Born name

Cillian Murphy (pronounced Kill-Ian)

nickname

Cilly

Sun sign

Twins

Place of birth

Douglas, County Cork, Ireland

Residence

• Monkstown, Süddublin, Irland
• Kilburn, North West London, UK

nationality

training

Cillian studied at an all-boys Catholic private school , Presentation Brothers College in Cork, Ireland.

In 1996, Murphy enrolled at University College Cork (UCC) to study law, but later dropped out.

occupation

Actor, former musician

family

• Father – Brendan Murphy (Officer, Irish Department of Education)
• Mother – French teacher
• Siblings – Sile (Younger Sister), Orla (Younger Sister), Paidi (Younger Brother)

Manager

Cillian gets repped by these agencies –

• The Lisa Richards Agency, Dublin, Ireland
• Lou Coulson Associates, Großbritannien
• ICM Partners, USA (Formerly signed with CAA and briefly with UTA)

Genre

Jazz Rock

instruments

guitar, vocals

labels

Acid Jazz Records (Withdrawn from signing 5-album record deal and engaged in theater instead)

To build

Slim

Height

5 feet 9 inches or 175 cm

weight

70 kg or 154 lbs

girlfriend/spouse

Cillian Murphy dated –

1. Yvonne McGuinness (1996–Present) – Cillian’s wife Yvonne, who is four years his senior, is a visual artist by trade. He met her in 1996 when she joined the entire team of Corcadorca Theater Company during the world tour of her own production, Disco Pigs . He was with Yvonne for many years and married her in August 2004. They settled in north west London but only about a year before Cillian’s 40th ^birthday he moved to Ireland permanently so his children could live closer to their grandparents and the get to know Irish culture better. The couple have two sons together: Malachy (born December 2005) and Carrick aka Aran(* July 2007).

race/ethnicity

White

He is of Irish descent.

hair colour

dark brown

eye color

Blau

sexual orientation

Just

distinguishing features

• Piercing Blue Eyes
• Chiseled jaw line
• Unmistakably smooth facial features

measurements

His body specifications can be –

• Chest – 96.5 cm or 38 inches
• Arms/biceps – 14 inches or 35.5 cm
• Waist – 79 cm or 31 inches

shoe size

It is speculated that he wears a size 10 (US) or 9 (UK) or 43 (EU) shoe.

brand promotion

Cillian narrated an ad for Dublin-based brewery, Guinness in 2014.

Gave another ad a vote for Guinness Blonde American Lager in 2015.

Religion

Murphy was raised Roman Catholic.

Initially agnostic, became a self-proclaimed atheist after exploring his role for Sunshine (2007).

Known for

• play dr Jonathan Crane / The Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan directed Batman Movie Trilogy (2005, 2008, 2012).
• Also cast in multiple roles with Leonardo Dicaprio, Early (2010).
• Earned the “picturesque villain” rating from a New York Times review for playing Jackson Rippner in Red Eyes (2005).
• Based on the starring role of Thomas Shelby on BBC Two’s crime series Peaky Blinders .

As a singer

• Cillian composed many songs that he performed as a member of various rock bands in his late teens and early twenties, but he never officially recorded an album.
• He still writes songs, plays music with his friends, and maintains his bonds with musicians, but doesn’t want to commercialize his passion for rock music for fear of losing credibility as an actor.
• He provided the voice of Paul Hartnoll for The Clock in 2015 and was featured in the video.
• He also narrated a word verse in the middle of a song called Steps (2016) by The Frank and Walters.

first movie

He was extra named Knock The Barman with four lines in the Irish film The Story of Sweety Barrett (1998). This was his first feature film.

However, his first film was the short film Quando in 1997.

First TV show

Played the character of Paul Montague in the four-part TV series, broadcast on the BBC network, The Way We Live Now (2001).

Personal trainer

Of course, Cillian has a very slim physique because he never liked doing sports in his youth. He is an avid outdoor runner and that is the most he enjoys doing when it comes to sport. Also, he was a vegetarian for 15 years of his adult life because he was paranoid about having mad cow disease.

Starring in Peaky Blinders , which is a strong and complex character, excited Cillian enough to change his long-term lifestyle habits. He went to a gym and started strength training mostly on machines under the guidance of a trainer to build muscle. After his trainer suggested he would benefit from adding meat to his daily diet, Cillian eventually returned to eating animal meat in 2013. He broke the abstinence from eating meat by eating a venison steak, for which his body was immediately grateful.

