Niall O'Brien (actor)
Encyclopedia
Niall O'Brien was an Irish-born
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 actor and member of the Abbey Theatre
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...

 company. He was born in Dalkey
Dalkey
Dalkey is suburb of Dublin and seaside resort in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County, Ireland. It was founded as a Viking settlement and became an important port during the Middle Ages. According to John Clyn, it was one of the ports through which the plague entered Ireland in the mid-14th century...

 village, Co. Dublin, and grew up in nearby Glasthule
Glasthule
Glasthule is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is along Dublin's East Coast, between Dún Laoghaire and Dalkey.Every year it celebrates Bloomsday ....

. He was educated at Presentation College at Westland Row, Dublin, before going on to join the Abbey School of acting.

Personal life

O'Brien was born to Maureen (née Wright) and Michael O'Brien on February 8, 1946. He was the youngest of five children. He went on to marry Brigid Sinnott and they had four children, residing from 1984 in Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Niall died at home on February 25, 2009 from cancer, after a 20-month-long illness.

Career

After completing his leaving cert O'Brien started a building apprenticeship. Upon being accepted to the Abbey School of acting in the mid-1960s however, he took a year out of his apprenticeship to try a career as an actor, and never went back to the construction industry.
In his career as an Abbey actor he took part in 130 theater productions, including 27 world premieres. His first part was in the play Galileo in 1965. His last Abbey performance was appearing as Tom Mooney in Drama at Inis-Is Life Worth Living (2005). Niall toured internationally with the Abbey in Europe, Russia and much of the US.

O'Brien also appeared in numerous television and film appearances throughout his career. These include the parts of Bernard in Ryan's Daughter (1971), Kay in Excalibur (1981), Owen McCarthy in The Year of the French (1982), Agent Rurik in Gorky Park (1983), Captain Twilley in Half Moon St (1986), Det. Insp. Isaac Gissing in Rawhead Rex (1986), Police Superintendent in The Playboys (1992), Josie McCarthy in Broken Harvest (1995) and Mr Moss in Vanity Fair (2004). He also appeared in single episodes of TV series Lovejoy
Lovejoy
Lovejoy is a TV series about the adventures of Lovejoy, a British antiques dealer and faker based in East Anglia, a less than scrupulous yet likeable rogue. The episodes were based on a series of picaresque novels by John Grant...

, Boon
Boon (TV series)
Boon is a British television drama and modern-day western series starring Michael Elphick, David Daker, and later Neil Morrissey. It was created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair and filmed by Central Television for ITV...

, A Touch of Frost, Bachelors Walk
Bachelors Walk
Bachelors Walk was a comedy-drama based around three single men living in a house in Dublin’s Bachelors Walk. The drama was shot in and around Dublin. The programme was first broadcast on RTÉ on 1 October 2001...

and The Royal
The Royal
The Royal is a British medical drama series produced by ITV. The show comprises one hour episodes which were normally first aired on ITV in the Sunday early evening slot....

.
In 2007 he was directed in the short film Teeth by his son, Ruairí O'Brien. This film went on to win awards at the Galway Film Fleadh and Brest European Short Film Festival.

External links

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87AkewNcgwU&feature=fvsr
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