Conleth Hill

Conleth Seamus Eoin Croiston Hill (born 24 November 1964) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has performed on stage in productions in the UK, Ireland, Canada and the United States. He has won two Laurence Olivier Awards and received two Tony Award nominations. He is best known for his role as Lord Varys in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2019).[1]

Conleth Hill
Conleth Hill at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con International
Born	Conleth Seamus Eoin Croiston Hill (1964-11-24) 24 November 1964 Ballycastle, Northern Ireland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1986–present
Awards	Olivier Award for Best Actor 2001: Stones in His Pockets 2005: The Producers Oscar Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film 2012: The Shore

Early life

Conleth Hill was born in Ballycastle in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.[2] He has an older brother who works as a cameraman, a sister who is a producer, and a younger brother, Ronan, who is a sound engineer who has won four Emmy Awards for his sound mixing on Game of Thrones.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

Conleth Hill graduated from St MacNissi's College, Garron Tower and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's (Clothworkers Company Scholar) acting program in 1989.[9]

Career

Hill made his Broadway debut in Marie Jones' Stones in His Pockets. For his work in the Canadian production of the play he received a Dora Mavor Moore Award.[10] He played the German professor Max Staefel in a television adaptation of Goodbye, Mr Chips (2002). He played "Mum" to Peter Kay's character, Geraldine McQueen, in Peter Kay's Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice,[11] a spoof on the talent show genre of programmes. He also played the role of Edward Darby in the television series Suits.

From 2011 to 2019, Hill appeared as Varys in the television series Game of Thrones, based on George R. R. Martin's novel series A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin hinted, in a February 2013 post on his website, that he thought Hill would be a good choice to play the title character in a TV show based on Martin's science fiction novel Tuf Voyaging.[12] He appeared in Series 2 episode 2 of Peter Kay's Car Share as Elsie, the drunk deli counter supervisor dressed as Smurfette.[13]

Personal life

When not filming Game of Thrones, Hill maintained a full head of hair, which he was required to shave during filming.[14]

Filmography

Films

2003	Intermission	Teacher
2009	Whatever Works	Brockman
	Perrier's Bounty	Russ
2011	Salmon Fishing in the Yemen	Bernard Sugden
	The Shore	Paddy	Short film
2012	Whole Lotta Sole	Barber
	Keith Lemon: The Film	Delivery Man
2014	Serena	Dr. Chaney
2015	A Patch of Fog	Sandy Duffy
2018	The Isle	Douglas Innis
2019	Official Secrets	Roger Alton
2020	Herself	Aido
2020	Here Are the Young Men

Television

Year(s)	Series	Character	Notes
1988	Boon	Second Pupil	Episode: "Honourable Service"
1988–1995	Casualty	Theo/Rob	2 episodes
1990	Medics	Liam McGuinness	Episode: "Niall"
1992	Screen One	Neil	Episode: "Trust Me"
1992–1994	Blue Heaven	Roache	7 episodes
1993	The Bill	Michael White	Episode: "Hard Evidence"
1994	Lit By Love and Sunshine	as Narrator [15]
1995	Crown Prosecutor	Neville Osborn
2000	Meaningful Sex	Carl	TV short
2002	Goodbye Mr. Chips	Max Staefel	TV movie
2007	The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle	Jared	6 episodes
2008	Britain's Got the Pop Factor	Geraldine's Mum	Reality show parody by Peter Kay
2011–2019	Game of Thrones	Varys	46 episodes
2013	Suits	Edward Darby	6 episodes
2014	Inside No. 9	Stevie	Episode: "Tom & Gerri"
	That Day We Sang	Frank	Television film
	Sherlock	Uncredited Role	Episode: The Empty Hearse
2015	Foyle's War	Sir Ian Woodhead	Episode: "Elise"
	Arthur & George	Sergeant Upton	3 episodes
2017	Stan Lee's Lucky Man	Reverend Anthony Huxley	Episode: "Playing With Fire"
	Peter Kay's Car Share	Elsie	Series 2, Episode 2
2018	Dave Allen at Peace	John Tynan O'Mahony
	12 Monkeys	Interpol Agent Bonham	2 episodes
2019	Dublin Murders	O'Kelly
	Vienna Blood	Mendel Lieberman
	Doc Martin	Dr. Edward Mullen	2 Episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes	Ref.
2012	Game of Thrones	Varys	Based on the TV series of the same name

