Ciarán Hinds

Ciarán Hinds (/ˈkɪərɔːn ˈhaɪndz/ KEER-awn HYNDZ; born 9 February 1953) is an Irish film, television and stage actor. He has built a reputation as a versatile character actor appearing in such high-profile films as Road to Perdition, The Sum of All Fears, The Phantom of the Opera, Munich, There Will Be Blood, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, The Woman in Black, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Frozen. He has been cast as Steppenwolf in the film Justice League .
His television roles include Gaius Julius Caesar in the series Rome, DCI James Langton in Above Suspicion, Bud Hammond in Political Animals and Mance Rayder in the Emmy Award-winning Game of Thrones. As a stage actor, Hinds has enjoyed spells with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre in London and six seasons with Glasgow Citizens' Theatre, and he has continued to work on stage throughout his career.

Hinds was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Brought up as a Catholic in North Belfast, he was one of five children and the only son of his doctor father and schoolteacher mother, Moya. His mother was also an amateur actress. He was an Irish dancer in his youth and was educated at Holy Family Primary School and St. Malachy's College. After leaving St. Malachy's, he enrolled as a law student at Queen's University, Belfast (QUB), but was soon persuaded to pursue acting and abandoned his studies at Queen's to enroll at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

Hinds began his professional acting career at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre in a production of Cinderella (1976). He remained a frequent performer at the Citizens' Theatre during the late 1970s and through the mid-1980s. During this same period, Hinds also performed on stage in Ireland with the Abbey Theatre, the Field Day Theatre Company, the Druid Theatre, the Lyric Players' Theatre and at the Project Arts Centre. In 1987, he was cast by Peter Brook in The Mahabharata, a six-hour theatre piece that toured the world, and he also featured in its 1989 film version. Hinds almost missed the casting call in Paris due to difficulties renewing his Irish passport. In the early 1990s, he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He appeared in the title role of the RSC's production of Richard III (1993), directed by Sam Mendes; Mendes turned to Hinds as a last minute replacement for an injured Simon Russell Beale. Hinds gained his most popular recognition as a stage actor for his performance as Larry in the London and Broadway productions of Patrick Marber's Tony Award-nominated play Closer. In 1999, Hinds was awarded both the Theatre World Award for Best Debut in New York and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Special Achievement (Best Ensemble Cast Performance) for his work in Closer. He was on stage in 2001 in The Yalta Game by Brian Friel at Dublin's Gate Theatre. He appeared on Broadway in The Seafarer by Conor McPherson, which ran at the Booth Theatre from December 2007 through March 2008. In February 2009 Hinds took the leading role of General Sergei Kotov in Burnt by the Sun by Peter Flannery at London's National Theatre. Hinds returned to the stage later in 2009 with a role in Conor McPherson's play The Birds, which opened at Dublin's Gate Theatre in September 2009.

Hinds made his feature film debut in John Boorman's Excalibur (1981). He played Captain Frederick Wentworth in Jane Austen's Persuasion (1995), Jonathan Reiss in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life (2003), John Traynor in Veronica Guerin (2003), and Firmin in the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (2004). Hinds also played Carl, a cover-up professional assisting a group of assassins, in Steven Spielberg's political thriller, Munich (2005). In 2006, he appeared in Michael Mann's film adaptation of the 80's television show, Miami Vice, and as Herod the Great in The Nativity Story. In the film Amazing Grace (2006), Hinds portrayed Sir Banastre Tarleton, one of the chief opponents of abolition of the slave trade in Parliament. He starred in Margot at the Wedding, alongside Nicole Kidman, Jack Black and Jennifer Jason Leigh, in a comedy-drama about family secrets and relationships. He also appeared in There Will Be Blood (2007), directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

On television, Hinds portrayed Gaius Julius Caesar in the first season of BBC/HBO's series, Rome (2006). He has also been featured in a number of made-for-television films, including the role of Michael Henchard in Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge (2004), for which he received the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series. Additional television performances include Edward Parker-Jones in the crime drama series Prime Suspect 3 (1993), Abel Mason in Dame Catherine Cookson's The Man Who Cried (1993), Jim Browner in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes episode The Cardboard Box (1994), Fyodor Glazunov in the science fiction miniseries Cold Lazarus (1996), Edward Rochester in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1997), the Knight Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert in Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (1997) and a portrayal of the French existentialist Albert Camus in Broken Morning (2003).

