Peter Mullan Biography

Peter Mullan (born 2 November 1959) is a Scottish actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his role in Ken Loach's My Name Is Joe (1998), for which he won Best Actor Award at 1998 Cannes Film Festival and The Claim (2000). He is also winner of the World Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Breakout Performances at 2011 Sundance Film Festival for his work on Paddy Considine's Tyrannosaur (2011). Mullan appeared as supporting or guest actor in numerous cult movies, including Riff-Raff (1991), Braveheart (1995), Trainspotting (1996), Young Adam (2003), Children of Men (2006), War Horse (2011) and the Harry Potter film series (2010-11).

Mullan is acclaimed art house movie director. He won a Golden Lion at 59th Venice International Film Festival for The Magdalene Sisters, listed by many critics among the best films of 2003 and nominated for BAFTA Award for Best British Film and European Film Award for best film, and a Golden Shell at San Sebastin International Film Festival for Neds. He is the only person to win top prizes both for acting (Cannes best actor award) and for the best film (Golden lion for The Magdalene Sisters) at major European film festivals.

In television, Mullan appeared in Gerard Lee's and Jane Campion's acclaimed miniseries Top of the Lake as one of the main characters, head of the Mitcham family and father of Tui Mitcham, whose disappearance is the main topic of the series. He was nominated for Primetime Emmy Award for his work in the series.

Mullan is also politically active, supporting left-wing causes and protests.

Early life

Mullan was born in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the son of Patricia (a nurse) and Charles Mullan (a lab technician at Glasgow University). The second youngest of eight children, Mullan was brought up in a working class Roman Catholic family. They later moved to Mosspark, a district in Glasgow. An alcoholic and sufferer from lung cancer, Mullan's father became increasingly tyrannical and abusive. For a brief period, Mullan was a member of a street gang while at secondary school, and worked as a bouncer in a number of south-side pubs. He was homeless for short periods at the ages of 15 and 18.

Career

Mullan went on to Glasgow University to study economic history and drama. There he began acting and continued stage acting after graduation. He had roles in films such as Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Braveheart and Riff-Raff. His first full-length film, Orphans, won an award at the Venice Film Festival. In 2002, he returned to directing and screenwriting with the controversial film The Magdalene Sisters, based on life in an Irish Magdalene asylum. Mullan won a Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival.

Mullan's role as a recovering alcoholic in My Name Is Joe won him the Best Actor Award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

Personal life

A Marxist, he was a leading figure in the left-wing theatre movement which blossomed in Scotland during the Conservative Thatcher government, including stints in the 7:84 and Wildcat Theatre companies. A passionate critic of Tony Blair's New Labour government, he told The Guardian "the TUC and the Labour Party sold us [the working class] out big style, unashamedly so". Mullan took part in a 2005 occupation of the Glasgow offices of the UK Immigration Service, protesting against the UKIS's "dawn raid" tactics when deporting failed asylum seekers.

In January 2009, Mullan joined other actors in protesting against the BBC's refusal to screen a Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for Gaza. They told BBC director general Mark Thompson: "Like millions of others, we are absolutely appalled at the decision to refuse to broadcast the appeal. We will never work for the BBC again unless this disgraceful decision is reversed. We will urge others from our profession and beyond to do likewise." Mullan has agreed to appear in an adaptation of Iain Banks"? Stonemouth after the BBC aired a DEC appeal for Gaza in late 2014.

Mullan was a supporter of the Yes Scotland campaign in the Scottish independence referendum, 2014. In 2015, he criticised the BBC for "horrendous bias" against the Yes campaign and told the Radio Times that "to see the BBC used as a political cudgel against a legitimate democratic movement ... really broke my heart."?

Mullan married Annie Swan, an actor and scriptwriter, in about 1989. As of 2001, the couple had two children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Writer	Notes
1990	The Big Man	Vince
1991	Riff Raff	Jake			European Film Award for Best European Film
1992	Sealladh	Sim			Short film
1993	Close	Vincent			Short film
1994	Shallow Grave	Andy
1995	Fridge	-			Short film
	Good Day for the Bad Guys	John			Short film
	Braveheart	Veteran
1996	Trainspotting	Swanney "Mother Superior"
1997	Poor Angels	Gordon			Short film
	Fairy Tale: A True Story	Sergeant Farmer
1998	Duck	Mick
	My Name Is Joe	Joe Kavanagh			Cannes Award for Best Actor
	Orphans	-
1999	Miss Julie	Jean
	Mauvaise passe	Patricia's husband
2000	Ordinary Decent Criminal	Stevie
	'	Daniel Dillon
2001	Session 9	Gordon Fleming
2002	'	Mr O'Connor			Winner of Golden Lion
2003	Young Adam	Les Gault
	Kiss of Life	John
2004	Out of This World	Jim
	Criminal	William Hannigan
	Blinded	Francis Black
	Waves	Himself
2005	On a Clear Day	Frank Redmond
2006	Cargo	Brookes
	Children of Men	Syd
	True North	Riley
2007	'	Odoacer
	Dog Altogether	Joseph			Short film
	Boy A	Terry
2008	Stone of Destiny	Ian's dad
2009	Red Riding: 1974	Martin Laws
	Red Riding: 1980	Martin Laws
	Red Riding: 1983	Martin Laws
	Connolly	James Connolly
2010	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1	Yaxley
	Neds	Mr. McGill			Winner of Golden Shell
2011	Tyrannosaur	Joseph			World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Dramatic (Male)
	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2	Yaxley
	War Horse	Ted Narracott
2013	Sunshine on Leith	Robert Henshaw
	The Liability	Peter
	Welcome to the Punch	Roy Edwards
2014	Hercules	General Sitacles
2015	Sunset Song
2015	Hector	Hector McAdam
2016	Tommy's Honour	Old Tom Morris
2017	Hostiles				Filming
2018	Jungle Book	Akela			Post-Production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	The Steamie	Andy
1990	Opium Eaters	Willy
1990	Your Cheatin Heart	Tonto	Series 1, Episodes 3-5
1990	Taggart	Peter Latimer	Series 5, Episode 2 and Series 6, Episode 3
1991	Jute City	Mallet
1992	Rab C. Nesbitt	Peter the Warlock	Series 2, Episode 6
1993	Seeker Reaper	George Campbell Hay	Bilingual drama about the life of Scottish poet George Campbell Hay (1915-1984).
1994	The Priest and the Pirate	Billy Hill
1995	Ruffian Hearts	Chez
1995	Harry	Jimmy	Series 2, Episode 6
1996	Nightlife	Billy
1997	'	Sanders Sr.	Whitbread First Novel Award for First Novel
1997	Bogwoman	Barry
2003	This Little Life	Consultant
2003	Richard & Judy	Himself
2004	Shoebox Zoo	Michael Scot
2005	Sunday Morning Shootout	Himself	Series 2, Episode 15
2005	Continuar...	Himself
2006	Continuar...	Himself
2007	British Film Forever	Himself	Series 1, Episode 3
2007	'	Gordon Brown
2008-09	'	Lenny Douglas	Series 1-2
2009	Scotland on Screen	Himself
2012	'	Richie Beckett	Synopsis: A Brighton crime boss turned entrepreneur and the disintegration of a criminal mind.
2013	Top of the Lake	Matt Mitcham	Series Regular Equity Ensemble Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Miniseries or Telemovie Nominated - AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama Nominated - Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Movie/Miniseries Supporting Actor Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
2014	Olive Kitteridge	Jim O'Casey	HBO miniseries, episodes 1-3
2016	Quarry	The Broker	Main Cast
2016	Mum	Michael