Audio books

Year(s)	Book	Character	Publisher	Ref.
2009	Zurich (The Wire) Pearse Elliott	Narrator	BBC Worldwide Ltd	[16]
2008	Tamburlaine: Shadow of God John Fletcher	Hafez	BBC Worldwide Ltd	[17]

Radio

Date	Title	Role	Author	Director	Station
25 December 2000	The Man Who Came to Dinner		Moss Hart and George S Kaufman adapted for radio by Marcy Kahan	Ned Chaillet	BBC Radio 4
7 November 2002	Tricycles		Colin Teevan	Toby Swift	BBC Radio 3 The Wire
18 February 2004	The Travels of Marco Polo		Philip Palmer	Toby Swift	BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
19 April 2012	Titanic letters[18]	Reader, ep.33		Ciaran Hinds	BBC Radio Ulster
24 April 2012	The Biggest Issues[19]	Jerry Cartwright	Annie McCartney	Eoin O'Callaghan	BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Drama
2017	Big Country'[20][21]	JD Quinn	Patrick Kielty		BBC Radio Ulster

Theatre

Stage productions

• Winners by Brian Friel, as Joe; One day in summer in a garden as Uncle Jim, Incredible adventure of doctor Faustus as Mephistopheles secretary, Fools' bar Various Roles, Fringe Benefits Theatre Company (1984–85)[22][23][24]
• The Adventures of a Bear Called Paddington, Various Roles, the Arts Theatre, Ardhowen Theatre, Belfast; Riverside Theatre, Coleraine (1986)[25][26]
• West Side Story, as Bernardo - Leader of the Sharks, Ulster Youth Theatre (1986)[27]
• Broken Nails by Damian Gorman, as Joe, St Peter's Cathedral in West Belfast (1988)[28][29]
• Orlando, Guildhall School of Music and Drama (1988)[30]
• Girl Crazy, Guildhall School of Music & Drama (1989)[31]
• Little Shop of Horrors, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) (1989)[32]
• The School for Wives as Horace, The John Player Theatre, The Arts Theatre (Belfast) (1989)[33]
• The Picture of Dorian Gray, as Dorian, Arts Theatre (Belfast) (1989)[34]
• Too Late To Talk To Billy as John Fletcher, Arts Theatre, 1990[29]
• Oliver Twist as Artful Dodger / Mr.Limbkins ect. Lyric Theatre (1990)[35]
• Over the bridge by Sam Thompson as Ephraim Smart, Lyric Theatre (1990)[36][37]
• Playboy of the Western World as Shawn Keogh, Lyric Theatre (1990)[38]
• The Iceman Cometh as Willie Oban, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) (1990)[39]
• The Importance of Being Earnest as Algernon, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) (1990)[40]
• Leave him to heaven, The Arts Theatre (Belfast) (1991)[41]
• Government inspector Playwright Marie Jones Adapted Nikolai Gogol, as Headmaster, The Rock Theatre (1993)[42]
• Christmas Eve Can Kill You, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) (1994)
• Playboy of the Western World as Christy Mahon, Redgrave Theatre, Farnham (1994)[43]
• Tall Tales for Small People (Tall Tales For Cold, Dark Nights), Communicado (Scotland) (1995)[44]
• Eddie Bottom's dream by Marie Jones, as Puck, Lyric Theatre (Belfast)[45]
