Gabriel Byrne

Name: Gabriel Byrne
Date of Birth: May 12, 1950
Place of Birth: Dublin, Ireland

Mini-bio: Gabriel James Byrne did not start acting until the age of 29. Before he pursued this career he was, among other things- an archaelogist, a schoolteacher, a short-order cook, and a bullfighter. Making ...( read more)

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<div style="font-size:11px;text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/actor/gabriel-bryne"> <img src="http://content6.flixster.com/photo/10/82/75/10827536_tml.jpg" width="240" height="240" alt="The Man in the Iron Mask" /></a><br/><a href="http://www.flixster.com/actor/gabriel-bryne">Gabriel Byrne</a></div>	<a href="http://www.flixster.com/actor/gabriel-bryne">Gabriel Byrne</a>

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| Gabriel Byrne Imdb.com | Quotes | Biography, Awards & Links|

| Best Movies and Characters |

| Gabriel Byrne Can Fix Your problems in 30 Minutes |

Interviews HBO series In Treatment

I think there`s a bit of the devil in everybody. There`s abit priest in everybody, too but
I enjoyed playing the devil more. He was more fun.

~Gabriel James Byrne~

Gabriel James Byrne was born in Dublin, Ireland on May 12th 1950. He was first of six born to a nurse and a Guinness barrel maker, at the age of twelve he moved to England to become a priest. After four years of the Priesthood he was expelled and so returned to Ireland. Byrne studied Archaeology, Languages and Phonetics, at University College Dublin and didn't embark on his acting career until the tender age of 28. After being in the TV series 'The Riordans' and then staring in his own spin-off series called 'Bracken', made his way to America. The role garnered Byrne fame in Ireland, and ensured that the adjective "brooding" would always precede his name. Director John Boorman cast him in a supporting role in Excalibur, this was Bryrne's first feature film. In1986, he went to work playing a Spanish trapeze artist in Siesta, and fell in love with his co-star, Ellen Barkin, whom he married a year later. The couple divorced in 1993 and shared custody of their two children, Jack and Romey Marion. The ironic aspect of two of Byrne's biggest staring roles i.e. 'End of Days' and 'Stigmata', are that he plays Satan and a Priest respectively - an indication of the dark and light sides of his characters. Currently, Byrne is directing, writing and producing as well as acting.

Birth Name	Gabriel James Byrne
Family	Ellen Barkin(18 September 1988-1999 divorced 2 Children Daughter: Romy Marion Byrne, born on November 18, 19192 Son: Jack Daniel Byrne, born in October 1989
Eye color:	Saphire Blue
Height:	5' 10" (1.78 m)
Zodiac:	Taurus
Education:	Dublin University
Hobby
Resides in:	New York, USA & Dublin, Ireland
Religion	On Catholicism: The elimination of guilt is one of the biggest battles I have to wage with myself."

Books

Autobiography titled "Pictures in my Head"
The Woman who Danced with JFK
Tales of Ancient Ireland

After he was expelled from the Priesthood and Before becoming an actor, he was an

archaeologist,
schoolteacher,
short-order cook,
bullfighter and he worked in a teddy bear place.

On his profession and success:

"People who believe that being incredibly famous or wealthy or powerful is going to make them happier are on a fool's mission. I'm famous enough, that suits me fine. The relentless emphasis on celebrity in this country drives me around the fucking bend. The new religion is celebrity, but nobody stops to question what it means when you achieve it. Honestly, I'm very scared of the whole notion of fame. You take it on at your own peril." Gabriel Byrne

I would like to break out of this "dark, brooding" image, cause I'm actually not like that at all. In Ireland, brooding is a term we use for hens. A brooding hen is supposed to lay eggs. Everytime somebody says "He's dark and brooding" I think: "He's about to lay an egg".

The truth is that actors don't really have any control over t he end product. To think that you have control is a delusion and it's also incredibly frustrating to be investing that much hope into something that essentially boils down to marketing. So you try to do movies that you feel connected with and you work with directors and actors you admire.

I've always felt that acting is about exposure. You expose yourself in the choices you make. It's when you present yourself as truthfully as you can, in a given situation, that you are being that character. Even though you're being yourself.

Sometimes, the vanity of actors is that we imagine we're so completely different on screen from who we are in real life. When really, all actors play themselves.

