Steve Wall
{{Short description|Irish actor and musician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{use Hiberno-English|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Steve Wall
| image = Steve Wall - photo credit - Sean Walsh.jpg
| caption = Steve Wall in April 2021{{Cite web |title=Steve Wall and Simon O'Reilly Release Brand New Single |url=https://journalofmusic.com/listing/07-05-21/steve-wall-and-simon-o-reilly-release-brand-new-single |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=The Journal of Music |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2021-05-07 |title=Steve Wall and Simon O'Reilly 'Rise with the Sun' |url=https://www.indiebuddie.com/steve-wall-and-simon-oreilly-rise-with-the-sun/ |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=Indie Buddie |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=JOE's Song Of The Day #896 – Steve Wall & Simon O'Reilly 'Rise With The Sun' |url=https://www.joe.ie/music/joes-song-day-896-steve-wall-simon-oreilly-rise-sun-721717 |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=JOE.ie |language=en}}
| birth_name = Stephen Patrick Wall
| birth_place = Kingsbury, London, England
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|musician|}}
| years_active = 1984–present
| works =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children = 1
| signature =
| awards =
| module =
}}
Steve Wall is a musician, singer, songwriter and actor. He is a founder member of the multi-platinum selling Irish band The Stunning and also The Walls.
As an actor, Wall is known for his roles in Moone Boy (2012–2015), Vikings (2014–2016), Rebellion (2016), Raised by Wolves (2020), The Witcher (2020), and The English (2022). He played the jazz musician Chet Baker in My Foolish Heart (2018), a Dutch feature film about the trumpeter's last days in Amsterdam.
Early life and education
Stephen Patrick Wall was born in Kingsbury Hospital, Honeypot Lane,{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=1175&page=31 |title=The National Archives | Search the archives | Hospital Records| Details}} the first of five children of Patricia (née Keogh) of the Liberties, Dublin, and Vincent Wall of Ennistymon, County Clare.{{Cite web |title=Steve Wall: 'When I was 15, I placed my guitar amp in the bedroom window, turned the volume up full, and banged out Led Zeppelin' |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/steve-wall-when-i-was-15-i-placed-my-guitar-amp-in-the-bedroom-window-turned-the-volume-up-full-and-banged-out-led-zeppelin/41257318.html |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Irish Independent |date=22 January 2022 |language=en}} Four of the children were born in London and while still young, the family moved back to Ireland, living first with the Keogh family in Harolds Cross.{{Cite interview |last=Wall |first=Steve |interviewer=Jarlath Regan |title=Steve Wall: Episode 236 |url=https://anirishmanabroad.podbean.com/e/steve-wall-episode-236/ |format=podcast |work=An Irishman Abroad |issue=236 |date=March 23, 2018 |author-link=Steve Wall |via=Podbeam}}{{Cite news |title=Steve Wall on his family's tragedy: 'It was a year from hell' |url-access=registration |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/steve-wall-on-his-family-s-tragedy-it-was-a-year-from-hell-1.4345693 |access-date=2022-11-28 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}} He has two brothers, Joseph and Vincent (born in County Clare), and two sisters, Anna and Helen. His mother's family home was full of records and sing-songs were regular, with uncles and aunts singing everything from Cole Porter to The Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald. This is where Wall says he discovered his love of music.{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/life-lessons-with-steve-wall-moving-to-the-west-of-ireland-completely-changed-me-as-a-person-34643803.html|date=24 April 2016 |title=Life lessons with Steve Wall: 'Moving to the west of Ireland completely changed me as a person' |website=Irish Independent}}
Wall attended several schools in Dublin - St. Louis Junior School, Rathmines; St. Joseph's National School, Terenure; and Templeogue College, where he left after the first year as the family moved to Ennistymon, County Clare, when he was thirteen. He spent his teenage years in Ennistymon and attended the Christian Brothers school there.{{cite web |url=https://clarechampion.ie/steve-wall-promotes-cbs-ennistymon-open-night/ |title=Steve Wall Promotes CBS Ennistymon Open Night |date=5 November 2020}} Following that he went to the Galway Regional Technical College, where he joined a new wave band called [https://www.irishrock.org/irodb/bands/newtestament.html New Testament] as guitarist.
