Confident Rogue and Anguished Conformist: The Career Paths of Northern Irish Actors Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt

Abstract

Northern Ireland has been the birthplace of many accomplished and sometimes famous actors for the stage, television and film. While academic star study has often looked for its models in Hollywood and Bollywood, charting how studios and agents shaped the personas of their major talent, successful contemporary actors must eventually choose roles that develop their craft and career with the knowledge that they are actually building a reputation and a future perception of themselves. Due to Northern Ireland’s contested status, home-grown actors also know that their appearance in Irish material can be highly charged and involve an element of imported ‘Northern Irishness’. Building on previous work by Richard Dyer and Dana Polan on stars, and Ruth Barton and Heather Sutherland on Irish actors, I trace the career trajectories of Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt, a Catholic and Protestant, who happened to be both born in or near Ballymena, and who famously starred together in the post-Good Friday Agreement film Five Minutes of Heaven (2009). Whereas Neeson has transferred his ‘Northern Irishness’ often seamlessly to Hollywood needs and demands, Nesbitt provides a more grounded Northern Irish example of success in mainly British television.