Stephen Rea

Stephen Rea (/ˈreɪ/ ray; born 31 October 1946) is a Northern Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in films such as V for Vendetta, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire and Breakfast on Pluto. Rea was nominated for an Academy Award for his lead performance as Fergus in the 1992 film The Crying Game. He has during later years had important roles in the Hugo Blick TV series The Shadow Line and The Honourable Woman, for which he won a BAFTA Award. In 2020, he was listed at number 14 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.[1]

For the English-born American movie critic, see Steven Rea.

Stephen Rea
Born	(1946-10-31) 31 October 1946 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Citizenship	British
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1962–present
Spouse(s)	Dolours Price ​ ( m. 1983; div. 2003)
Children	2

Early life

Rea was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Protestant parents; his father was a bus driver and his mother a housewife.[2] He studied English at the Queen's University Belfast, and drama at the Abbey Theatre School in Dublin.[2]

In the late 1970s, he acted in the Focus Company in Dublin with Gabriel Byrne and Colm Meaney.

Career

After appearing on the stage and in television and film for many years in Ireland and the United Kingdom, Rea came to international attention when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film The Crying Game. He is a frequent collaborator with Irish film-maker Neil Jordan. Rea has long been associated with some of the most important writers in Ireland. His association with playwright Stewart Parker, for example, began when they were students together at the Queen's University Belfast.

Rea helped establish the Field Day Theatre Company in 1980 with Tom Paulin, Brian Friel, Seamus Heaney and Seamus Deane. In recognition for his contribution to theatre and performing arts, Rea was given honorary degrees from both the Queen's University Belfast[3] and the Ulster University[4] in 2004.

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.[5] Rea returned to the Abbey in 2009 to appear in the world première of Sebastian Barry's Tales of Ballycumber.[6]

Rea was hired to speak the words of Gerry Adams when Sinn Féin was under a 1988–94 broadcasting ban.[7]

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

In April 2012, Rea read James Joyce's short story "The Dead" on RTÉ Radio 1.[8] He also narrated for the BBC Radio 4 production of Ulysses for Bloomsday, 16 June 2012.

Rea starred in Enda Walsh's 2014 play Ballyturk and portrayed Jordan in Out of the Dark,[9] in which he co-stars alongside Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman and Alejandro Furth.[10][11]

Personal life

Rea was married for 17 years to Dolours Price, a former Provisional Irish Republican Army bomber and hunger striker who later became a critic of Sinn Féin. (Another news source suggests a marriage of 20 years, from 1983 to 2003.)[12] Price attended a performance of Rea's at the Court Theatre in London in 1973, the night before she participated in a car bombing which injured 200 people.[13] They had been divorced when she died on 23 January 2013.[14] They have two sons.[15]