Hinds was featured in two notable television docudramas: Granada Television's docudrama Who Bombed Birmingham? (1990) in which Hinds portrayed Richard McIlkenny, a Belfastman falsely imprisoned for an IRA bombing; and HBO's docudrama Hostages (1993), where he portrayed Irish writer and former hostage Brian Keenan. Hinds starred opposite Kelly Reilly in Above Suspicion, a TV adaptation of Lynda La Plante's detective story, which was broadcast in the United Kingdom in January 2009; he came back again as DCI Langton for Lynda La Plante's sequels The Red Dahlia (2010), Deadly Intent (2011) and Silent Scream (2012). Hinds has performed in audiobook and radio productions as well. He performed as Valmont in the BBC Radio production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and Hinds also narrated the Penguin Audiobook Ivanhoe. He also performed in Antony and Cleopatra and The Winter's Tale as part of The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare, an audio production of Shakespeare's plays which won the 2004 Audie Award for Best Audio Drama. He read the short story "A Painful Case" for the Caedmon Audio version of James Joyce's Dubliners.

Hinds played the role of Albus Dumbledore's brother Aberforth in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the final film in the Harry Potter series. Also in 2011, he appeared as David Peretz in the 1997 sections of The Debt alongside Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson. Hinds played Roy Bland in the adaptation of the John le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011).

In September 2011, Hinds returned to the Abbey Theatre Dublin, to star as Captain Jack Boyle in an acclaimed revival of Seán O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock, alongside Sinéad Cusack as Juno. The production transferred to the National Theatre of Great Britain in November 2011 for a three-month run. He played "Joe" in the film The Shore (2011), written and directed by Terry George. The Shore won the Best Short Film, Live Action category at the 84th Annual Academy Awards (The Oscars) in 2012.

In 2013, he was cast as the wildling leader Mance Rayder in Season 3 of the HBO television series Game of Thrones. He reprised this role in Season 4, and reprised it once more in Season 5. On Broadway at The Richard Rodgers Theater in New York, he was Big Daddy to Scarlett Johansson in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, opened 17 January 2013, previews from 18 December 2012.

In the summer of 2013, he performed at the Donmar Warehouse in London in the premiere production of The Night Alive, a play by Conor McPherson, which transferred in November 2013, with Hinds in the lead role, to the Atlantic Theater Company in New York.

In 2015, he was in the Shakespearean play Hamlet alongside Benedict Cumberbatch. He played Hamlet's uncle, King Claudius. The play was held at the London Barbican.

In 2016, he appeared as Deputy Governor Danforth in the Broadway production of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible alongside Saoirse Ronan and Ben Whishaw.

On November 2016, Hinds was cast in the role of Steppenwolf in Zack Snyder's upcoming superhero film, Justice League (2017).

Hinds lives in Paris with Hélène Patarot. They met in 1987 while in the cast of Peter Brook's production of The Mahabharata and have a daughter, Aoife, born in 1991.

Hinds is a friend of Liam Neeson and served as a pallbearer at the funeral of Neeson's wife, actress Natasha Richardson, in upstate New York in 2009.

