:Aidan Gillen

Aidan Gillen was born Aidan Murphy in the Drumcondra area of Dublin, the youngest of six children born to Patricia (née Gillen) and Denis Murphy,{{cite news|date=29 November 2020|title='Aloof? I was just scared' – Aidan Gillen on finding love, dealing with his father's illness and why he prefers Kerry to Hollywood|url=https://www.independent.ie/life/aloof-i-was-just-scared-aidan-gillen-on-finding-love-dealing-with-his-fathers-illness-and-why-he-prefers-kerry-to-hollywood-39803015.html|work=Irish Independent|access-date=11 December 2021}} in 1967 or 1968.

He was educated at St. Vincent's C.B.S. in Dublin's Glasnevin neighbourhood.{{cite news|last=Sweeney|first=Tanya|date=30 October 2021|title=Aidan Gillen: 'I think people like looking at violence on TV and movies. It's living vicariously. It's kind of a release of pressure|url=https://www.independent.ie/life/aidan-gillen-i-think-people-like-looking-at-violence-on-tv-and-movies-its-living-vicariously-its-kind-of-a-release-of-pressure-40989341.html|work=Irish Independent|access-date=11 December 2021}}

Gillen joined the National Youth Theatre{{efn|This is variously quoted in sources, and the National Portrait Gallery mentions an "Irish Youth Theatre", but most likely refers to the Youth Theatre Ireland and its annual programme called National Youth Theatre,{{cite web | title=National Youth Theatre | website=Youth Theatre Ireland| url=https://www.youththeatre.ie/programmes/for-young-people/national-youth-theatre | access-date=8 March 2025}} rather than the (British) National Youth Theatre.}} at the age of fourteen,{{cite news|last=Lawson|first=Mark|date=2 October 2007|title='I don't mind nasty roles'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2007/oct/03/theatre2|work=The Guardian|access-date=11 December 2021}} and also jointed Dublin Youth Theatre in his teens.{{cite web | last=O'Connor | first=Aine | title=Aidan Gillen comes to terms with fame | website=Irish Independent | date=20 July 2015 | url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/aidan-gillen-comes-to-terms-with-fame/31385000.html | access-date=8 March 2025}} His career began when he was 16,{{cite web | title=Aidan Gillen | website=National Portrait Gallery | date=3 October 2000 | url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp59351/aidan-gillen | access-date=8 March 2025}} with the role of Nick Bottom{{cite web | last=Brady | first=Tara | title=Aidan Gillen: ‘It was liberating to get out a little early on Game of Thrones’ | website=The Irish Times | date=13 April 2023 | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/2023/04/13/aidan-gillen-it-was-liberating-to-get-out-a-little-early-on-game-of-thrones/ | access-date=8 March 2025| url-access=subscription| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241006210406/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/2023/04/13/aidan-gillen-it-was-liberating-to-get-out-a-little-early-on-game-of-thrones/| archive-date=6 October 2024}} in the Dublin Youth Theatre's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Project Theatre{{cite interview|first=Aidan |last= Gillen| interviewer-first= Ciara | interviewer-last=Dwyer| title=Proper Charlie: Aidan Gillen on how acting and children keep him young | website=Irish Independent | date=12 January 2015 | url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/proper-charlie-aidan-gillen-on-how-acting-and-children-keep-him-young/30851938.html | access-date=8 March 2025}} in 1983.{{cite web | title=A Midsummer Night's Dream | website=Dublin Youth Theatre | date=14 January 2022 | url=https://dublinyouththeatre.com/productions/a-midsummer-nights-dream/ | access-date=8 March 2025}}{{cite web | title=Aidan Gillen | website=Dublin Youth Theatre | date=11 May 2020 | url=https://dublinyouththeatre.com/ask-the-pro-aidan-gillen/ | access-date=8 March 2025}}

He obtained his Equity card straight after leaving school, and began getting small professional roles at 17. The name Aidan Murphy was already registered so he began using his mother's maiden name as a stage name. He moved to London in 1987 when he was 18 or 19.

Gillen's first role on a London stage was at the Bush Theatre, in Billy Roche's Wexford Trilogy. Soon afterwards he had a role in Juno and the Paycock at the Royal National Theatre.

