Adrian Dunbar
{{short description|Irish actor, director (born 1958)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{BLP sources|date=October 2011}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Adrian Dunbar
| image = Adrian Dunbar - Actor (cropped).jpg
| caption = Dunbar in 2014
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|8|1|df=y}}
| birth_place = Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland
| nationality = Irish
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|screenwriter|director|singer}}
| alma_mater = Guildhall School of Music and Drama
| notable_works = Ashes to Ashes (2009)
Line of Duty (2012–2021)
| yearsactive = 1980–present
| spouse = {{marriage|Anna Nygh|1986}}
}}
Adrian Dunbar (born 1 August 1958) is an Irish actor, director, and singer from Northern Ireland, known for his television and theatre work. He co-wrote and starred in the 1991 film Hear My Song, nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the BAFTA awards.{{cite web |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |title=Hear My Song (1991) Review/Film; Irish Tenor Is Focus Of Intrigue and Blarney |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0CE2D71E39F93AA25752C0A964958260 |work=The New York Times |date=19 January 1992}}
Dunbar is best known for playing Superintendent Ted Hastings in all six series of the hit BBC crime drama Line of Duty (2012–21). He has also appeared as Alan Cox in The Jump, Martin Summers in Ashes to Ashes, Richard Plantagenet in The Hollow Crown, and Father Flaherty in Broken. Since 2022, Dunbar has starred in the lead role of Alex Ridley in the ITV detective series Ridley. In 2024 he starred in Kiss Me Kate on stage.
Notable film work includes My Left Foot (1989), The Crying Game (1992), and deleted scenes in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999), whilst TV guest appearances include Inspector Morse, Cracker, A Touch of Frost, Silk, Scott & Bailey, Silent Witness and Inside No. 9.
Early life
Dunbar was born and brought up in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, in Northern Ireland, the eldest of seven siblings. He has two brothers, John and Liam, who live in Enniskillen, and four sisters, Roisin, Cristina, Madeline and Moira. Raised in a Catholic family, he was educated at St Joseph's College in Enniskillen, before attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.{{cite web|title=Eye of the Dolphin Star Biographies – Adrian Dunbar|url=https://michaeldsellers.wordpress.com/2007/07/09/eod-star-biographies-adrian-dunbar/|url-status=live|website=michaeldsellers.com|date=9 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614132752/https://michaeldsellers.wordpress.com/2007/07/09/eod-star-biographies-adrian-dunbar/ |archive-date=14 June 2021}}
Career
Dunbar has appeared in such notable films as My Left Foot, The Crying Game and The General. He has also had leading roles in the films Triggermen, Shooters, How Harry Became A Tree (with Colm Meaney), Richard III and Widows' Peak.
On television he starred in the first episode of Cracker, playing an innocent murder suspect with amnesia, and also the last episode of A Touch of Frost. He has been in many British productions, including Tough Love, Inspector Morse, Kidnapped, Murphy's Law, Murder in Mind, Ashes to Ashes and the 2005 re-staging of The Quatermass Experiment.
Dunbar's theatre credits include The Shaughraun and Exiles at Dublin's Abbey Theatre; Real Dreams and The Danton Affair at the Royal Shakespeare Company; King Lear, Pope's Wedding, Saved and Up to the Sun And Down to the Centre at Royal Court Theatre and Conversations on a Homecoming at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast; A Trinity of Two (as Oscar Wilde) at Dublin's Liberty Hall Theatre; and Boeing Boeing (London, 2007). He has directed a critically acclaimed production of Philadelphia Here I Come!.
In 2008, he starred in and co-directed Brendan at the Chelsea by Janet Behan, playing Brendan Behan. The play was the first to be staged in the Naughton Studio in the new Lyric Theatre in Belfast after it reopened in 2011, and was revived for a tour to Theatre Row in New York City in September 2013.
Dunbar played the role of Tullus Aufidius in the BBC Radio production of Coriolanus. He also made a guest appearance in the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi, and appeared on stage as Vermeer in an adaptation of Girl with a Pearl Earring.
In 2008, Dunbar played the role of Philip Conolly in the critically acclaimed The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce. He starred alongside fellow Northern Irish actor Ciarán McMenamin in the remote rainforests of north-west Tasmania. He joined the cast of the police procedural television series Line of Duty in 2012, portraying the role of Superintendent Ted Hastings; he continued in this role for all subsequent series.
