin himself in Michael Collins, Cold Mountain, The Grand Seduction and The Banshees of Inisherin. He also sings the traditional ballad The Unfortunate Rake in the Coen brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
He took part in a live album recorded by the Irish group Altan and performed Rocky Road to Dublin on an album by the group Dervish in 2019.
The Walworth Farce is not a Brendan Gleeson album. It is a play by Enda Walsh in which he performed on stage in 2015 alongside his sons Domhnall and Brian.
Brendan Gleeson has been married to Mary Weldon since 1982. The couple have four sons: Domhnall, Fergus, Brian and Rory.
Domhnall Gleeson has built a major international career. He is particularly known for Ex Machina, Brooklyn, About Time, The Revenant and the third Star Wars trilogy. Brian Gleeson is also an actor and has appeared in productions including Love/Hate, Peaky Blinders and Bad Sisters.
Brendan and Domhnall have appeared together in several films, including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Calvary and the short film Psychic. Brendan, Domhnall and Brian also shared the stage in The Walworth Farce.
Date of birth: 29 March 1955.
Place of birth: Dublin, Ireland.
Nationality: Irish.
Former profession: English and Irish teacher.
Instruments played: violin and mandolin.
Best-known roles: Alastor Moody in Harry Potter, Ken in In Bruges, Martin Cahill in The General and Colm Doherty in The Banshees of Inisherin.
Main awards: one Primetime Emmy Award, two British Independent Film Awards and several Irish Film and Television Awards.
Academy Award nomination: Best Supporting Actor for The Banshees of Inisherin in 2023.