Rea is an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland.[16] He lives in County Donegal.[17]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	Cry of the Banshee	Villager
1982	Angel	Danny
1984	The Company of Wolves	Young Groom
1985	The Doctor and the Devils	Timothy Broom
1985	Loose Connections	Harry
1990	Life Is Sweet	Patsy
1992	The Crying Game	Fergus
1993	Bad Behaviour	Gerry McAllister
1994	Angie	Noel
1994	Princess Caraboo	Gutch
1994	Interview with the Vampire	Santiago
1994	Prêt-à-Porter	Milo O'Brannigan
1995	Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea	Nikos
1995	All Men Are Mortal	Fosca
1996	Michael Collins	Ned Broy
1996	Trojan Eddie	Trojan Eddie
1996	The Last of the High Kings	Cab Driver
1997	Fever Pitch	Ray
1997	The Butcher Boy	Benny Brady
1997	The Break	Sean Dowd
1997	Double Tap	Cypher
1997	Hacks	Brian
1998	This Is My Father	Mission Priest	Cameo
1998	Still Crazy	Tony Costello
1999	In Dreams	Dr. Silverman
1999	Guinevere	Connie Fitzpatrick
1999	I Could Read the Sky	P.J. Doran
1999	The Life Before This	Brian
1999	The End of the Affair	Henry Miles
2000	The King's Wake	King Connor Mac Neasa	(Voice) Short film
2001	The Musketeer	Cardinal Richelieu
2001	On the Edge	Dr. Figure
2002	FeardotCom	Alistair Pratt
2002	Evelyn	Michael Beattie
2003	Bloom	Leopold Bloom
2004	The I Inside	Dr. Newman
2004	The Halo Effect	Fatso
2004	The Confessor	McCaran
2004	Fluent Dysphasia	Murph	Short film
2004	Proud	Barney Garvey
2004	Control	Dr. Arlo Penner
2005	Breakfast on Pluto	Bertie Vaughan
2005	River Queen	Francis
2005	Tara Road	Colm Maguire
2005	V for Vendetta	Eric Finch
2006	Sisters	Dr. Philip Lacan
2006	Sixty Six	Dr. Barrie
2007	Until Death	Gabriel Callaghan
2007	The Reaping	Father Michael Costigan
2007	Stuck	Thomas Bardo
2008	The Devil's Mercy	Tyler
2008	Kisses	Down Under Dylan	Uncredited cameo
2009	Spy(ies)	M. Palmer
2009	Child of the Dead End	Patrick MacGill
2009	Nothing Personal	Martin
2009	The Heavy	Jameson Anawalt
2009	Ondine	Priest
2011	Blackthorn	Mackinley
2011	Stella Days	Brendan McSweeney
2012	Underworld: Awakening	Dr. Jacob Lane
2012	Werewolf: The Beast Among Us	Doc	Direct-to-DVD
2013	Tasting Menu	Walter
2014	Asylum	McGahey
2014	Styria	Dr. Hill
2014	Out of the Dark	Jordan
2015	Ruby Strangelove Young Witch	Danforth
2015	An Enchanted Ruby	Danforth
2018	Black '47	Conneely
2018	Greta	Brian Cody

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964	Crossroads	Pepe Costa
1967	Angel Pavement	Second Mate	Episode: "They Arrive"
1967	Sanctuary	Stephen Moriarty	Episode: "The Voice of His Calling"
1969	Z-Cars	Kenny	Episode: "Snout: Part 2"
1970	Softly, Softly: Task Force	Philip Conner	Episode: "Trust a Woman"
1971	Omnibus	Hubert Page	Episode: "Hail and Farewell-George Moore"
1972	The Moonstone	Major Frayne	Episode: "1.1"
1974	Thriller	Arden Buckley	Episode: "K is for Killing" (US Title: "Color Him Dead")
1974–1979	Play for Today	Peter / Chas / Shay	3 episodes
1975–1976	I Didn't Know You Cared	Carter Brandon	13 episodes
1977	BBC2 Play of the Week	Hollar	Episode: "Professional Foul"
1978	Play of the Month	Constantin	Episode: "The Seagull"
1978	The Professionals	Pellin	Episode: "In the Public Interest"
1978	Thank You, Comrades	Mayakovsky	TV film
1980	Caleb Williams	Tyrell	Episode: "1.1"
1982	Joyce in June	Stanislaus Joyce / McIntosh	TV film
1984	Minder	Roddy Allan	Episode: "Windows"
1984	Four Days in July	Dixie	TV film
1986	Boon	Frank Warren	Episode: "Fools Rush In"
1986	Screen Two	Frankie	Episode: "Shergar"
1987	Lost Belongings	Lenny	2 episodes
1987	Scout	Marshall	TV film
1989	4 Play	Paul	Segment: "Not As Bad as They Seem"
1989	Endgame	Clov	TV film
1990	Not with a Bang	Colin Garrity	7 episodes
1993	Saturday Night Live	Fergus	(Uncredited) Episode: "Miranda Richardson/Soul Asylum"
1993, 1995	Performance	Ejlert Lovborg / Seamus Shields	2 episodes
1995	Citizen X	Lt. Viktor Burakov	TV film
1996	Crime of the Century	Bruno Hauptmann	TV film
2001	A Scare at Bedtime	Dr. Roger St. Roctor	Episode: "Not What the Doctor Ordered"
2001	Snow in August	Rabbi Judah Hirsch	TV film
2001	Armadillo	Hogg	3 episodes
2001–2002	Horrible Histories	Narrator (voice, UK dub)	26 episodes
2002	Copenhagen	Niels Bohr	TV film
2007	Imeacht Na N'Iarlaí	Aodh Ó Néill, Tiarna Thir Eoghain	Episode: "1"
2008	10 Days to War	Tim Cross	Episode: "These Things Are Always Chaos"
2009	Father & Son	Augustine Flynn	4 episodes
2009	Law and Order: SVU	Callum Donovan	Episode: "Solitary"
2009	Heidi 4 Paws	The Doctor (voice)	TV film
2010	Single-Handed	Sean Doyle	Episodes: "The Lost Boys: Parts 1 & 2"
2011	Roadkill	Seamus	TV film
2011	The Shadow Line	Gatehouse	6 episodes
2013	Utopia	Conran Letts	5 episodes
2014	The Honourable Woman	Sir Hugh Hayden-Hoyle	8 episodes
2015–2016	Dickensian	Inspector Bucket	16 episodes
2016	War & Peace	Prince Vassily Kuragin	5 episodes
2016	Fir Bolg	Spencer	Episode: "Nochtadh"
2018	Counterpart	Alexander Pope	7 episodes
2018	Thanksgiving	Melchior	3 episodes
2020	The Stranger	Martin Killane	8 episodes
2020	Flesh and Blood	Mark	4 episodes

