Stephen Rea

Stephen Rea (/ˈreɪ/ ray; born 1946) is an Irish actor. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he began his career as a member of Dublin's Focus Theatre, and played many roles on the stage and on Irish television. He came to the attention of international film audiences in Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan's 1992 film The Crying Game, and subsequently starred in many more of Jordan's films, including Interview with the Vampire (1994), Michael Collins (1996), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), and Greta (2018). He also played a starring role in the Hugo Blick 2011 TV series The Shadow Line.

As a stage actor, he is known for his performances at The Gate and Abbey theatres in Dublin, and the Royal Court Theatre in London. He is a co-founder of the Field Day Theatre Company with Brian Friel.

He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Crying Game (1992), and won a BAFTA Award for his role in The Honourable Woman in 2015. In 2020, The Irish Times ranked Rea the 13th greatest Irish film actor of all time.

Early life and education

Stephen Rea was born in 1946 in Belfast. His father was a bus driver and his mother a housewife. His family was Protestant but sympathetic to Irish nationalism.

He studied English at the Queen's University Belfast and drama at the Abbey Theatre School in Dublin.

Career

Stage

Rea's association with playwright Stewart Parker began when they were students together at the Queen's University Belfast. In the late 1970s, he acted in the Focus Company in Dublin with Gabriel Byrne and Colm Meaney.

Rea helped establish the Field Day Theatre Company in 1980 with Tom Paulin, Brian Friel, Seamus Heaney, and Seamus Deane.

Rea's friendship with American playwright and actor Sam Shepard dates back to the early 1970s, and he starred in Shepard's directorial début of his play Geography of a Horse Dreamer at the Royal Court Theatre in 1974. In 2007, Rea began a successful and acclaimed relationship with both the Abbey Theatre and Sam Shepard, appearing in Kicking a Dead Horse (2007) and Ages of the Moon (2009), both penned by Shepard and also both transferred to New York. Rea returned to the Abbey in 2009 to appear in the world première of Sebastian Barry's Tales of Ballycumber.

Rea starred in Enda Walsh's 2014 play Ballyturk and portrayed Jordan in Out of the Dark, in which he co-stars alongside Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman and Alejandro Furth.

Screen

Rea came to international attention when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Irish film-maker Neil Jordan's film The Crying Game in 1992. He is a frequent collaborator with Jordan, starring in his other films Interview with the Vampire (1994), Michael Collins (1996), The End of the Affair (1999), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), and Greta (2018).

In 2011, Rea featured in the BBC crime drama The Shadow Line, playing antagonist Gatehouse.

In 2023, Rea appeared as Frank, husband to Eileen (played by Kathy Bates) in the film The Miracle Club.

Voice

Rea was hired to speak the words of Gerry Adams when Sinn Féin was under a broadcasting ban from 1988 to 1994.

In April 2012, Rea read James Joyce's short story "The Dead" on RTÉ Radio 1.

He also narrated for the BBC Radio 4 production of Ulysses for Bloomsday, 16 June 2012.

Recognition and awards

Rea is an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Tony Award nominee, a two-time BAFTA Award winner, and a three-time Irish Film and Television (IFTA) Award winner.[citation needed]

He was nominated for a BAFTA Award and for the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Crying Game (1992).

In 2004, in recognition for his contribution to theatre and performing arts, Rea was given honorary degrees from both the Queen's University Belfast and the Ulster University.

He won a BAFTA Award for his role in The Honourable Woman in 2015.

In 2020, The Irish Times ranked Rea the 13th greatest Irish film actor of all time.

Personal life

From 1983 until their divorce in 2003, Rea was married to Dolours Price, a former Provisional Irish Republican Army bomber and hunger striker who later became a critic of Sinn Féin. They had two sons.

Rea had already met Price in the 1960's but ten years before their marriage, Price attended a performance by Rea in The Freedom of the City at the Court Theatre in London in 1973, the night before she took part in a car bombing that injured 200 people.

As of 2012[update], Rea was an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland.

As of 2020[update], Rea lives in County Donegal.

Acting credits

Film

Television

Theatre

See also

• List of Irish actors
• List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Ireland

External links

• at IMDb
• at the Internet Broadway Database
• at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)