Dunbar is also a theatre director and has staged productions for the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival. In 2020 he founded the multi-disciplinary arts company Unreal Cities with composer Nick Roth, whose work includes two Beckett Biennales (Beckett: Confined 2022, Beckett: Unbound 2024) as well as settings of poems by T.S. Eliot, Dermot Healy and Seamus Heaney.{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2024/05/18/adrian-dunbar-on-beckett-i-seemed-to-be-getting-knocked-around-emotionally-but-didnt-know-how-he-was-doing-it/ | title=Adrian Dunbar on Beckett: 'I seemed to be getting knocked around emotionally but didn't know how he was doing it' | newspaper=The Irish Times }}{{cite news|last=Masters|first=Time|title=Beckett festival to feature play in the dark|publisher=BBC News|date=15 April 2015|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32319040}}{{cite magazine|last=Slater|first=Sasha|title=Going to the Opera|url=http://sophiehunter.net/post/123316988800/going-to-the-opera-by-sasha-slater-harpers-bazaar|magazine=Harper's Bazaar}}{{cite web|last=Thorpe|first=Vanessa|title=Sophie Hunter: The opera director who has to dodge paparazzie|url=http://sophiehunter.net/post/123849640525/sophie-hunter-the-opera-director-who-has-to-dodge|website=Sophie Hunter Central}}{{cite web|last=Kennedy|first=Maev|title=Happy Days festival's Beckett treats to include a German Godot|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/apr/15/happy-days-festival-samuel-beckett-enniskillen-northern-ireland|website=The Guardian|date=15 April 2015}}
He played the mysterious character Martin Summers in the second series of Ashes to Ashes. In 2014 he played the title character in a BBC comedy drama, Walter.{{cite web|title=Programmes|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04d8y38|url-status=live|publisher=BBC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140805024658/http://www.bbc.co.uk:80/programmes/b04d8y38 |archive-date=5 August 2014}}
Dunbar also starred as Jim Hogan in the Virgin Media Television original drama Blood.
Other media
- He was cast as Bail Organa for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and appeared in costume in publicity stills, but his scene was cut; the character was re-cast with Jimmy Smits for later films. Dunbar's likeness was retconned into the appearance of the character Bail Antilles.{{citation|title=Adrian Dunbar as Bail Antilles- Deleted Scene- STAR WARS: EP I: PHANTOM MENACE- Alderaan in Senate.| date=5 August 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u83irHK2JA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/4u83irHK2JA |archive-date=21 December 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=20 July 2021}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web|author=Guardian Staff|date=14 August 2000|title=Adrian Dunbar linked to 'strange' Star Wars|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/aug/14/news2|access-date=20 July 2021|website=The Guardian}}
- He fronts his own band,[http://www.daracu.ie Adie Dunbar and the Jonahs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928070012/http://www.daracu.ie/ |date=28 September 2007}} which has played in such American locations as Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas.
- He sings "The Curragh of Kildare" with Brian Kennedy on Kennedy's On Song and fronts this song with his own band.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/tracks/nzmj98|title=The Curragh of Kildare|publisher=BBC Music|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923030829/https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/tracks/nzmj98|archive-date=23 September 2018}}
- He narrates the popular TV series The Estate as well as an audiobook production of Eoin Colfer's novel Artemis Fowl.{{cite book|first=Eoin|last=Colfer|title=Artemis Fowl|publisher=Puffin Audiobooks|year=2001|isbn=0-14-180286-3}}
- He played a minor role in The Dawning (1988), alongside Anthony Hopkins and Hugh Grant, which led to further early roles in his acting career.
Awards and nominations
=BAFTA Awards=
| class="wikitable |
| colspan="4"| BAFTA Awards |
|---|
| scope="col" style="width:1em;"| Year
! scope="col" style="width:25em;"| Nominated work ! scope="col" style="width:30em;"| Category ! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| Result |
| 1993
| Best Screenplay | {{nominated}} |
| 2018
| Best Supporting Actor | {{nominated}} |
=Irish Film & Television Academy Awards=