Stage

Year	Title	Playwright	Theatre
1967	Shadow of a Gunman	Sean O'Casey	The Mermaid Theatre, London
1969	Captain Oates' Left Sock	John Antrobus	Royal Court Theatre, London
1971	Crete and Sargent Pepper	John Antrobus	Royal Court Theatre, London
1973	The Freedom of the City	Brian Friel	Royal Court Theatre, London
1973	The Duchess of Malfi	John Webster	7:84 Theatre Company, London
1973	Sargent Musgraves	John Arden	The Gate, Dublin
1973	The White Devil	John Webster	Nottingham Playhouse
1973	Drums in the Night	Bertold Brecht	Hampstead Theatre, London
1974	Geography of a Horse Dreamer	Sam Shepard	Royal Court Theatre, London
1974	Comedians	Trevor Griffiths	Nottingham Playhouse
2016	Cyprus Avenue	David Ireland	Royal Court Theatre, London

References

1. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/the-50-greatest-irish-film-actors-of-all-time-in-order-1.4271988
2. Auld, Tim (25 March 2016). "Stephen Rea: 'I never wanted to be a polite actor'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
3. "Queen's prepares for graduation week". Queen's University Belfast. June 2004. Archived from the original on 15 August 2004. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
4. "Honour for Stephen Rea". Ulster University. 15 December 2004. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
5. "Ages of the Moon by Sam Shepard, 24 February – 4 April 2009". Abbey Theatre. 2009. Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
6. "Tales of Ballycumber". Abbey Theatre. 2009. Archived from the original on 6 July 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
7. Wolf, Matt (17 September 1994). "Actors lose jobs as ban on IRA voices is lifted". Austin American-Statesman. p. A3.
8. "Rea reads The Dead on RTÉ Radio". RTÉ Ten. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
9. "Scare comes from Out of the Dark in this exclusive clip". Bloody Disgusting. 24 February 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
10. Barton, Steve (26 February 2015). "First clips emerge Out of the Dark". Dread Central.
11. Boiselle, Matt (27 February 2015). "Out of the Dark (2015)". Dread Central.
12. Foy, Ken; Murphy, Cormac (24 January 2013). "Dolours Price, former IRA terrorist and ex-wife of actor Stephen Rea, dies of suspected overdose". Irish Independent. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
13. Radden Keefe, Patrick (2018). Say Nothing. Penguin Random House.
14. McDonald, Henry (28 January 2013). "Stephen Rea carries Dolours Price's coffin at funeral in Belfast: Former IRA hunger striker is buried after mass attended by Hollywood actor ex-husband". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
15. "Ex-IRA woman Dolours Price is found dead in Dublin". BBC News Online. 24 January 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
16. "UNICEF Ireland Ambassadors & High Profile Supporters". UNICEF. Archived from the original on 12 July 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
17. "Actor Stephen Rea reveals he has found peace living in Donegal". 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.

External links

• Stephen Rea on IMDb
• Stephen Rea at the Internet Broadway Database
• Stephen Rea at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Stage credits