From Home To Hollywood – Our Big Screen Heroes And Their Big Breaks!
Mary Queen of Scots – available to rent now on Virgin Media from €4.99 – is one of the year’s biggest hits, and sees Saoirse Ronan’s name in lights once again, putting in another star turn to confirm her place amongst the Hollywood A-List. Of course, she’s far from the only Irish export to make waves across the pond, and it’s easy to forget how the heroes flying the flag at the top table took their acting baby steps!
The latest issue of PLAY Magazine saw us take a look at the homegrown talents who’ve taken the route all the way to Tinseltown – and their humble beginnings; read on to find out where it all began…
COLIN FARRELL
The Castleknock charmer began his rise to fame with an appearance on our TV screens in Ballykissangel in 1998. And what a difference eight years make, because his efforts as part of an all-Irish double act alongisde Brendan Gleeson in In Bruges were enough to bag him a Golden Globe for Best Actor; now that’s progress!
See his award-winning efforts in In Bruges, available to rent now on Virgin Movies from €2.99
CHRIS O’DOWD
You might best remember him from Bridesmaids, but the Roscommon man was already a legend on the television screen for his role in cult series the The IT Crowd. Before that again, he made his Irish TV career in RTE’s The Clinic, where he was nominated for an IFTA for best supporting actor – just what the doctor ordered!
Rewatch his hilarious performance in Bridesmaids, available to rent now on Virgin Movies from €2.99
SAOIRSE RONAN
Here’s one that’ll definitely take you by surprise. She’s known all over the globe as Carlow’s biggest export, but the multi-Oscar nominated made her acting debut in 2003 as part of… The Clinic! What a little hub of talent that show was – spotting great things ahead of a then nine-year-old! Of course, she graduated to the ranks of Hollywood star while still in her teens, so it’s fair to say she was already something special… See a young Saoirse star in Atonement, available to rent from May 28 on Virgin Movies from €2.99
BARRY KEOGHAN
He’s been acclaimed as one of the finest young talents in the business – coming a long way since being kicked out of school plays for messing! It’s probably only right that the proud Dubliner made one of his first screen appearances on Fair City some eight years ago, and it’s also fitting that he continues to pop up in some of Ireland’s best flicks today!
Catch another star turn from the Dub in Black 47, available to rent now on Virgin Movies from €2.99
Keep tabs on our heroes – at home and abroad! - with a red-hot bundle including superfast broadband, TV and home phone from Virgin Media; click here to find out more!