In 2005 he played one of three men in a prison cell in Dominic Dromgoole's production of Irish playwright Frank McGuinness's 1992 hostage drama, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me at the New Ambassadors in London.{{cite web | last=Clapp | first=Susannah | title=Someone Who'll Watch Over Me | website=The Guardian | date=24 April 2005 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/apr/24/theatre2 | access-date=8 March 2025}}

In 2008 Gillen played Teach in the Dublin Gate Theatre's 2007 production of David Mamet's American Buffalo.{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/ten/2008/0114/irishtheatreawards.html|title=Theatre Awards Shortlist Announced|website=RTÉ|date=14 January 2008 |access-date=15 August 2012}}

Gillen had his Broadway debut playing Mick, alongside alongside Patrick Stewart and Kyle MacLachlan, in Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker in 2003, directed by David Jones. The New York Times reviewer Ben Brantley called his performance a "smashing Broadway debut".{{cite web | last=Kennedy | first=Randy | title=Intrigued by Characters With Dark Mysteries | website=The New York Times | date=19 November 2003 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/19/theater/intrigued-by-characters-with-dark-mysteries.html | access-date=8 March 2025}}

During the 1990s Gillen played a number of roles in television dramas and series, including a TV adaptations of the Wexford Trilogy. Gillen played a lead role as Stuart Alan Jones in the 1999 Channel 4 television series Queer as Folk and its sequel.{{cite interview| first1= Aidan| last1= Gillen| first2= Richard E. |last2= Grant|url=http://winteriscoming.net/2016/02/02/current-aidan-gillen-and-future-richard-e-grant-game-of-thrones-actors-discuss-their-careers/|title=Current (Aidan Gillen) and future (Richard E. Grant) Game of Thrones Actors discuss their careers|first3=David|last3=Harris|work=Winter is Coming|date=2 February 2016|access-date=6 April 2016| format = video + text}}

In 1997, he appeared alongside playwright Harold Pinter in Mojo based on the 1995 play of the same name by Jez Butterworth and directed by Butterworth.{{cite web | last=Butterworth | first=Jez | title=Mojo (1997 Film) : Jez Butterworth | website=Internet Archive | date=23 October 2016 | url=https://archive.org/details/mojo-2011-bbc-broadcast | access-date=8 March 2025}}

In 2000 he starred in The Low Down, director Jamie Thraves' first feature film.{{cite news|author=Ryan Gilbey |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/30/jamie-thraves-treacle-jr |title=Jamie Thraves: Life is bittersweet | Film |newspaper=The Guardian }} The film was named among the "neglected masterpieces" of film history by The Observer in its rundown of 50 Lost Movie Classics.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/dec/17/3 |title=50 Lost Movie Classics |newspaper=The Guardian}}{{cite magazine|url=http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/89100/treacle-jr.html |title=Treacle Jr |magazine=Time Out |access-date=19 September 2014}}

In 2003 he played the villain in the Shanghai Noon sequel, Shanghai Knights.

In 2004, having been spotted by producers in The Caretaker, Gillen was cast as Tommy Carcetti in the HBO series The Wire, for which he received an Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actor in a Lead Role in Television.{{cite web|url=http://www.ifta.ie/winners/iftawinners2009.html|title=Winners of the 6th Annual Irish Film and Television Awards, 2009|publisher=Irish Film and Television Academy|access-date=8 December 2021}}