Film

Television

Glasgow Citizens Theatre Company

1976–77

• Sid Colin/David Wood Cinderella Giles Havergal Albert the Horse, Courtier
• William Wycherley The Country Wife Philip Prowse Mrs. Dainty Fidget
• Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest Giles Havergal Lane
• William Shakespeare Macbeth Giles Havergal Malcolm/Third murderer
• Robert David MacDonald Chinchilla Philip Prowse Tancredi
• Pierre de Beaumarchais Figaro Robert David MacDonald An policeman/a lawyer

1977–78

• Noël Coward Semi-Monde Philip Prowse Freddy Palmer
• Honoré de Balzac Vautrin Robert David MacDonald Joseph
• Joe Orton Loot Giles Havergal McLeavy
• Myles Rudge Mother Goose Giles Havergal Villager
• Robert David McDonald/James Hadley Chase No Orchids for Miss Blandish Robert David MacDonald Johnny Frisk
• John Ford/John Webster Painter's Palace of Pleasure Philip Prowse Giovanni

1978–79

• Bertold Brecht/Kurt Weill The Threepenny Opera Philip Prowse J. J. Peachum
• Anton Chekhov The Seagull Philip Prowse Dr Dorn
• Miles Rudge Dick Whittington Giles Havergal The Emperor of Morocco
• Carlo Goldoni Country Life Robert David MacDonald Guglielmo

1980–81

• Carlo Goldoni The Battlefield Robert David MacDonald Faustino
• Bertold Brecht The Caucasian Chalk Circle Giles Havergal Shauva, the policeman/Prince Georgi
• Robert David MacDonald Don Juan Philip Prowse Father Juan
• Shawn Lawton Desperado Corner Di Trevis Frank
• Vernon Sylvaine Madame Louise Giles Havergal Bishop of Porchester

1982–83

• Philip Massinger The Roman Actor Philip Prowse Paris
• Seán O'Casey Red Roses for Me Giles Havergal Brennan O' the Moor
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Torquato Tasso Robert David MacDonald Antonio Montecatino
• Bertold Brecht The Mother Giles Havergal Savely
• Carlo Goldoni The Impresario from Smyrna Robert David MacDonald Maccario
• William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice Philip Prowse Antonio
• George Bernard Shaw Arms and the Man Giles Havergal Nicola, man-servant
• Noël Coward Sirocco Philip Prowse Tonio
• Robert David MacDonald Webster Philip Prowse Webster

1983 (autumn)

• Karl Kraus The Last Days of Mankind Robert David McDonald A Man of Government
• Hugo von Hofmannsthal Rosenkavalier Philip Prowse Valzacchi
• Seán O'Casey Juno and the Paycock Giles Havergal Captain Jack Boyle
• Thomas Southerne Oroonoko Philip Prowse Lieutenant Governor

1985

• Friedrich von Schiller Mary Stuart Philip Prowse Paulet
• Noël Coward Blithe Spirit Giles Havergal Charles Condomine
• Seán O'Casey The Plough and the Stars Giles Havergal Jack Clitheroe
• Joseph Kesselring Arsenic and Old Lace Giles Havergal "Uncle" Teddy
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Faust MacDonald Minister of State

1986

• Rolf Hochhuth The Representative Robert David MacDonald Pope Pius XII
• Alfred de Musset Hidden Fires Robert David MacDonald Clavaroche

1988

• Henrik Ibsen The Lady from the Sea Tom Cairns The Stranger
• William Shakespeare Richard III Jon Pope Richard III

Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts

1975

• Anton Chekhov The Seagull Peter Watson Konstantin (Kostya)
• Anonymous Arden of Faversham Geoff Bullen Black Will
• John Wilson Hamp Euan Smith Prosecutive Officer
• Caryl Churchill Objections to Sex and Violence Arrogant pseudo-intellectual

1976

• John Barton When Thou Art King unknown
• Tennessee Williams The Night of the Iguana Nonno

Lyric Theatre, Belfast

1977–78

• Peter Shaffer Equus

1978–79

• Brian Clark Whose Life is it Anyway? Tony Dinner Philip Hill (the solicitor)
• Mary O'Malley Once a Catholic Michael Poynor Derek (a Teddy Boy)

1983

• Jennifer Johnston Indian Summer Robert Cooper Cathal Dillon

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

1979–80

• Jim Sheridan The Ha'penny Place Peter Sheridan Hare Krishna/Yehudi
• Peter Sheridan The Liberty Suit Jim Sheridan

