Brendan Gleeson

Of Irish origin and with 60 years behind him, this actor’s film career is as varied as it is extensive, and taking into account how late he started in the world of cinema, it is quite an achievement. It was not until he was 34 years old, when he participated in El Prado (1990), that he had his first experience in the audiovisual field. Before that he was a high school teacher in Dublin.

A few years later he got the role of William Wallace’s faithful and rude companion in the unforgettable Braveheart (1995) . He also appeared a year in the biopic Michael Collins on the life of the historic Irish patriot and revolutionary leader. The later years of his career are characterized by predominantly supporting roles in very basic films, such as Disorganized Crime , Turbulence (1997) or Jaws (1999). It was in 1998 with the film  The General where Gleeson shone with a great leading role, playing a self-centered, selfish and devoid of values.

Brendan Gleeson can “presume” having participated in what is, so far, Ethan Hunt’s worst adventure. The actor had a supporting role in Mission Impossible II (2008), a film remembered for its poor reception, both from critics and from fans of the saga. After this, he continued to play very secondary roles, and only highlighted his intervention in films such as Gangs of New York (2002) by Martin Scorsese , and Cold Mountain (2003), where he played the irresponsible and drunk father of Renée Zellweger . . The misunderstood M. Night Shyamalan also offers him the chance to work on one of his best works as a director, The Forest .(2004) .

His career as a luxury supporting actor was consolidated, thus allowing him to participate in major productions, such as Troy (2004) or one of Ridley Scott ‘s worst works ,  The Kingdom of Heaven (2005). Younger audiences will remember him for his role as the flamboyant and lame professor Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody in several films from the famous wizard Harry Potter saga. In 2008 he accompanied Colin Farrell in  Hidden in Witches , nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay. The film deals with the story of two assassins who, by order of their boss, must temporarily leave London and hide in the city of Bruges, Belgium. In recent years he has been seen in the failed Green Zone(2010), one of many collaborations between actor Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass , and Albert Nobbs (2011), which saw veteran actress Glenn Close shine in her lead role.

The actor’s great year is undoubtedly 2011, when first-time director John Michael McDonagh entrusted him with the leading role in the interesting The Irishman , a film that received good reviews and where the actor managed to get into the skin with great ease. of a misogynistic policeman without mincing words. The same director, satisfied with the acting work in his first film, once again turned to Gleeson to offer him the extremely complicated leading role in his new film, Calvary .(2014). The actor completely changes register and this time he plays a priest who suffers his own ordeal in a small and complicated Irish town. The film, almost perfect as a whole, showed a Brendan Gleeson who gave the viewer the best performance of him so far. After this, let’s hope that Hollywood wakes up and realizes the great potential of this actor and starts offering him more interesting roles.

He is currently planning the premieres of two of the most anticipated films for this year 2015: Ron Howard ‘s latest work , In the Heart of the Sea and Suffragettes , where the actresses Meryl Streep and Carey Mulligan get into the role of the first English women who fought for equal rights at the dawn of World War I.