Gabriel Byrne

Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londons Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrnes screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the spinoff show Bracken. He has now starred in overfeature films, such as The Usual Suspects, Millers Crossing, Stigmata, Spider and End of Days, in addition to writing two. Byrnes producing credits include the Academy Awardnominated In the Name of the Father. He has received much critical acclaim for his role as Dr. Paul Weston in the HBO drama In Treatment.

Byrne, the first of six children, was born in Walkinstown, Dublin 12, Dublin, Ireland, the son of a cooper and soldier, Dan, and a hospital nurse, Eileen from Elphin, County Roscommon. He has four siblings Donal, Thomas, Breda, and Margaret another, Marian, died at an early age. Byrne was raised a strict Roman Catholic and educated in Ardscoil anna in Crumlin, where he later taught Spanish and History. About his early training to become a priest, he said in an interview, I spent five years in the seminary and I suppose it was assumed that one had a vocation. I realised subsequently that I didnt. He attended University College Dublin, where he studied archaeology and linguistics, becoming proficient in Irish. He played soccer in Dublin with Stella Maris.

Source: Wikipedia