He has expressed an interest in aging gracefully. Since turning 40, Cillian has become aware of harmful habits. It ensures an early bedtime most days. Only smokes herbal cigarettes when an on-screen role needs to be smoked, and although he starved himself to slim his physique even further for a role in In The Heart of the Sea (2015), he vowed not to do it again.

Cillian Murphy favorite things

• Irish City – Galway
• Foreign city – New York, Tokyo
• Space for Exclusive Family Time – Blasket Islands, West Kerry, Ireland
• Game – table tennis or table tennis
• Guilty fun – water slide
• Pampering snack – salted almonds
• Animal – Dogs (Labrador breed)
• Clothing color – blue
• Hobbies – reading, walking, going to music gigs
• Man Crush – Sam Neill
• Food – mackerel salad
• Restaurants – Vijay on Willesden Lane, London and Ard Bia in Ireland, Cafe Paradiso in Cork
• Favorite band – radio head
• Childhood song from a band – The final countdown from Europe
• Soundtrack – Peaky Blinders theme melody Red Right Hand by Nick Cave
• Musical influences – The Beatles, Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, Tom Waits
• Movie –
  • Scarecrow (1973)
  • Mean Streets (1973)
  • Hatred (1996)
  • The Butcher Boy (1997)
  • The Night of the Hunter (1955)
  • Who (1969), Arizona Dream (1992)
  • Harold and Maude (1971)
  • Kill List (2011)
  • The Shining (1980)
  • Be There (1979)

Cillian Murphy Facts

1. At the age of 10 he started composing songs. His first goal was to become a rock star.
2. While in college, he formed a band with his younger brother Paidi called The Sons of Mr. Greengenes . The name was inspired by Frank Zappa.
3. Cillian pulled out of a recording contract offered by Acid Jazz Records because his younger brother was only 16 at the time and his parents wouldn’t give permission to work professionally. This motivated Cillian to try her hand in professional theater.
4. He has a varied and eclectic taste in music. He loves exploring the depth and craft of established and emerging musicians by observing the emotional impact of their work.
5. A Clockwork Orange , a play set at a famous nightclub called Sir Henry’s in his hometown, the first work of art had a major impact on his sensibilities, which is why he pursued Pat Kiernan for his first role.
6. Academically, he did well in school as most of his relatives were teachers or educators.
7. While at college, Cillian took on a role in the play Disco Pigs , and did so well (abroad for 18 months) that he got an agent’s replacement and started his acting career.
8. During the filming of the first 3 seasons of Peaky Blinders alone, according to the props department, he smoked more than 3,000 herbal cigarettes.
9. The role of Thomas Shelby in Peaky Blinders is Cillian’s strongest role to date. He admits that he is neither physically strong nor aggressive enough to get into a physical fight in real life.
10. In Christopher Nolan, he directed action films, playing only intellectual roles and not having any action sequences because he is more excited about a good script with a great story than how it is projected on screen.
11. He dislikes karaoke as a medium to enjoy music.
12. He also played a transgender in Breakfast on Pluto (2005), alongside Liam Neeson.
13. He doesn’t like biographies based on musicians, since he’s the only way to get a glimpse of their personalities by looking at the records of famous musicians, rather than watching a movie about their lives.
14. He is world famous for his striking blue eyes.
15. Cillian didn’t like the cropped haircut he had to bring to play every year Thomas Shelby. He prefers to keep his locks long.
16. One of his hidden talents is the ability to twist his fingers in alarming ways. He can quickly roll a coin through his fingers and often uses this trick to amuse his sons.
17. He auditioned for Christian Bale’s role in Batman Begins (2005). Christopher Nolan, while not as convincing as Bruce Wayne, was so impressed with his acting skills that he re-cast him in many of his directing ventures.
18. With fame and red carpet awkward appearances, Cillian’s priority is to excel at his craft. One of the reasons he’s holding back is to keep his real person from eclipsing the characters he plays on screen.
19. All of his close friends are non-actors, but among actors he is close to Colin Farrell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Liam Neeson.
20. He does not hire a stylist or publicist and in particular avoids being present on the Internet via a website, fan page or social media account. Therefore, he is not on social media.