Cillian Murphy

Background

Cillian Murphy, a native of Cork City, Ireland, celebrates his birthday today. Brendan Murphy, a member of the Irish Education department, and his French-tutor wife had him in 1976. He is the eldest of four children, including a brother, Páidi, and two sisters, Orla and Sile. Murphy, who grew up in Ballintemple, a Cork suburb, began playing music and writing songs when he was 10 years old. Murphy was raised in a Roman Catholic household and attended the Catholic school Presentation Brothers College, where he got his first experience acting. His English instructor urged him to pursue his acting career, but Murphy was more intrigued by music at the time.

He and his brother Páidi were members of various bands in their late teens and early twenties. He enrolled in law school at the University College Cork. He was mostly preoccupied with his band, and his passion for playing had begun to take shape. As a result, his schooling deteriorated, and he failed his first-year examinations. Upon seeing Corcadorca Theatre Company’s production of “A Clockwork Orange” in Dublin, Murphy’s passion for acting grew enormously.

He was selected as the lead in “28 Days Later” after a string of indie films. In “Breakfast on Pluto,” he portrayed a trans-sexual foundling seeking love. In “Watching the Detectives,” he was paired with Lucy Liu, and in “Red Lights,” he co-starred with Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver. He has also established a solid reputation as a theater performer. He has also participated in several artistic endeavors. Murphy first met graphic artist Yvonne McGuinness in 1996, at one of his band’s gigs in Dublin. After nearly eight years of dating, they got married in 2004. Malachy and Arun are the couple’s two kids.