In 2011, Gillen began playing Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish on the HBO series Game of Thrones, for which he received his second Irish Film & Television Award nomination.{{cite web|url=http://aidangillen.livejournal.com/93324.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121203164814/http://aidangillen.livejournal.com/93324.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 December 2012 |title=Aidan Gillen – Nominated for TWO IFTA awards |publisher=Live Journal |access-date=15 August 2012 }} He appeared in seven seasons,{{cite news|last=Dresdale|first=Andrea|date=12 April 2015|title='Game of Thrones' Premiere: What to Expect from Season 5|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/game-thrones-premiere-expect-season/story?id=30228111|newspaper=ABC News|publisher=Go.com|access-date=24 April 2015}} until his character's death in the season 7 finale "The Dragon and the Wolf".{{cite magazine |url=http://www.tvguide.com/news/game-of-thrones-finale-recap-jons-parentage-revealed/ |title=The Game of Thrones Finale Featured a Major Reveal and a Long-Awaited Death |magazine=TV Guide |access-date=28 August 2017 |date=27 August 2017 |author=MacDonald, Lindsay}} He starred as cop killer Barry Weiss in the British crime-thriller Blitz and in the British horror film Wake Wood. Gillen played crime boss John Boy in the acclaimed Irish crime-drama Love/Hate,{{cite web |url=http://www.rte.ie/ten/2011/1212/lovehate.html |title=Third series of Love/Hate in development |website=RTÉ |access-date=16 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525042032/http://www.rte.ie/ten/2011/1212/lovehate.html |archive-date=25 May 2012}} for which he received his third Irish Film & Television Award nomination and second win.{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/ten/2012/0212/iftas2012.html |title=IFTA winners 2012 announced |publisher=RTÉ |access-date=15 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429103636/http://www.rte.ie/ten/2012/0212/iftas2012.html |archive-date=29 April 2012}}

In 2012, he played CIA operative Bill Wilson{{cite book |last=Cox |first=Greg |date=24 July 2012 |title=The Dark Knight Rises: The Official Novelization |location=London |publisher=Titan Books |isbn=978-1-78116-106-7 |author-link=Greg Cox (writer)}} (the character's name is from the novelisation; his name is not directly said in the film's script) in The Dark Knight Rises, his first role in a major Hollywood film.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/lost-soul-aidan-gillen-is-taking-on-an-existential-crisis-in-the-spiky-mister-john-8812098.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917001043/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/lost-soul-aidan-gillen-is-taking-on-an-existential-crisis-in-the-spiky-mister-john-8812098.html |archive-date=2013-09-17 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|title=Lost soul: Aidan Gillen is taking on an existential crisis in the spiky Mister John|newspaper=The Independent|last=Mottram|first=James|date=14 September 2013|access-date=8 February 2017}} Gillen said he enjoyed playing the role, but preferred low-budget lead roles to blockbuster bit-parts. Gillen's character was particularly noted by some Internet circles for his delivery of supposedly awkward dialogue in the film's opening plane scene, especially by users of 4chan's /tv/ board. Thus, he subsequently became the subject of an Internet meme popular among /tv/ users known as "Baneposting",{{cite web|title=Baneposting|url=http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/baneposting|website=Know Your Meme|date=26 April 2014 |access-date=12 February 2018}} which references the dialogue between Wilson and Tom Hardy's character Bane in said scene.{{cite web|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/trump-supporters-and-neo-nazis-are-using-secret-chat-rooms-t|title=Trump Supporters And Neo-Nazis Are Using Secret Chatrooms To Harass Shia LaBeouf|publisher=BuzzFeed|last=Broderick|first=Ryan|date=25 January 2017|access-date=8 February 2017}}{{cite news|url=http://www.dailyedge.ie/aidan-gillen-baneposting-3211672-Jan2017/|title=Aidan Gillen has accidentally become part of a bizarre 'alt-right meme'|work=The Daily Edge|date=29 January 2017|access-date=8 February 2017}} The same year, Gillen also starred in the British spy-drama Shadow Dancer, and was announced as the new host of the music show Other Voices.{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/ten/2011/1108/othervoices.html|title=Gillen is new Other Voices host|website=RTÉ|date=8 November 2011 |access-date=16 August 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.universityobserver.ie/2012/02/22/i-did-warn-you-not-to-trust-me/|title=I did warn you not to trust me…|publisher=UniversityObserver|access-date=21 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120714073741/http://www.universityobserver.ie/2012/02/22/i-did-warn-you-not-to-trust-me/|archive-date=14 July 2012|url-status=dead}}