| class="wikitable |
| colspan="4"| IFTA Awards |
|---|
| scope="col" style="width:1em;"| Year
! scope="col" style="width:25em;"| Nominated work ! scope="col" style="width:30em;"| Category ! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| Result |
| 2018
| rowspan="3"| Line of Duty | rowspan="3"| Actor in a Lead Role in Drama | {{nom}} |
| 2020
| {{nom}} |
| 2021
| {{nom}} |
=National Television Awards=
| class="wikitable |
| colspan="4"| National Television Awards |
|---|
| scope="col" style="width:1em;"| Year
! scope="col" style="width:25em;"| Nominated work ! scope="col" style="width:30em;"| Category ! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| Result |
| 2021
| Drama Performance | {{nominated}} |
=TV Choice Awards=
| class="wikitable |
| colspan="4"| TV Choice Awards |
|---|
| scope="col" style="width:1em;"| Year
! scope="col" style="width:25em;"| Nominated work ! scope="col" style="width:30em;"| Category ! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| Result |
| 2019
| rowspan="2"|Line of Duty | rowspan="2"|Best Actor | {{won}} |
| 2021
| {{nom}} |
=GQ Men of the Year Awards=
| class="wikitable |
| colspan="4"| GQ Men of the Year Awards |
|---|
| scope="col" style="width:1em;"| Year
! scope="col" style="width:25em;"| Nominated work ! scope="col" style="width:30em;"| Category ! scope="col" style="width:5em;"| Result |
| 2021
| Television Actor | {{won}} |
Personal life
Dunbar has a daughter and stepson from his 1986 marriage to Australian actress Anna Nygh. He lives in Crouch End, North London. He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Ulster in June 2009 in recognition of his services to acting.{{cite news |url=http://news.ulster.ac.uk/releases/2009/4485.html |title=Honorary Degree for Leading Ulster Actor Dunbar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200244/http://news.ulster.ac.uk/releases/2009/4485.html |date=30 June 2009 |archive-date=3 March 2016}}{{cite web |last=Murphy|first=Eoin |date=15 February 2020 |title=Line of Duty star says Sinn Fein will be able to deliver 32-county republic |url=https://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/irish-showbiz/adrian-dunbar-lineofduty-sinnfein-election-21499254 |access-date=7 November 2020 |work=Irish Mirror}}
Dunbar believes a United Ireland is possible in the future, saying: "I expect Ireland to be unified and at peace with herself. Irish unification and freedom after hundreds of years is in our DNA, it is in effect a big part of who we have become to ourselves and the world".{{cite news |title=Adrian Dunbar and top Orangeman Mervyn Gibson split over Ireland in 2121 |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/adrian-dunbar-and-top-orangeman-mervyn-gibson-split-over-ireland-in-2121/40406683.html |date=10 May 2021 |first=David |last=Young |work=Belfast Telegraph}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Sky Bandits | Mechanic | |
| rowspan="2"|1988 | A World Apart | Le Roux | |
| The Dawning | Capt. Rankin | ||
| rowspan="3"|1989 | Unusual Ground Floor Conversion | Alan Simpson | Short film |
| My Left Foot | Peter | ||
| Dealers | Lennon Mayhew | ||
| 1991 | Hear My Song | Micky O'Neill | |
| rowspan="2"|1992 | The Playboys | Mick | |
| The Crying Game | Maguire | ||
| 1994 | Widows' Peak | Godfrey Doyle-Counihan | |
| rowspan="3"|1995 | Innocent Lies | Alan Cross | |
| The Near Room | Charlie Colquhoun | ||
| Richard III | James Tyrell | ||
| 1998 | The General | Noel Curley | |
| 1999 | Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace | Senator Bail Organa | Deleted scene |
| rowspan="3"|2000 | Last Orders | Short film | |
| Wild About Harry | J.J. McMahon | ||
| The Wedding Tackle | Mr Mac | ||
| 2001 | How Harry Became a Tree | George | |
| rowspan="2"|2002 | Triggermen | Andy Jarrett | |
| Shooters | Max Bell | ||
| 2003 | The Measure of My Days | Priest | Short film |
| 2004 | Mickybo and Me | Mickybo's Da | |
| 2005 | Against Nature | The Tramp | Short film |
| 2006 | Eye of the Dolphin | Hawk | |
| 2008 | The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce | Philip Conolly | |
| 2009 | Act of God | Frank O'Connor | |
| rowspan="2"|2011 | Hideaways | Dr Russell | |
| Mother's Milk | Seamus Dorke | ||
| 2012 | Good Vibrations | Andy | |
| 2016 | The Secret Scripture | Dr Hart | |
| 2017 | The Snowman | Frederick Aasen | |
| 2022 | Emily | Patrick Brontë |
=Television=
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | The Long March | Colm | TV movie |
