Biography
Determined to be an actor since age 13, Meaney spent some time in a fisherman training program after leaving high school, but soon began his career at the renowned Abbey Theatre, first as an student in its training program and later on the Dublin stage before moving to Great Britain where he joined 7:84, a leftist theater group. He traveled to the USA in 1982, settling in the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan, and jetted back-and-forth …
Colm Meaney SlideShow
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Career Milestones
| Joined 7:84, a small British leftist theater company | ||
| Moved to London in his early 20s | ||
1978 | First television appearance, "Z-Cars" on BBC1 | |
1981 | Feature acting debut, "Nailed" | |
1981 | Made his Broadway debut in "Nicholas Nickleby" | |
1986 | Moved to Los Angeles, CA | |
1987 | Cast as Engineer Miles O'Brien on the "Star Trek" spin-off "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (Syndicated) | |
1987 | Played supporting role in John Huston's "The Dead" | |
1988 | Featured on Broadway in "Breaking the Code" | |
1990 | First film with director Alan Parker, "Come See the Paradise" | |
1990 | Landed bit parts in Warren Beatty's appropriately cartoonish "Dick Tracy" and the action sequel "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" | |
1991 | Re-teamed with Parker in "The Commitments," playing the colorful father of the band's manager; the first film in Doyle's Barrytown trilogy | |
1992 | Featured in Ron Howard's period drama "Far and Away" | |
1993 | Joined the cast of the "Star Trek" spin-off series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"; reprised role of O'Brien | |
1993 | Landed first lead role in "The Snapper," the second film in Doyle's Barrytown trilogy directed by Stephen Frears | |
1994 | Appeared opposite then-wife Bairbre Dowling as parents of a leader of a children's gang in "The War of the Buttons" | |
1994 | Co-starred as a zealot vegetarian in "The Road to Wellville," Alan Parker's 1907-set satire of health fanaticism | |
1994 | Played the title character's cousin in "Scarlett," the CBS miniseries sequel to "Gone With the Wind" | |
1995 | Delivered memorable role as strong-willed innkeeper Morgan the Goat in "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain" | |
1996 | Cast in featured role as a slick politician in "Last of the High Kings" | |
1996 | Re-teamed with Frears for the third film in Doyle's Barrytown trilogy "The Van" | |
1997 | Played a short-tempered DEA agent in "Con Air" | |
1998 | Cast as a gangster who forces the title character into a life of prostitution in "Claire Dolan" | |
1999 | Co-starred in the off-Broadway staging of "The Cider House Rules - Part One: Here in St. Cloud's" | |
1999 | Delivered supporting turn as the fey operator of a bed & breakfast in "This Is My Father" | |
1999 | Played the mayor of a small-town in the David E. Kelley penned "Mystery Alaska" | |
1999 | Starred as the leader of the leprechauns in the NBC fantasy miniseries "The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns" | |
2001 | Played the title role in the film "How Harry Became a Tree" | |
2002 | Co-starred in the TNT movie "King of Texas," which reset Shakespeare's "King Lear" in the U.S. | |
2003 | Starred in the musical comedy "The Boys and Girl from County Clare" | |
2004 | Co-starred with Colin Farrell in the drama "Intermission" | |
2004 | Co-starred with Daniel Craig in the British gangster hit "Layer Cake," directed by Matthew Vaughn | |
2004 | Played recurring role of Cowen, leader of the Genii, on the Sci Fi Channel series "Stargate Atlantis" | |
2007 | Starred in the Irish film "Kings" | |
2009 | Played a detective in "Law Abiding Citizen" opposite Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx | |
2009 | Portrayed the former Leeds manager Don Reviethe in the British film "The Damned United" | |
2010 | Cast in the comedy feature "Get Him to the Greek" | |
2012 | Co-starred with Robert Pattinson in the Parisian-set period drama "Bel Ami," based on the novel by Guy de Maupassant | |
Awards
1993 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical in The Snapper |