He starred in the BBC five-part thriller Mayday in 2013, and the Irish comedy-drama film Calvary the following year.{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.ie/tv/news/a378796/game-of-thrones-aidan-gillen-in-bbc-thriller-mayday.html|title=Aidan Gillen in BBC thriller Mayday|website= Digital Spy|access-date=21 August 2012}} He shared a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination with the cast of Game of Thrones for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Gillen also starred in the short film Ekki Múkk,{{cite web|url=http://vimeo.com/50053037|title=Sigur Rós – Ekki múkk|work=Vimeo|access-date=30 September 2014}} created for the Valtari Mystery Film Experiment by Icelandic band Sigur Rós, as well as Janson in the second film, The Scorch Trials, and third film, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, in the Maze Runner trilogy.{{cite web|last1=Kit|first1=Borys|title='Game of Thrones' Actor to Play Villain in 'Maze Runner' Sequel (Exclusive)|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/game-thrones-actor-play-villain-734722|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=31 August 2016|language=en|date=26 September 2014}}

Gillen played Queen's manager John Reid in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which was released on 2 November 2018.{{cite news|last1=Galuppo|first1=Mia|title=Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander Join Cast of Queen Biopic 'Bohemian Rhapsody'|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/aidan-gillen-tom-hollander-join-cast-bohemian-rhapsody-1043083|access-date=26 September 2017|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=26 September 2017|language=en}} He starred as Aidan in the short film titled I Didn't...I Wasn't...I Amn't, written and directed by Irish actress Laoisa Sexton.{{cite web | url=https://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=33944 | title=SEARCH FOR a PLAY – PlayographyIreland }}

He starred in The History Channel's two-season series Project Blue Book from 2019 to 2020. Gillen played Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a brilliant and underappreciated college professor who is recruited by the U.S. Air Force to spearhead an operation named Project Blue Book. He is joined by his partner Air Force Capt. Michael Quinn as they investigate UFO sightings around the country.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2019/02/project-blue-book-renewed-season-2-history-robert-zemeckis-tca-1202553267/|title='Project Blue Book' Renewed For Season 2 By History – TCA|first1=Denise|last1=Petski|date=10 February 2019|website=Deadline Hollywood|access-date=8 December 2021}}

Gillen co-wrote the script of and starred in Jamie Thraves' fourth feature film, Pickups (2017). This was the third collaboration with Thraves.{{cite web | last=Gilbey | first=Ryan | title=Aidan Gillen: 'I hate fame – but I'd miss it too' | website=The Guardian | date=9 December 2015 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/dec/09/aidan-gillen-i-hate-fame-but-id-miss-it-too | access-date=7 March 2025}}

He plays Frank Kinsella, a member of a prominent Irish crime family in the RTÉ One crime drama Kin (2021–2023).{{cite web | last=White | first=Peter | title=Aidan Gillen, Charlie Cox & Clare Dunne To Star In Irish TV Drama ‘Kin’ From Bron Studios, Headline Pictures & NENT Studios For RTÉ | website=Deadline | date=6 November 2020 | url=https://deadline.com/2020/11/aidan-gillen-charlie-cox-irish-drama-kin-from-bron-studios-headline-pictures-rte-1234610144/ | access-date=8 March 2025}}{{cite web | title=BBC acquires star studded Irish crime drama Kin | website=BBC | date=27 October 2023 | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2023/bbc-acquires-irish-crime-drama-kin | access-date=8 March 2025}}

Gillen resides in his native Dublin. He met Olivia O'Flanagan when they were teenagers.{{cite news|last=O'Connor|first=Aine|date=17 July 2015|title=Aidan Gillen comes to terms with fame|url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/aidan-gillen-comes-to-terms-with-fame-31385000.html|work=Irish Independent|access-date=11 December 2021}} They have two children. They married in 2001 and separated in 2005.

{{as of|2020}} Gillen has been in a relationship with singer Camille O'Sullivan since 2014.

In 2008 Gillen was nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award for his portrayal of Teach in the Dublin Gate Theatre's 2007 production of David Mamet's American Buffalo.{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/ten/2008/0114/irishtheatreawards.html|title=Theatre Awards Shortlist Announced|website=RTÉ|date=14 January 2008 |access-date=15 August 2012}}

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• {{IMDb name|0318821}}
• [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/aug/05/aidan-gillen-shadow-dancer-interview The Guardian profile, 2012]

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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:20th-century Irish male actors

Category:21st-century Irish male actors

Category:Irish male film actors

Category:Irish male stage actors

Category:Irish male television actors

Category:Living people

Category:People from Drumcondra, Dublin

Category:Male actors from Dublin (city)

Category:Irish male video game actors