1981

• Martin Sherman Bent Michael Scott Greta/George
• Liam Lynch Krieg Patrick Mason Jet

1982

• Sam Shepard Curse of the Starving Class

Greenwich Theatre, London

1984

• John Webster The White Devil Philip Prowse Lodovico
• William Congreve Way of the World Giles Havergal Fainall
• Anton Chekhov The Seagull Philip Prowse Trigorin

1986

• Thomas Otway The Orphan Philip Prowse Castalio

Royal Shakespeare Company

1990–91

• Tirso de Molina/Nick Dear The Last Days of Don Juan Danny Boyle Don Pedro Tenorio
• Christopher Marlowe Edward II Gerard Murphy Roger Mortimer
• Richard Nelson Two Shakespearean Actors Roger Michell Dion Boucicault
• William Shakespeare Troilus and Cressida Sam Mendes Achilles

1993

• William Shakespeare Richard III Sam Mendes Richard III

Abbey/Peacock Theatres, Dublin

1979

• J. Graham Reid The Death of Humpty Dumpty Patrick Mason Doctor

1987

• Peter Sheridan Dialann Ocrais/Diary of a Hunger Strike Peter Sheridan O'Connor

1989

• William Butler Yeats Cuchulain Cycle James W. Flannery Cuchulain

2011

• Seán O'Casey Juno and the Paycock Howard Davis Captain Jack Boyle

2014

• Mark O'Rowe Our Few and Evil Days Mark O'Rowe Michael

Royal National Theatre, London

1993

• Sophie Treadwell Machinal Stephen Daldry The Young Man

1997

• Patrick Marber Closer (London production) Patrick Marber Larry

2009

• Peter Flannery Burnt by the Sun Howard Davies Serguei Petrovitch Kotov

2011

• Seán O'Casey Juno and the Paycock Howard Davis Captain Jack Boyle

Others

1981

• Anton Chekhov/Thomas Kilroy The Seagull Patrick Mason Konstantin Grand Opera House, Belfast

1982

• James Ellis/W.B. Yeats On Baile's Strand Christopher Fitz-Simon Cuchulain Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick
• Samuel Beckett Waiting for Godot Ben Barnes Estragon Belltable Arts Centre
• Liz Lochhead Blood and Ice Kenny Ireland Byron/the Monster Traverse Theatre Company, Edinburgh

1984

• Tom Paulin The Riot Act (Antigone) Stephen Rea Chorus Leader Field Day Touring Company, Derry
• Derek Mahon High Time (School for Husbands) Wolk and Long High Tech Field Day Touring Company

1985

• John Ford Tis Pity She's a Whore Garry Hynes Giovanni Druid Theatre Company, Galway
• Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest Garry Hynes John Worthing Druid Theatre Company

1986

• Shane Connaughton I Do Like To Be Jeff Teare David The Irish Company
• Frank McGuinness Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme Michael Attenborough George Anderson Hampstead Theatre, London

1987

• Adapted by Jean-Claude Carrière Mahabharata Peter Brook Ashwattaman/Nakula World Tour

1992

• Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman Assassins Sam Mendes Samuel Byck Donmar Warehouse, London

1995

• Sam Sheppard Simpatico James MacDonald Vinnie Royal Court Theatre, London

1999

• Patrick Marber Closer (Broadway production) Patrick Marber Larry Music Box Theatre, New York

2001

• Chekhov/Brian Friel The Yalta Game Karel Reisz Gurov Gate Theatre, Dublin

2007

• Conor McPherson The Seafarer Conor McPherson Mr Lockhart Booth Theatre, New York

2009

• Conor McPherson The Birds Conor McPherson Nat Gate Theatre, Dublin

2013

• Conor McPherson The Night Alive Conor McPherson Tommy Donmar Warehouse, London and Atlantic Theater Company, New York

2015

• William Shakespeare Hamlet William Shakespeare Claudius Barbican Centre, London

2016

• Arthur Miller The Crucible Deputy Governor Danforth Walter Kerr Theatre, New York