Gabriel Byrne

A late actor, Gabriel Byrne studied archeology and worked in various professions (teacher, cook, etc.) before embarking on comedy, theater and then the successful English television series Bracken . In 1981, he appeared in his first feature film, Excalibur by John Boorman. He was then 31 years old.

Irish by origin, the actor quickly crosses the Atlantic. After Hanna K. de Costa-Gavras in 1983, Gabriel Byrne found himself starring in The Black Fortress, Michael Mann's second film. However, it was not until 1990, after returning to England in 1986 for the horror film Gothic, that he really revealed himself to the public, with his role as the right hand of an underworld boss in Joel's Miller's Crossing and Ethan Coen.

From then on, his austere and dark face often confined him to thrillers such as Code Name: Nina, Usual Suspects and State Enemy. At the same time, the actor engages in more risky projects like Dead Man (1995), Smilla (1997) or The End of Violence (1997), these last two films proving Gabriel Byrne's attachment to European culture. In a completely different register, he plays the musketeer D'Artagnan alongside Gérard Depardieu, John Malkovich and Jeremy Irons in the swashbuckling film The Man in the Iron Mask (1997).

The transition to the year 2000 sees the native of Dublin moving towards more fantastic projects. One after the other a priest in Stigmata, then the incarnation of Satan in The End of Times in 1999, Gabriel Byrne also participates in David Cronenberg's Spider, presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002. The following year, he plays Sylvester Stallone in Masters of the game, a thriller based on poker. At ease in all registers, we see him sometimes in the remake of a film by Carpenter, Assault on the central 13 (2005), sometimes in costume films like Vanity fair, la foire aux vanités (2005) and Le Pont du Roi Saint-Louis, in which he plays Brother Juniper, one of the key characters in the film.

The rest of Gabriel Byrne's career takes place on the small screen. The actor plays in particular in the TV series In Analysis. He officiated there for three seasons, between 2008 and 2010, playing Dr Paul Weston (he won the Golden Globe for best actor in 2009 for this role). He also participated in the Vikings and Secret State series in 2012. Byrne then reunited with Costa-Gavras the same year, almost 30 years after Hanna K., to shoot Le Capital alongside Gad Elmaleh. The film is a drama against the backdrop of the economic crisis, and a plunge into the decline of the world of finance.