Aidan Gillen Biography

Aidan Gillen (born 24 April 1968) is an Irish stage and screen actor. He is best known for his roles as Stuart Alan Jones in the Channel 4 series, Queer as Folk, John Boy in the Irish crime drama, Love/Hate, Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish in HBO's series, Game of Thrones and Tommy Carcetti in the HBO drama The Wire. He is the current host of Other Voices. He has been nominated for the British Academy Television Award, the British Independent Film Award and a Tony Award, and has won two Irish Film & Television Awards.

Early years

Gillen was born Aidan Murphy in Drumcondra, Dublin, and educated at St. Vincent's C.B.S. in Glasnevin. His sister, Fionnuala Murphy, is also an actress, while his brother, John Paul Murphy is a playwright, and another sister, Patricia Murphy, is a teacher. Gillen began his acting career as a teenager, with the Dublin Youth Theatre, playing Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Project Arts Centre, before moving to London.

Career

Gillen played Stuart Alan Jones in the ground-breaking Channel 4 television series, Queer as Folk, and its sequel, for which he received a British Academy Television Award nomination, for Best Actor. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his highly acclaimed Broadway role in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker and has also been 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. In 2004, having been spotted by producers in The Caretaker, Gillen joined the main cast of HBO's acclaimed television series The Wire, portraying Tommy Carcetti, for which he received an Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actor in a Lead Role in Television. In 2008 Gillen was named an Irish cult hero by the Sunday Tribune. Gillen appeared alongside the professional wrestler John Cena in the 2009 film 12 Rounds. In July of that year, he appeared in a one-off BBC2 drama Freefall along with Dominic Cooper and Sarah Harding. He has co-starred with David Morrissey, as Phil Hendrick, in the British drama Thorne.

In 2011, Gillen joined the main cast of HBO's award-winning series Game of Thrones, portraying Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish, for which he received his second Irish Film & Television Award nomination. He starred with Jason Statham and David Morrissey as cop killer Barry Weiss in the British crime-thriller Blitz, and in the British horror film Wake Wood, alongside Timothy Spall. Gillen played crime boss John Boy in the acclaimed Irish crime-drama Love/Hate, for which he received his third Irish Film & Television Award nomination, and second win. He played a CIA agent in the opening of The Dark Knight Rises, and starred with Clive Owen and Gillian Anderson, in the British spy-drama Shadow Dancer. He was announced as the new host of the music show Other Voices. He is set to star in the comedy-drama Calvary, with Brendan Gleeson and Chris O'Dowd, which is currently being filmed, and in the BBC five part-thriller Mayday. Gillen shared a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination with the cast of Game of Thrones for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. He also starred in a short film directed by Nick Abrahams called Ekki Múkk, created for the 'Valtari' Mystery Film Experiment staged by Icelandic band Sigur Rós.

Personal life

In 2001, Gillen married his girlfriend Olivia O'Flanagan. The couple live in Ireland, with children Berry (born in 1997) and Joe (born in 2000). In 2009, when Gillen won an Irish Film and Television Award for his role in The Wire, he dedicated the award to Olivia and their two children. He is generally very private regarding his personal life.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	The Drip	Young Guy 1	Short
1987	The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne	Youth at Liquor Store	Credited as Aidan Murphy
1988	The Courier	Boy picked up by Val	Credited as Aidan Murphy
1995	Circle of Friends	Aidan Lynch
1996	Some Mother's Son	Gerard Quigley
1997	Mojo	Baby
1998	Gold in the Streets	Paddy
	Amazing Grace	Young Man	Short
1999	Buddy Boy	Francis
2000	The Second Death	Pool player 1	Short
	The Low Down	Frank
2001	My Kingdom	Barry Puttnam
	Robertson Major	William Robertson	Short
2002	The Final Curtain	Dave Turner
2003	Photo Finish	Joe Wilde
	Shanghai Knights	Lord Nelson Rathbone
	Burning the Bed	Stephen	Short
2006	Trouble with Sex	Conor
2008	Blackout	Karl
2009	12 Rounds	Miles Jackson
	Spunkbubble	Dessie	Short
	Runners	Terry	Short
2010	Treacle Jr.	Aidan
2011	Wake Wood	Patrick Daley
	Blitz	Barry Weiss
2012	The Dark Knight Rises	CIA Agent	Opening Scene
	Shadow Dancer	Gerry
	Ekki Múkk	Little one	Short-film
	The Good Man	Michael
2013	Scrapper	Ray
	The Note	Lars	Short
	Mister John	Gerry Devine
	Beneath the Harvest Sky	Clayton
	Calvary	Unknown Role
	Still	Carver

