Born May 25, 1976, Cillian Murphy is an Irish film and theatre actor. He began playing music and writing songs at the age of ten. He attended the Presentation Brothers College school, where he got his first taste of performing. His English teacher, poet and novelist William Wall, encouraged him to act, but he preferred a career as a rock musician. After forming the band The Sons of Mr. Greengenes with his brother, he then decided to take up law at University College Cork (UCC). He found it wrong for his personality, and decided acting as one of his major interests. He landed his first major role in the UCC Drama Society’s production of Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme.
Cillian Murphy made his first acting debut on stage in September 1996. He played a part in Enda Walsh’s Disco Pigs, and toured throughout Europe, Canada and Australia. He then starred in films like Quando and At Death’s Door, before being cast in independent films like 2001’s On the Edge. Murphy was also in the BBC television miniseries adaptation of The Way We Live Now. He also appeared in plays like Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and Chekhov’s The Seagull. He then reprised his role in the indie film version of Disco Pigs in 2001. He was then spotted by director Danny Boyle, who cast him as the lead in 2002’s 28 Days Later. It became a major success worldwide, and Murphy garnered nominations for Best Newcomer at the 2003 Empire Awards as well as Breakthrough Male Performance at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards.
In 2003, Cillian Murphy starred with Colin Farrell in Intermission, and was in other Hollywood films like Cold Mountain and Girl with a Pearl Earring. He then toured Ireland when he played the title role in the Druid Theatre Company production of The Playboy of the Western World. In 2005, Murphy played two high-profile villain roles. He was cast as Dr. Jonathan Crane in Batman Begins, and played Jackson Rippner in the thriller Red Eye. He received numerous award nominations for his performances. He was also a transgendered orphan in the drama comedy Breakfast on Pluto, where he was well-received. He won the Irish Film and Television Academy Best Actor Award for his performance. He has also appeared in 2006’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley and 2007’s Sunshine.