The Quietly Crafty and Consistent Career of Cillian Murphy

Armed with piercing blue eyes, cheekbones that could cut glass, and a pleasant Cork accent (not often heard in his film roles), Irish actor Cillian Murphy has been a fixture in film over the last fifteen-odd years. He’s effectively become one of the most reliable actors in the industry; while he may not always be taking center stage in his films, the roles he’s cast in consistently allow his films to pack an extra special punch. Murphy began his career as a stage actor in Ireland, and slowly transitioned into the indie film world. Wondering where you likely saw him first? Completely nude in Danny Boyle‘s 2002 post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later.

As bike courier Jim, Murphy offered a convincing, dreamy, perplexed performance that aided beautifully in telling the film’s terrifying story. While Murphy had acted in small roles on television and in film, this was the first time he had taken charge on the big screen – and been seen by American audiences. The following year, he starred opposite Colin Farrell in heist film Intermission, which became the most lucrative Irish independent films in history (later topped by another film starring Murphy, The Wind That Shakes the Barley). He continued to work consistently in solid dramas like Cold Mountain and Girl with a Pearl Earring, but remained on the sidelines. It wasn’t until 2005 when he truly had his big break in a little movie called Batman Begins.

Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight trilogy changed the game when it came to superhero flicks; Nolan got gritty, dark, and honest, and painted Gotham as a real metropolitan city instead of a cartoonish one. Who better to join the cast than the mysterious-looking Murphy? As Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow, Murphy played the perfect supervillain. His ability to present himself as a composed (yet definitely skeezy) individual and flip into super-evil mode with those icy baby blues gave us a supervillain we’d never seen before. How could someone so pretty be so bad?! Later that year, Murphy again charmed scared audiences in Wes Craven‘s plane thriller Red Eye opposite Rachel McAdams. If audiences had been unsettled by Murphy in Batman Begins, his chilling performance as Jackson Rippner, an operative who terrorizes his flight seat mate (McAdams) into being a part of his assassination plot, was absolutely terrifying. Armed again with those freezing blue eyes and an androgynous, unhinged charm, Murphy proved that he was a performer of many layers.

The next few years found Murphy once again the subject of critical acclaim; in Breakfast on Pluto, Murphy starred as Patrick/”Kitty” Braden, a transgender foundling who searches for her mother. Murphy poured his heart and soul into the part, having lobbied to play her for years, and received a Golden Globe nomination for his work. The Wind That Shakes the Barley also served as a showcase for Murphy’s ability to make himself simultaneously vulnerable and zealous, and acted as a love letter to his hometown of Cork. The film was a critical and box office success, and proved that Murphy could headline a film with grace (and get nominated for a ton of awards for it).

Magnetic, dynamic, and seductive as ever, Murphy has continued to appear in a series of diverse projects over the last ten years. He re-teamed with Danny Boyle in futuristic sci-fi flick Sunshine, in which he played an astronaut/physicist on a mission to reignite the sun with a quiet, powerful brilliance. Murphy went on to return to the stage and also star in a series of small romantic comedies, crime thrillers, and indie flicks, and briefly re-appeared in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. He reunited with Nolan again for mind-bending thriller Inception, in which he played emotionally-lacking man-baby heir Robert Fischer, a young man trapped in the shadow of his successful father. Murphy gave one of the best performances of his career in the little-seen psychological thriller Peacock, in which he played a bank clerk with personality disorder who lives his life as husband-and-wife alter egos.

Murphy made career leaps by starring alongside actors like Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver, and has also appeared in a series of under-the-radar dramas like In the Heart of the Sea, Transcendence, and Anthropoid. The most marvelous move Murphy has made recently, however, is his turn as Tommy Shelby on Peaky Blinders, a television series set in 1919 England. This complex, compelling, layered character has earned Murphy critical acclaim, and the series continues to be a ratings success. Next up, he’ll be seen in Free Fire opposite Brie Larson, a 70s action comedy that features him with a rad hairstyle/beard combo.

His consistent creative choices have allowed him to become an unassuming tentpole of the entertainment industry. Murphy is more of an artist than anything else; his public persona is irrelevant, because when he appears on screen, he becomes whatever part he’s playing. Whether that’s a super villain, Irish gangster, or a rich entrepreneur, his performances are transcendent and believable. That bone structure and those baby blues might be memorable, but it’s what he does with them that makes him a force to be reckoned with. Murphy’s reliability and willingness to be creatively vulnerable are exactly what make him so great – and we can’t wait to see what impressive projects he picks next.