Stephen Rea
Stephen Rea is a Northern Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in films such as V for Vendetta, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire and Breakfast on Pluto. Rea was nominated for an Academy Award for his lead performance as Fergus in the 1992 film The Crying Game. He has during later years had important roles in the Hugo Blick TV series The Shadow Line and The Honourable Woman, for which he won a BAFTA Award. In 2020, he was listed at number 14 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Early life
Rea was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Protestant parents; his father was a bus driver and his mother a housewife. He studied English at the Queen's University Belfast, and drama at the Abbey Theatre School in Dublin.In the late 1970s, he acted in the Focus Company in Dublin with Gabriel Byrne and Colm Meaney.
Career
After appearing on the stage and in television and film for many years in Ireland and the United Kingdom, Rea came to international attention when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film The Crying Game. He is a frequent collaborator with Irish film-maker Neil Jordan. Rea has long been associated with some of the most important writers in Ireland. His association with playwright Stewart Parker, for example, began when they were students together at the Queen's University Belfast.Rea helped establish the Field Day Theatre Company in 1980 with Tom Paulin, Brian Friel, Seamus Heaney and Seamus Deane. In recognition for his contribution to theatre and performing arts, Rea was given honorary degrees from both the Queen's University Belfast and the Ulster University in 2004.
Rea's friendship with American playwright and actor Sam Shepard dates back to the early 1970s, and he starred in Shepard's directorial début of his play Geography of a Horse Dreamer at the Royal Court Theatre in 1974. In 2007, Rea began a successful and acclaimed relationship with both the Abbey Theatre and Sam Shepard, appearing in Kicking a Dead Horse and Ages of the Moon, both penned by Shepard and also both transferred to New York. Rea returned to the Abbey in 2009 to appear in the world première of Sebastian Barry's Tales of Ballycumber.
Rea was hired to speak the words of Gerry Adams when Sinn Féin was under a 1988–94 broadcasting ban.
In 2011, Rea featured in the BBC crime drama The Shadow Line, playing antagonist Gatehouse.
In April 2012, Rea read James Joyce's short story "The Dead" on RTÉ Radio 1. He also narrated for the BBC Radio 4 production of Ulysses for Bloomsday, 16 June 2012.
Rea starred in Enda Walsh's 2014 play Ballyturk and portrayed Jordan in Out of the Dark, in which he co-stars alongside Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman and Alejandro Furth.
Personal life
Rea was married for 17 years to Dolours Price, a former Provisional Irish Republican Army bomber and hunger striker who later became a critic of Sinn Féin. Price attended a performance of Rea's at the Court Theatre in London in 1973, the night before she participated in a car bombing which injured 200 people. They had been divorced when she died on 23 January 2013. They have two sons.Rea is an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland. He lives in County Donegal.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1970 | Cry of the Banshee | Villager | |
| 1982 | Angel | Danny | |
| 1984 | The Company of Wolves | Young Groom | |
| 1985 | ' | Timothy Broom | |
| 1985 | Loose Connections | Harry | |
| 1990 | Life Is Sweet | Patsy | |
| 1992 | ' | Fergus | |
| 1993 | Bad Behaviour | Gerry McAllister | |
| 1994 | Angie | Noel | |
| 1994 | Princess Caraboo | Gutch | |
| 1994 | Interview with the Vampire | Santiago | |
| 1994 | Prêt-à-Porter | Milo O'Brannigan | |
| 1995 | Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea | Nikos | |
| 1995 | All Men Are Mortal | Fosca | |
| 1996 | Michael Collins | Ned Broy | |
| 1996 | Trojan Eddie | Trojan Eddie | |
| 1996 | The Last of the High Kings | Cab Driver | |
| 1997 | Fever Pitch | Ray | |
| 1997 | ' | Benny Brady | |
| 1997 | ' | Sean Dowd | |
| 1997 | Double Tap | Cypher | |
| 1997 | Hacks | Brian | |
| 1998 | This Is My Father | Mission Priest | Cameo |
| 1998 | Still Crazy | Tony Costello | |
| 1999 | In Dreams | Dr. Silverman | |
| 1999 | Guinevere | Connie Fitzpatrick | |
| 1999 | I Could Read the Sky | P.J. Doran | |
| 1999 | ' | Brian | |
| 1999 | ' | Henry Miles | |
| 2000 | The King's Wake | King Connor Mac Neasa | Short film |
| 2001 | ' | Cardinal Richelieu | |
| 2001 | On the Edge | Dr. Figure | |
| 2002 | FeardotCom | Alistair Pratt | |
| 2002 | Evelyn | Michael Beattie | |
| 2003 | Bloom | Leopold Bloom | |
| 2004 | ' | Dr. Newman | |
| 2004 | The Halo Effect | Fatso | |
| 2004 | ' | McCaran | |
| 2004 | Fluent Dysphasia | Murph | Short film |
| 2004 | Proud | Barney Garvey | |
| 2004 | Control | Dr. Arlo Penner | |
| 2005 | Breakfast on Pluto | Bertie Vaughan | |
| 2005 | River Queen | Francis | |
| 2005 | Tara Road | Colm Maguire | |
| 2005 | V for Vendetta | Eric Finch | |
| 2006 | Sisters | Dr. Philip Lacan | |
| 2006 | Sixty Six | Dr. Barrie | |
| 2007 | Until Death | Gabriel Callaghan | |
| 2007 | ' | Father Michael Costigan | |
| 2007 | Stuck | Thomas Bardo | |
| 2008 | ' | Tyler | |
| 2008 | Kisses | Down Under Dylan | Uncredited cameo |
| 2009 | Spy | M. Palmer | |
| 2009 | Child of the Dead End | Patrick MacGill | |
| 2009 | Nothing Personal | Martin | |
| 2009 | ' | Jameson Anawalt | |
| 2009 | Ondine | Priest | |
| 2011 | Blackthorn | Mackinley | |
| 2011 | Stella Days | Brendan McSweeney | |
| 2012 | ' | Dr. Jacob Lane | |
| 2012 | ' | Doc | Direct-to-DVD |
| 2013 | Tasting Menu | Walter | |
| 2014 | Asylum | McGahey | |
| 2014 | Styria | Dr. Hill | |
| 2014 | Out of the Dark | Jordan | |
| 2015 | Ruby Strangelove Young Witch | Danforth | |
| 2015 | Danforth | ||
| 2018 | Black '47 | Conneely | |
| 2018 | Greta | Brian Cody |