Career
=Acting=
While still at school in the west of Ireland, Wall developed an interest in acting and applied unsuccessfully to the main London drama schools.{{Cite web |title=Steve Wall: Episode 236 |url=https://anirishmanabroad.podbean.com/e/steve-wall-episode-236/ |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=An Irishman Abroad |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Talking music and acting with Steve Wall of The Stunning |url=https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/please-do/talking-music-and-acting-zkVwNvCnIEG/ |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Listen Notes |date=29 April 2022 |language=en}} When college band New Testament went their separate ways in 1984,{{Cite web |title=Irish Rock Discography: New Testament |url=https://www.irishrock.org/irodb/bands/newtestament.html |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Irish Rock}} Wall approached the Druid Theatre Company, Galway for work.{{Cite web |title=Steve Wall on 30 years of 'Paradise in the Picturehouse' |url=https://www.goldenplec.com/featured/the-stunning-interview/ |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=GoldenPlec |language=en}} He had a small walk-on part in the 1984 production of Tom Murphy's On the Outside directed by Paul Brennan.{{Cite web |year=2020 |title=On the Outside by Tom Murphy with Noel O'Donoghue – An Educational Resource for Secondary School Students and Teachers |url=https://www.druid.ie/content/files/On-the-Outside-Education-Resource-for-Secindary-Schools-v.2.pdf |website=Druid}} He spent two years at Druid working as a trainee actor, stage assistant and sound operator, working on shows Conversations on a Homecoming and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore.{{Cite web |first=Charlie |last=McBride |date=4 July 2019 |title='The acting muscle is very different to being onstage with a band' |url=https://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/108683/the-acting-muscle-is-very-different-to-being-onstage-with-a-band |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Galway Advertiser}}{{Cite web |title=Life lessons with Steve Wall: 'Moving to the west of Ireland completely changed me as a person' |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/life-lessons-with-steve-wall-moving-to-the-west-of-ireland-completely-changed-me-as-a-person-34643803.html |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Irish Independent |date=24 April 2016 |language=en}} He then moved to Dublin to pursue an acting career but after an unsuccessful year of finding work he decided to turn back to music and formed The Stunning in 1987. He still performs today with The Stunning and The Walls.
He returned to acting in 2010 by attending acting workshops in The Factory, Dublin, now known as Bow Street Acting Academy. He scored his first role as Uncle Danny in the series Moone Boy for Sky TV and then went on to land parts in other TV series such as Vikings, Warrior, The Witcher, Raised by Wolves, Tin Star, and The South Westerlies. He landed the role of Chet Baker in the Dutch arthouse feature film My Foolish Heart about the jazz legend's final days in Amsterdam where he died in 1988.{{Cite news |last=Hutton |first=Brian |title=Steve Wall's blowing his own trumpet |newspaper=The Times |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/ireland-world/article/steve-walls-blowing-his-own-trumpet-969v8vzlk |access-date=2022-11-26 |issn=0140-0460}} He featured in the 2022 western miniseries The English (BBC/Amazon) featuring Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer, in which he plays the cowboy Thin Kelly.{{Cite web |title=Ciarán Hinds, Stephen Rea, Steve Wall to join Emily Blunt for BBC western series The English |url=https://www.hotpress.com/film-tv/ciaran-hinds-stephen-rea-steve-wall-to-join-emily-blunt-for-bbc-amazon-prime-western-series-22851911 |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Hot Press}}
Denis Villeneuve cast him as Bashar, a Colonel-General of the Sardaukar in Dune: Part Two which premiered on 1 March 2024.{{Cite web |last=Masterson |first=Eugene |date=2024-03-08 |title=Dune 'n' dusted: The Stunning's Steve Wall on how he landed dream role in Hollywood blockbuster Dune 2 |website=The Sunday World |url=https://www.sundayworld.com/showbiz/movies/the-stunnings-steve-wall-on-how-he-landed-dream-role-in-hollywood-blockbuster-dune-2/a2051659371.html |access-date=23 February 2025}}
Wall was offered the role of Pats Bocock in the Gaiety Theatre's production of the John B. Keane play Sive. It was his first stage performance. It opened on 27 January 2024 and ran until 16 March 2024.{{Cite web |last=Rowley |first=Eddie |date=2024-01-19 |title=Acting a Storm {{!}} The Stunning's Steve Wall says his first dream was to be an actor ahead of stage debut |url=https://www.sundayworld.com/showbiz/music/the-stunnings-steve-wall-says-his-first-dream-was-to-be-an-actor-ahead-of-stage-debut/a1143218110.html |website=The Sunday World}}
He has also done voiceover work.{{Cite web|date=19 November 2017 |last=Barry|website=TheJournal.ie |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/being-a-musician-ireland-3701482-Nov2017/|first=Aoife|title=The truth about being a musician: 'They see you on the Late Late and think you're making a fortune'}}
=Music=