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	The Play on One	Harry	Episode: "Killing Time"
1992	An Ungentlemanly Act	Marine Wilcox	Television film
1993	A Handful of Stars	Tony	Television film
	Belfry	Dominic	Television film
	The Bill	Jeff Barratt	Episode: "Play the Game"
	Screenplay - Safe	Gypo
1994	In Suspicious Circumstances	James Crozier	Episode: "To Encourage the Others"
1999"2000	Queer as Folk	Stuart Alan Jones	10 episodes
2000	The Darkling	Jeff Obold	Television film
	Lorna Doone	Carver Doone	Television film
2001	Dice	Glenn Taylor	Mini-Series
2002	First Communion Day	Seamus	Television film
2003	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Amyas Crale	Episode: "Five Little Pigs"
2005	Law & Order: Trial by Jury	Jimmy Colby	Episode: "Vigilante"
	The Last Detective	Steve Fallon	Episode: "Willesden Confidential"
	Walk Away and I Stumble	Paul
2004"2008	The Wire	Thomas J. "Tommy" Carcetti	35 episodes
2009	Freefall	Gus	Television film
2010	Thorne: Sleepyhead	Phil Hendricks
	Thorne: Scaredy Cat	Phil Hendricks
	Identity	DI John Bloom	6 episodes
2010"2013	Love/Hate	John Boy Power	10 episodes
2011"present	Game of Thrones	Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish	19 episodes
2012	Other Voices	Himself	Presenter
2013	Mayday	Everett Newcombe

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue / Notes
1988	The Wexford Trilogy: A Hand of Stars	Tony	Bush Theatre, London
1989	Juno and the Paycock	Soldier	National Theatre· Lyttelton
	Blue	Ed Ache; Fred	National Theatre Studio
	The Long Way Round	Albin	National Theatre· Cottesloe
	The Water Engine	Bernie	Hampstead Theatre
1990	Lovers Meeting	Joe Hession	Druid Theatre Company, Irish Tour
1991	The Patriot Game	Pearse	Abbey Theatre· Peacock, Dublin
	The Wexford Trilogy: Belfry	Dominic	Bush Theatre
1992	Drama at Inish	Eddie Twohig	Abbey Theatre, Dublin
1993	The Wexford Trilogy	Tony / Dominic	Abbey Theatre· Peacock
	Marvin's Room	Hank	Hampstead Theatre / Comedy Theatre
1994	The Playboy of the Western World	Christopher Mahon	Almeida Theatre
1995	Mojo	Skinny	Royal Court Theatre
2000	The Tempest	Ariel	Almeida Theatre
2001	Platonov	Platonov	Almeida Theatre
2003	The Caretaker	Mick	Roundabout Theatre, New York
2005	Someone Who'll Watch Over Me	Edward	New Ambassadors Theatre
2007	American Buffalo	Teach	Gate Theatre, Dublin
	Glengarry Glen Ross	Richard Roma	Apollo Theatre

Awards and nominations

Year	Film/Television/Theatre	Award	Result
2000	Queer as Folk	British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
2000	The Low Down	Edinburgh International Film Festival for Best British Newcomer
2004	The Caretaker	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
		Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
		Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play
2009	The Wire	Irish Film and Television Award for Actor in a Lead Role Television
2010	Treacle Jr.	British Independent Film Award for Best Performance by an Actor
2011		Milan International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2012	Love/Hate	Irish Film and Television Award for Actor in a Lead Role Television
2012	Game of Thrones	Irish Film and Television Award for Actor in a Supporting Role Television

Audiobooks and reciting

Gillen has recorded audiobooks as a Narrator.

• 1994 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle. ISBN 1860219004, ASIN B0051H6FW4, Reviews from Amazon

• 1995 Felicia's Journey by William Trevor. ASIN B000PYA4MA, ASIN B002X7UY36

• 1995 The Barrytown Trilogy: The Commitments by Roddy Doyle. ISBN 1860219152, ISBN 1860219799, ASIN B002SQCXX6

• 1998 Irish Short Stories, ed.Colm Toibin. ISBN 0140863664
• 2010 The Poetry Of Ireland (Album). ASIN B003GQ6S2O, available online (Gillen recites several famous Irish poems: An Irish Airman Foresees His Death by W.B. Yeats, Cashel Of Munster by Sir Samuel Ferguson, She Weeps over Rahoon by James Joyce, Do You Remember That Night by Eugene O'Curry, An Cuimhin Leat An Oiche Ud)