• Stones in His Pockets as Charlie, Lyric Theatre (Belfast); Gaiety Theatre (Dublin); Traverse Theatre (Edinburgh); Tricycle, New Ambassadors, Duke of York's (London); Winter Garden Theatre (Toronto); Golden Theater, (New York) (1996 with Tim Murphy) (1999 with Sean Campion)
• No Stars On Sunday by Tim Loane, Old museum Arts Center (Belfast) (1998)[46][47]
• A Midsummer Night's Dream as Nick Bottom, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) (1997)
• Playboy of the Western World as Christy Mahon, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) (1997)[48]
• Shining Souls, Old Vic (London) (1997)[49][50]
• The Suicide by Nikolai Erdman, as Semyon Podsekalnikov, Communicado (Scotland) (1997)[51]
• Juno and the Paycock as Joxer Daly, Royal Lyceum (Edinburgh) (1998)[52]
• Northern Star by Stewart Parker, as Henry Joy McCraken, Field Day/Tinderbox (1998)[53]
• Christmas Carol, Communicado (Scotland) (1998)[54]
• A Whistle in the Dark as Michael Carney, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) (1999)
• Criminal Genius as motel manager Phillie, Prime Cut Productions (Belfast) (1999)
• Waiting for Godot as Estragon, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) (1999)[55][56][57]
• Conversations on a Homecoming as Michael, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) (2002)
• After Darwin as Charles Darwin, Prime Cut Productions (Dublin and Belfast) (2002)
• The Chance as Daniel, Prime Cut Productions (Belfast) (2002)[58]
• Democracy as Gunter Guillaume, National Theatre (London) (2003)
• The Producers as Roger DeBris, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (London) (2004)
• Shoot the Crow as Petesy, Trafalgar Studios (London); Royal Exchange Theatre (Manchester) (2005)
• Endgame as Hamm, Prime Cut Productions (Belfast) (2006)
• Philistines as Teterev, National Theatre (London) (2007)
• The Seafarer, as Ivan Curry, National Theatre (London); Booth Theatre (New York) (2007)
• Dallas Sweetman as Dallas Sweetman, Canterbury Cathedral (2008)
• All's Well that Ends Well as Parolles, National Theatre (London) (2009)
• Home Place as Richard, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) (2009)
• STARS – A Ballycastle Nativity by Damian Gorman, Cross & Passion College and Ballycastle High School (Ballycastle) (2009)[59][60][61][62]
• White Guard as Leonid Shervinskiy, National Theatre (London) (2010)
• The Cherry Orchard, as Lopakhin, National Theatre, London (2011)
• Uncle Vanya as Uncle Vanya, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) (2011)
• Quartermaine's Terms, as Henry, Wyndham's Theatre, London (2013)
• Macbeth, as Macbeth, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkeley (2016)
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, as George, Harold Pinter Theatre, London (2017)[63]
• SPUD, Lyric Theatre (Belfast) Director (2019)
• The Antipodes, as Sandy, National Theatre, London (2019)[64]