Wall formed The Stunning in Galway in 1987.{{Cite web |title=Live Report: The Stunning, A Galway Shindig at Leisureland, Galway |url=https://www.hotpress.com/live-review/live-report-the-stunning-a-galway-shindig-at-leisureland-galway-22944081 |website=Hot Press Magazine}} The band was hugely successful in Ireland with number one albums and top ten singles.{{Cite web |title=The Walls |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/windmill-lane/artists/the-walls-30751233.html |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Irish Independent |date=23 November 2014 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Irish Rock Discography: The Stunning |url=https://www.irishrock.org/irodb/bands/stunning.html |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Irish Rock}} Frustrated at not getting their music released internationally despite success at home, the band broke up in 1994. The following year, Wall and his brother Joe formed The Walls. They signed to Columbia Records in 1996 and relocated to London,{{Cite web |date=October 19, 2021 |title=The craic was '90 |url=https://www.theirishworld.com/the-stunning/ |website=The Irish World}} spending two years there before moving to Dublin in 1998 and starting their own label Earshot Records, later changing it to Dirtbird Records.{{Cite web |title=The Walls |url=http://irishrockers.com/artistView.php?artist=The%20Walls |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Irish Rockers}}{{Cite web |last=Cummins |first=Steve |date=2020-09-22 |title=The Walls - taking the Hi with the Lo |url=https://www.stevecummins.com/ruminations/the-walls-taking-the-hi-with-the-lo/ |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Steve Cummins |language=en-US}} They released three albums on their own label - Hi-Lo (2000), New Dawn Breaking (2005), Stop the Lights (2012) as well as EPs and singles including the top ten hit "To the Bright and Shining Sun" and "Drowning Pool",{{Cite web |title=The Walls |url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/299448-The-Walls |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Discogs |language=en}} which featured in the film Begin Again.{{Cite web |date=2019-09-28 |title=Soundtrack: Begin Again - listen to all 29 songs with scene description |url=https://www.soundtrackradar.com/soundtrack-begin-again/ |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Soundtrack Radar |language=en-US}} The band toured extensively and opened for acts such as U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Dylan, and Crowded House.
In 2003 The Stunning reformed in order to promote the re-issue of the band's debut album Paradise in the Picturehouse on their own Dirtbird Records label. The resulting tour was a success, sending the album to the top of the charts again almost ten years later. In 2017 they released "Brighten up my Life", their first new single in 24 years.{{Cite web |title=JOE's New Song of the Day #417: The Stunning – 'Brighten Up My Life' |url=https://www.joe.ie/music/joes-new-song-day-417-stunning-brighten-life-587215 |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=JOE.ie |language=en}} This was followed by the album Twice Around the World, which peaked at number ten in the Irish mainstream album charts {{Cite web |title=The biggest singles and albums of 2018 by Irish acts |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-biggest-singles-and-albums-of-2018-by-irish-acts__25290/ |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Official Charts |language=en}} and number one in the independent charts on 23 March 2018.{{Cite web |title=IRMA – Irish Recorded Music Association |url=https://www.irma.ie/#chartTab4 |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Irish Recorded Music Association}} The Stunning continue to play live today, while Wall and Joe sometimes perform as a two-piece as The Walls.
In April 2021, Wall collaborated with Clare-based musician Simon O'Reilly on the song "Rise with the Sun". It was during the pandemic, so the two collaborated by sharing files online, with O'Reilly recording the music and mixing the song in his studio near Lahinch, County Clare and Wall recording vocals and some extra instrumentation in Dublin.{{Cite web |title=Listen: Composer/musician duo Steve Wall and Simon O'Reilly share '70s-tinged track 'Rise with the Sun' |url=https://www.hotpress.com/music/listen-composer-musician-duo-steve-wall-and-simon-oreilly-share-70s-tinged-track-rise-with-the-sun-22851432 |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=Hot Press}}
Filmography
=Film=
=Television=
Stage
Sive by John B.Keane. Gaiety Theatre, Dublin. 27 January – 16 March 2024{{Cite web |last=Cunningham |first=Joseph |date=3 November 2023 |title=Sade Malone to star in the Gaiety's re-imagining of John B. Keane's play Sive |url=https://www.hotpress.com/culture/sade-malone-to-star-in-the-gaietys-re-imagining-of-john-b-keanes-play-sive-22994451 |website=Hot Press}}
Narration
- The Irish Mob (2000) TV miniseries
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name}}
- The Stunning discography at [https://www.discogs.com/artist/829110-The-Stunning Discogs]
- The Walls discography at [https://www.discogs.com/artist/299448-The-Walls Discogs]
- {{Discogs artist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wall, Steve}}
Category:Irish singer-songwriters
Category:Irish television actors
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)