On American Movies:

American movies to me - and, I mean, I've said this before a million times - are becoming more and more homogeneous because th e marketing objective - and marketing now plays such a major role in movies that it almost obliterates everything else - the marketing objective is the lowest common denominator. "You can't put that in; let's put the car chase, let's put the sex scene, let's put the fight in, let's get them back together, they end up happily, they walk off into the sun..." So that there's a formulaic predictability to American movies. That, allied with the cynicism of the way movies are put together - product placement and spin-offs and toys and all kinds of crap that, you know, have nothing to do with the telling of stories - they've turned American movies into McMovies. So that when the movie-goer gets his movie, it's like a hamburger: he doesn't want a piece of aubergine in there; he wants his onion, his tomato, his hamburger and his bun. And he doesn't want the bun hard, he wants it soft. And he wants it in two minutes.

Gabriel Byrne on himself:

"I'm not a very gregarious person. I can't bear attention being called to me in a public place, which is ridiculous in a business that pays you to be noticed."

On guilt:

"Guilt is the most meaningless of emotions. It means nothing. As Barbra Streisand says, 'I got nothing to be guilty of....

On comparing actors:

"How the hell can you compare one actor to another? It's ridiculous. You just can't."

"A completely disrespectful photographer was asked to stop taking photographs, and then said, 'I've got what I want. What are you going to do about it?' How would you feel if somebody walked up and started taking your photograph? I don't think you'd be very happy."

Somuch about Gabriel in so little words:

"I'm more susceptible to the past than the future," He's the first to admit that while his short term memory is pretty rubbish, his long term is good. Hence he's a particularly good guide to his life, in this cinematic and poetic portrait of a complicated man. Peripatetic by nature, Byrne first left home aged 11 to go to seminary school in England, dropping out four years later and returning to his native Dublin. A series of no end jobs ranging from plumber to hospital morgue assistant drove him back to school and a teaching career, until a girlfriend working as a television presenter encouraged him to pursue his acting career. A chance audition led to the lead in the major hit, Miller's Crossing, and an A-list acting career. In the subsequent two decades, Byrne has traveled both high road and low -- wrestling with alcoholism and depression along the way. In this mesmerizing journey through his life, Byrne is insightful and reflective, aided by his autobiographical writings and some extraordinary home footage of family life with ex- wife Ellen Barkin.

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Comments

Liloh

Is it me or Gabriel Byrne is so good at imitating voices. See the Video above he imitates Gèrard Depardieu and John Malkovich.

posted 122 days ago
didoegy

I just love him.
one of a kind.

posted 200 days ago
fullofsakuraflowers

he really looks like sean penn!

posted 461 days ago
lilangel033

i totally agree with u! he is great in everyway! i love is voice because he uses it in such ways that only an actor such as him can use!

posted 602 days ago
sisterwolf86

It doesnt matter what role, what part, what line he does, Gabriel is one of those rare actors who can play and act anything! I love how he shows his passion for acting in his movies,that's what makes him one of the greats and among the legends.
SisterWolf86

posted 672 days ago
Aritosgold

Very nice I could watch Gabriel Byrne movies all the time^^

posted 757 days ago
EgyptionPrincess5

we need some skins for gabriel

posted 812 days ago
carapau

I loved his performance in the movie man in the iron mask!

posted 929 days ago
dorell023

sexyyy!!!!!!!!!!

posted 975 days ago
dorell023

in the man in the iron mask, omg he was hott!! =]]

posted 1000 days ago

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Gabriel Byrne Movies

Emotional Arithmetic (PG-13, 2008)
2:22 (Unrated, 2008)
Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning (Unrated, 2007)
Coen Brothers Gift Set (Unrated, 2007)
Leningrad (Unrated, 2007)
Played (R, 2006)
Jindabyne (R, 2006)
Wah-Wah (R, 2006)
Emmett's Mark (Killing Emmett Young) (R, 2005)
Riverdance: The Ten Years (Unrated, 2005)

View All Gabriel Byrne Movies

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Gabriel Byrne Trivia

Who Apeared in the film "Stigmata" He was born on the 12th May 1950? Answer »
Which actor plays the person posessed by the devil in "End of Days"? Answer »
In what 1994 movie would you find Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, Gabriel Byrne, and Christian Bale? Answer »
Name the movie: Christian Bale Samantha Mathis Kirsten Dunst Gabriel Byrne Answer »

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