Awards and nominations

• 2000 Irish Times award, for Stones in His Pockets[65]
• 2001 Olivier Awards, Best Actor, for Stones in His Pockets
• 2001 Tony Award nomination, Best Actor in a Play, for Stones in His Pockets
• 2001 Drama Desk Award, Special Award, for Stones in His Pockets
• 2001 Outer Critics Circle Award, for Stones in His Pockets[66]
• 2001 Whatsonstage award, Best Actor for Stones in His Pockets[67]
• 2001 Dora Awards, for Stones in His Pockets
• 2005 The Critics Circle Theatre Awards, winner of Best Musical for "The Producers"
• 2005 Olivier Awards, Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical, for The Producers
• 2008 Tony Award nomination, Best Featured Actor in a Play, for The Seafarer[68]
• 2008 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, for The Seafarer
• 2011–2016 nominated for Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Game of Thrones

References

1. "Carice van Houten heads back to Westeros, and new photos from Lokrum and Moneyglass". Watchers on the Wall. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
2. Editorial Staff (10 January 2005). "20 Questions With…Conleth Hill". whatsonstage. Archived from the original on 11 January 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
3. "Ronan Hill wins his third Emmy award for work on Game of Thrones". The Irish News. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
4. "Interview: Ronan Hill, Game of Thrones production sound mixer". audiomediainternational.com. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
5. "Ronan Hill". Television Academy. emmys.com. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
6. "Emmy Award success for local Game of Thrones sound crew". BBC News. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
7. "Third consecutive CAS Award for Game of Thrones Sound Mixer Ronan Hill". iftn.ie. The Irish Film & Television Network. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
8. "Ronan Hill wins fourth consecutive Cinema Audio Society award". northernirelandscreen.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
9. "PLAY magazine Autumn-Winter 2017" (PDF).
10. "Billy Budd sails to six Dora wins". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
11. "Collection Editions: A Game of Thrones: An Inside Guide to the Hit Show".
12. "Not A Blog – Tuf Returns". livejournal.com. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
13. "Conleth Hill plays drunk Smurf in Peter Kay's Car Share". Daily Express.
14. "'Game of Thrones': Conleth Hill Doesn't Get Recognized". Access Hollywood. 3 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
15. Digital film archive. Lit By Love and Sunshine
16. Zurich (The Wire) Audible Audiobook
17. Tamburlaine: Shadow of God (BBC Radio 3: Drama on 3) Audible Audiobook
18. "BBC Radio 4 – Afternoon Drama, The Biggest Issues". BBC. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
19. "Program Information BBC Radio Ulster" (PDF). BBC.
20. "BBC Radio Ulster". BBC.
21. "RadioTimes".
22. "Part of the Six Pack, program". Digital Theatre Archive.
23. "Fools' bar, programme". Digital Theatre Archive.
24. "Incredible adventure of doctor Faustus, programme". Digital Theatre Archive.
25. according to the memoirs of mr.Richard Orr
26. Senter, Al (10 March 2017). "Interview with Game of Thrones actor Conleth Hill". The Stage.
27. Sunday Life, 3 December 1989
28. Sunday Tribune. 24–25 December 1988
29. "The Importance of Being Earnest, Theatre programme". Digital Theatre Archive. p. 19.
30. "Theatre Programm".
31. "PLAY magazine Autumn-Winter 2017" (PDF).
32. "Little Shop of Horrors, Theatre programme". Digital Theatre Archive.
33. The Stage. 26 October 1989
34. The Stage, 16 February 1989
35. "Oliver Twist, Theatre programme". Digital Theatre Archive.
36. "Over the bridge, Theatre programme". Digital Theatre Archive.
37. The Stage, 15 November 1990
38. "The Playboy of the Western World, Theatre programme". Digital Theatre Archive.
39. "Roland Jaquarello". www.rolandjaquarello.com.
40. "History of The Lyric Theatre, Belfast". history.lyrictheatre.co.uk.
41. Sunday Life, 31 Marсh 1991
42. "irishplayography.com".
43. The Stage, 29 September 1994
44. "Tall Tales for Small People / 1995". Communicado Theatre. 15 January 2016.
45. "irishplayography.com".
46. Sunday Tribune. 8 December 1996
47. "troikatalent.com" (PDF).
48. The Stage, 6 February 1997
49. "Shining Souls" Theatre programme
50. The Stage, 6 November 1997
51. "The List: 15 August 1997". The List Archive. 15 August 1997.
52. "The List: 20 February 1998". The List Archive. 20 February 1998.
53. Sunday Tribune 22 November 1998
54. https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/people/17256
55. Sunday Tribune 7 November 1999
56. "Godot without a pause". 4 November 1999 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
57. "'Stones' stars Conleth Hill, Seán Campion recall classic duos". 16 February 2011 – via The Irish Echo.
58. "irishplayography.com".
59. "Catch STARS - A Ballycastle Nativity live on stage". 16 September 2009 – via Ballymoney and Moyle Times.
60. "It's Curtain up for Christmas". 13 November 2009 – via Belfast Telegraph Digital.
61. "Cross and Passion College". December 2009.
62. "gotlottery.uk". 7 October 2009.
63. "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? Buy Direct from The Theatre". www.atgtickets.com. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
64. "The Antipodes | National Theatre". www.nationaltheatre.org.uk.
65. Sunday Life 20 February 2000
66. "Show Us Your Outer Critics Plaque II: Viola Davis, Stones in His Pockets".
67. "Westend Theatre. Whatsonstage Awards 2001".
68. 2008 Tony Award Nominations. The New York Times, 13 May 2008.

External links

• Media related to Conleth Hill at Wikimedia Commons
• Conleth Hill on IMDb