| rowspan="3"|1984 | Play for Today | Peter Douglas | Episode: "The Cry" |
| After You've Gone | Chris | rowspan=2| TV movie | |
| The Hidden Curriculum | Boyd | ||
| 1985 | The Price | Willy | rowspan=2| 4 episodes |
| rowspan="3"|1988 | The Fear | Con | |
| The Four Minute Mile | Norris McWhirter | TV movie | |
| rowspan="2"| Screen Two | Robbie MacIntyre | Episode: "Reasonable Force" | |
| rowspan="5"|1990 | John | Episode: "Drowning in the Shallow End" | |
| Theatre Night | Lenny | Episode: "Pentecost" | |
| Debut on Two | John/Lucien | Episodes: "The Wake" and "A Box of Swan" | |
| Centrepoint | Brown | 2 episodes | |
| ScreenPlay | Andy | Episode: "The Englishman's Wife" | |
| 1991 | Children of the North | Martin Deeley | 3 episodes |
| rowspan="2"|1992 | ScreenPlay | DS Billy McCourbrey | Episode: "Force of Duty" |
| Inspector Morse | John Marriat | Episode: "Dead on Time" | |
| rowspan="3"|1993 | A Statement of Affairs | Adrian | 3 episodes |
| Cracker | Kelly | Episodes: "The Mad Woman in the Attic", Parts 1 & 2 | |
| A Woman's Guide to Adultery | Michael | 3 episodes | |
| rowspan="2"|1994 | The Blue Boy | Joe Bonnar | rowspan=3| TV movie |
| Pleasure | Gustave Coudray | ||
| 1995 | Cruel Train | Jack Dando | |
| 1997 | Melissa | Graeme Hepburn | 5 episodes |
| rowspan="2"|1998 | The Jump | Alan Cox | 4 episodes |
| The Officer from France | Wolfe Tone | TV movie | |
| 1999 | Relative Strangers | Michael Docherty | rowspan=2| 2 episodes |
| 2000 | Tough Love | DCI Mike Love | |
| rowspan="3"|2003 | Murphy's Law | Mickey Munday | Episode: "Manic Munday" |
| Murder in Mind | Tom Robbins | Episode: "Justice" | |
| Suspicion | Mark Finnegan | 2 episodes | |
| rowspan="3"|2005 | Kidnapped | Alexander Balfour/Ebenezer Balfour | rowspan=3| TV movie |
| The Quatermass Experiment | Detective Lomax | ||
| Child of Mine | Alfie Palmer | ||
| 2007 | The Whistleblowers | Chris Clayton | Episode: "Starters" |
| 2008 | Whistleblower | Florence Wycherley | 2 episodes |
| 2009 | Ashes to Ashes | Martin Summers | 8 episodes |
| rowspan="2"|2010 | A Touch of Frost | Gerry Berland | Episodes: "If Dogs Run Free", Parts 1 & 2 |
| Mo | David Trimble | TV movie | |
| rowspan="2"|2011 | Silk | Joe Gillespie QC | Episode: "Three Sheets to the Wind" |
| Death in Paradise | Aidan Miles | Episodes: "Music of Murder" and "Amongst Us" | |
| 2011–13 | World's Most Dangerous Roads | Narrator | 9 episodes |
| rowspan="3"|2012 | Scott & Bailey | Det. Supt. Rick Wallis | Episode: "Pipe Dreams" |
| Silent Witness | Sean Delaney | Episodes: "Fear", Parts 1 & 2 | |
| The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby | Ralph Nickleby | 5 episodes | |
| 2012–21 | Line of Duty | Supt. Ted Hastings | Six series; 36 episodes |
| 2013 | Jo | Olivier Cattan | Episode: "Place Vendôme" |
| rowspan="2"|2014 | Walter | DI Walter Gambon | TV movie |
| A Touch of Cloth | Damien Vull | Episodes: "Too Cloth for Comfort", Parts 1 & 2 | |
| 2016 | The Hollow Crown | Plantagenet | Episodes: "Henry VI", Parts 1 & 2 |
| 2017 | Broken | Father Peter Flaherty | rowspan=2| 6 episodes |
| 2018-2020 | Blood | Jim Hogan | |
| 2019 | Red Nose Bodyguard | Policeman/Supt. Ted Hastings | Red Nose Day 2019 special |
| rowspan="3"| 2021 | The Attendant | The Attendant | Short film |
| Adrian Dunbar's Coastal Ireland | Himself/presenter | Two-part series | |
| Inside No. 9 | Himself | Series 6, episode 4: "Hurry Up and Wait" | |
| rowspan="2"| 2022–present | Ridley | Alex Ridley | ITV series{{cite web |url=https://www.itv.com/presscentre/media-releases/adrian-dunbar-detective-series-ridley-starts-filming-lancashire |title=Adrian Dunbar detective series Ridley starts filming in Lancashire |date=11 January 2022 |work=ITV |access-date=26 August 2022}} |
| Adrian Dunbar: My Ireland | Himself/presenter | Two-part series | |
| 2023 | DNA Journey | Himself | With Neil Morrisey{{cite web|url=https://www.itv.com/presscentre/media-releases/dna-journey |website=itv.com |access-date=8 March 2023 |date=2 February 2023 |title=DNA Journey}} |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=0001160|name=Adrian Dunbar}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunbar, Adrian}}
Category:People from Enniskillen
Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Category:20th-century Irish male actors
Category:21st-century Irish male actors
Category:Male stage actors from Northern Ireland
Category:Male television actors from Northern Ireland