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Movies & TV

11th Oct 2018

Five Irish actors that are still as cool as they’ve ever been

JOE

Irish actors

Coolness eternal.

Considering how small our humble island of Ireland is, we don’t half do a good job of making a mark on Hollywood. From epic historical dramas to action thrillers, our fellow countrymen have gone on to do consistently excellent work on both the big screen and on TV.

While some of the actors who played those roles may fade over time, others don’t know how to stop.

Brendan Gleeson

Hard to believe the man is 63 years old. Whether he’s playing a tough-but-lovable cop, a hitman or a medieval warrior, Gleeson always delivers.

Over the past 30 or so years, the Dubliner has earned a name for himself as one of the most reliable actors out there. The fact that his sons are following in his footsteps means that we won’t be shy of a few Gleesons on our screens any time soon either.

Liam Neeson

While he’s probably more famous for his ability to scare the bejaysus out of people through a phone than he is for anything else, there’s a lot more to the Antrim man. From his iconic historical roles as Michael Collins and Oskar Schindler to his more recent work, there are no signs of Neeson slowing down any time soon either.

He trained Batman and Darth Vader, plus kicked ass as Aslan in the Narnia movies. If there is any man you should never mess with, it’s Liam Neeson.

Pierce Brosnan

Who’d have thought a Drogheda man would ever play James Bond? Brosnan didn’t do a bad job at it either (ignoring him surfing a glacier in 2002’s Die Another Day), starring in four films as 007.

These days, you’re just as likely to find him pointing a gun at some baddies as you are to find him singing along to Abba in one of the Mamma Mia movies. It takes a special kind of cool to pull that off in fairness.

Cillian Murphy

The best may yet to be to come from the Corkman, but Murphy has been consistently excellent for well over a decade. Since making his break into the movie world with 28 Days Later… (2002), his performance as Tommy Shelby in BBC series Peaky Blinders is up there with the best.

Whether he’s an Irish republican in The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) or chasing a Liam Neeson-trained Batman in Batman Begins (2005), he’s the type of actor that steals any scene he’s in.

Colm Meaney

Just as good at being a bumbling father in Irish classic The Snapper (1993) as he is at battling aliens in Star Trek, Meaney’s career has taken him to some incredible heights.

Some actors (like Meaney) are just blessed with the ability to be equally hilarious and intimidating. While he may have made us laugh plenty of times, we know better than to cross him…

Irish actors cool

Just like these great Irish actors, Coca-Cola has always been a good choice. Whether you go for Diet Coke, Coke Zero Sugar or the Original, you can’t go wrong.

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