Colm Meaney

His round, rosy face is a good sign of the Celtic origins of Colm Meaney, an actor with a vast filmography, whose appearance in many films is brief, although he always brings a charismatic presence. Born in Dublin on May 30, 1953, Meaney is Irish inside and out, -he even declared in his day that he was a sympathizer of Sinn Féin-, but that does not prevent him from enjoying places like Mallorca, the island where he usually resides.

Although he began taking his first steps in the theater, where he coincided in the late 70s with other Irish actors, such as Gabriel Byrne and Stephen Rea , at the Focus Company in Dublin, Colm Meaney made his first appearances in front of the cameras in television series such as Les Roses of Dublin and in 1987 he worked with a supporting role in Dubliners , swan song by the great John Huston . At that time he began his collaboration in the “Star Trek” universe, where over the years he filmed more than 200 episodes playing Miles O’Brien, in series such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: deep space nine. He then combined action movies in the style of The Jungle II. Red Alert  or Dick Tracy , with other, let’s say, small films, where his role was more important, something that would be a constant in his filmography.

In the 90s he began a unique Irish trilogy, the result of the film adaptations of novels by his compatriot Roddy Doyle : The Commitments (1991), Irish Coffee (1993) and The Truck (1996). These are small films with a local flavor, traditional comedies full of charm, in which Meaney felt like a fish in water. Thanks to the second of them, he obtained a Golden Globe nomination. And he continued to swell his filmography with slight presences in successful Hollywood titles, such as The Last of the Mohicans (1992), A Far Away Horizon (1992), The Battle Creek Spa (1994), With Air (1997),Mystery, Alaska (1999) or A Model Citizen (2009), interspersed with smaller, more authentic products, often from his homeland, such as Mike Newell ‘s Escape South (1992); The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995), by Christopher Monger ; The Year Elvis Died (1996), by David Keating ; or Turning Green (2005).

Entering the 21st century, his work stands out in films as interesting as Intermission (2003), a spirited portrait of the rebellious Irish youth, where he worked with a young Colin Farrell ; and The Damned United (2009), which tells the story of Brian Clough, a famous soccer coach played by Michael Sheen . While in the last decade, films of greater commercial importance stand out, such as the historic The Conspiracy (2010), about the assassination of Lincoln; the thriller The Cold Light of Day (2011); or the comedy Robbery in Belfast (2011). That year Meaney also joined the fashion of the series with an important role in Hell on Wheels ., on the construction of a transcontinental railroad in the United States. And in recent years we have seen him in two good movies; Pelé, the birth of a legend (2015) and The trip (2016).

An actor of race, Meaney declares “not to be a method actor, but someone much more superficial.” Perhaps therein lies the key to his naturalness. After divorcing actress Bairbre Dowling, Meaney married Ines Glorian in 2007, and they have two daughters.