Join us for a Career Retrospective with actor Cillian Murphy. Moderated by Jenelle Riley, Variety.

One of the most acclaimed, versatile actors of his generation, CILLIAN MURPHY has starred in major studio hits, award-winning independent films, a celebrated television series and on the stages of London, New York and around the globe. 

On July 21, 2023, Universal Pictures will release Christopher Nolan’s biopic/thriller Oppenheimer, in which Murphy stars as the titular character alongside Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr and Florence Pugh. Based upon the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus:  The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the film explores one of the most iconic figures of the twentieth century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb for his country in a time of war, and later found himself confronting the moral consequences of scientific progress.

Oppenheimer marks Murphy’s sixth collaboration with and first leading role for Nolan. In 2005, the actor made an indelible impression as Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow in Batman Begins, for which he received a London Film Critics Circle Award nomination. He reprised the role in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises and later collaborated with Nolan as the billionaire heir apparent/mark in the critically acclaimed hit Inception. More recently, Murphy played a solider opposite Mark Rylance and Barry Keoghan in Nolan’s groundbreaking World War II epic Dunkirk. 

Next up for Murphy is Small Thinks Like These, an adaptation of Claire Keegan’s lauded novel from Artists Equity, the new studio founded by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The film takes place over Christmas 1985, when devoted father Bill Furlong (Murphy) discovers startling secrets being kept by the convent in town and some shocking truths about his own life. Emily Watson and Ciarán Hinds also star. Small Things Like These reunites director Tim Mielants with Murphy, with whom he previously worked on “Peaky Blinders.” Having optioned the rights to the novel last year, Murphy and Alan Moloney commissioned the screenplay from longtime Murphy collaborator Enda Walsh and produced Small Things Like These through their company Big Things Films.

For six seasons on television, Murphy starred as Thomas Shelby, the most ruthless brother in a family of Birmingham gangsters, in the aforementioned BAFTA Award-winning series “Peaky Blinders.” Created by Steven Knight for BBC One/Netflix, “Peaky Blinders” referred to the family’s practice of sewing razor blades into the peaks of their caps. For the series’ final season, Murphy, who also served as an executive producer, received a BAFTA nomination for Leading Actor.

Murphy first garnered international attention for his performance as Jim, the reluctant survivor in Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. In 2006, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as outcast Patrick "Kitten" Brady in Neil Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto. In Ken Loach’s Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Murphy portrayed a guerilla fighter who battles the Black and Tan squads that attempt to thwart Ireland's bid for independence. In 2007, he re-teamed with Boyle and writer Alex Garland on Sunshine, a thriller in which a group of scientists attempt to reignite a dying sun. For The Wind That Shakes the Barley and Sunshine, Murphy garnered consecutive British Independent Film Award nominations. In 2012, he received a third British Independent Film Award nomination for his role as a teacher in Rufus Norris’ Broken.

Murphy most recently appeared on film in John Krasinki’s A Quiet Place 2, opposite Emily Blunt and Sally Potter’s The Party alongside Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Timothy Spall and Bruno Ganz. 

Murphy’s filmography also includes Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire with Brie Larson, Sean Ellis’ Anthropoid with Jamie Dornan, Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea, Claudia Llosa’s Aloft with Jennifer Connelly, Perrier’s Bounty, directed by Ian Fitzgibbon and co-starring Brendan Gleeson and Jim Broadbent, Wes Craven’s Red Eye, opposite Rachel McAdams, Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain, Peter Webber’s period drama Girl With a Pearl Earring starring Scarlett Johansson and John Crowley’s dark comedy Intermission with Colin Farrell and Kelly Macdonald.

During the pandemic, Murphy starred in the 24-minute All of This Unreal Time, a film commissioned and produced by the Manchester International Festival. Written by Max Porter and directed by Aoife McArdle, the short follows a man, any man, everyman, who walks alone at night through the city, as he considers the smallness of human life, the scale of the world, and ultimately the most pressing obligation: to care for those alongside us, as well as the earth that sustains us. 

Murphy previously collaborated with Porter on “Grief is the Thing with Feathers,” a stage production based on the author’s award-winning novel, adapted and directed by another colleague, Irish playwright Enda Walsh. Originally produced by Complicité and Wayward Productions, the play premiered at the Black Bo Theatre in Galway before moving to the O’Reilly Theatre in Dublin, the Barbican in London and Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse. “Grief is the Thing with Feathers” is the story of a widower and his young sons and a profound meditation on love, loss and living. 

Following critically acclaimed, sold out runs in Ireland, Murphy and Walsh’s previous collaboration, “Ballyturk,” moved to the National Theatre in London; Mikel Murfi, and Stephen Rea co-starred. Murphy previously led Walsh’s “Misterman,” also at the National. Originally produced for the Galway Arts Festival, “Misterman,” is a stunning piece in which the actor explores the depths of a young man’s physical and psychological collapse. For the run at St. Ann’s Warehouse, Murphy received the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. He also received The Irish Times Theatre Award -- Best Actor for the original production in Galway. Murphy first garnered attention on stage with a stunning performance in Walsh’s “Disco Pigs.” After receiving commendations for Best Fringe Show at the 1996 Dublin Theatre Festival and the Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1997, “Disco Pigs” went on to tour extensively in Ireland, the UK, Canada and Europe. Murphy later starred in the film version directed by Kirsten Sheridan.

In 2006, Murphy made his West End debut at the New Ambassador Theatre in John Kolvenbach’s “Love Song,” directed by John Crowley. His stage collaborations with Tony Award-winning director Garry Hynes include “The Country Boy,” “Juno and the Paycock,” and “Playboy of the Western World” at the Gaity Theatre in Dublin. Murphy also starred as Konstantin in the Edinburgh Fest production of “The Seagull” directed by Peter Stein, as Adam in Neil LaBute’s “The Shape of Things” at the Gate Theatre in Dublin and as Claudio in “Much Ado About Nothing” at Kilkenny Castle.  

In 2020 and 2021, Murphy hosted a series of shows which featured an eclectic mix of music, spoken word and poetry on BBC Radio 6 Music. He also directed the music video for MONEY’s “Hold Me Forever” and starred in videos for Feist’s “The Water,” directed by Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew, Paul Hartnoll’s “The Clock” and Fionn Regan’s “The Meetings of the Waters.” 

For over 10 years, Murphy has worked closely with Professor Pat Dolan as patron of the UNESCO Chair and the organization’s Child and Family Research Centre at the University of Galway, Ireland. His commitment to the work of the Centre stems from interests in empowering young people to actively engage in their communities, the role of empathy in fostering social responsibility and empowering young people to effect change on issues that matter to them. Published in October 2022, Murphy co-edited IONBHÁ: The Empathy Book for Ireland, to support UNESCO’s Activating Social Empathy education program for secondary schools.