Domhnall Gleeson Biography

Domhnall Gleeson was born on 12th May 1983 in Dublin, Ireland as the first child of Irish actor and director, Brendan Gleeson, and his wife Mary Gleeson.

He grew up in the in Malahide, County Dublin, together with his three younger brothers – Brian Gleeson, Fergus Gleeson and Rory Gleeson – all of who are a part of the art, film and entertainment world.

For his education, he attended the Malahide Community School. There, he became a part of and acted in school productions of Grease and King Lear.

Later, he joined the Dublin Institute of Technology to pursue his Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Arts.

After completing his education, Domhnall Gleeson kick-started his career as a film and stage writer and director.

His screen acting debut came with the role of Byrne in an episode of British television miniseries Rebel Heart in 2001.

In 2001- 2002, he also made his professional stage debut playing Davey in Martin McDonagh's black comedy The Lieutenant of Inishmore. The play was initially staged in London (Royal Shakespeare Company) and later performed in Lyceum Broadway Theatre, New York in 2006. For his performance in the Broadway theatre show, he received a Tony award nomination.

His big screen debut came in 2004 with Martin McDonagh's Oscar-winning short film Six Shooter where he acted alongside his father. In 2006, he once again shared screen space with his father in the feature film Studs.

In between, in 2005, he was cast in a small supporting role in horror comedy Boy Eats Girl, lent his voice to a short film Stars and was roped in to play one of the lead characters in RTÉ comedy television series The Last Furlong.

In 2007, he was once again on-stage playing Bobby in the David Mamet play American Buffalo and Herbert Pocket in the Hugh Leonard play adaptation of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. Both these plays were performed at the Gate Theatre, Dublin.

In 2009, he made his directorial debut with a short film What Will Survive of Us which he also wrote. The same year, he acted in another short film Corduroy and a black comedy film Perrier's Bounty. Additionally, he appeared in a television movie A Dog Year too.

In 2010, Domhnall Gleeson once again turned writer and director for a short comedy film Noreen which also starred his father and brother. Apart from this, he wrote and performed in the RTE sketch-comedy series Your Bad Self.

His performance as Bob Geldof in the television movie When Harvey Met Bob won him the best actor award at the Irish Film and Television Awards. Other than this, he appeared in a feature film Sensation too where he played the role of a young farmer Donal Duggan.

Moreover, in the year 2010, he went to do some of the most significant projects of his career which brought him tremendous international recognition and acclaim.

This includes his memorable performance as Rodney in the dystopian romance Never Let Me Go, a young outlaw Moon in the western drama True Grit and the serious perfectionist wizard Bill Weasley in the epic Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

The second part of the last film, which once again had him in the same role, released the following year.

In 2012, he delivered strong performances as an IRA member Connor McVeigh in the British-Irish drama film Shadow Dancer and as a landowner Kostya Levin in the historical romance Anna Karenina. The latter bagged him an IFTA in the supporting role category. His other release of the year was the science fiction action film Dredd.

His significant work in the year 2013 and 2014 include a lead role in the romantic comedy About Time and a supporting role in the quirky ensemble dark comedy Frank. The latter won him his third IFTA Award.

During this time, he was also seen in Angelina Jolie's directorial debut film Unbroken and played small parts in drama Calvary and tv series Black Mirror.

In 2015, his four film releases were all nominated at the Oscars. These include a starring role in science fiction film Ex Machina and supporting roles in the romantic period drama Brooklyn and the epic survival drama film The Revenant. His work in these received a lot of appreciation.

Domhnall Gleeson’s fourth film of the year had him appearing for the first time as the ruthless General Hux in the epic space opera film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He reprised his role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019.

He also lent his voice to the character in the video game Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2016) and the animated television series Star Wars Resistance (2019).

In 2015, apart from films, he once again displayed his acting skills on stage with his performance as Blake in The Walworth Farce.

In 2016, he narrated the BBC Two nature documentary series Earth's Greatest Spectacles and played Thomas Burberry in a short Christmas-themed advertisement film The Tale of Thomas Burberry.

In 2017, he was seen in the action-comedy film American Made, an independent comedy film Crash Pad and the biographical film Goodbye Christopher Robin. He also had minor roles in Channel 4’s sitcom Catastrophe and Darren Aronofsky's psychological horror film Mother!.

His work since 2018 include the biographical comedy film A Futile and Stupid Gesture, the live action computer animated adventure comedy film Peter Rabbit and its sequel Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021), the television short film Psychic directed by his father, the supernatural thriller The Little Stranger and the crime drama The Kitchen.

On television, he acted in seven episodes of the HBO comedy thriller series Run (2020) and six episodes of Channel 4’s comedy series Frank of Ireland (2021). He also created and wrote the latter series.

In 2021, he was back on-stage playing John Kane in Enda Walsh’s absurdist play Medicine.

His future projects include the HBO political drama series The White House Plumbers and the FX comedy series The Patient.

Domhnall Gleeson lives in Ballsbridge, Dublin.