Domhnall Gleeson
Domhnall Gleeson
Domhnall Gleesonis an Irish actor. He is best known for his portrayal of General Hux in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter film franchise, Caleb in Ex Machina and Tim Lake in About Time. He has acted on both stage and screen, earning a Tony Award nomination in 2006 for his role in the Broadway production The Lieutenant of Inishmore. He has performed in several shows at Dublin's Gate Theatre, including adaptations of American Buffalo...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth12 May 1983
CityDublin, Ireland
CountryIreland
There's so many good comic actors that you just take the best of and try and run with it yourself. Try and bring a little bit of yourself to it, too.
'Black Mirror,' I read that, and I had another offer for a movie at the same time that was a bigger movie, an actual film as opposed to TV, but I said, 'No, it has to be Black Mirror.' And it hadn't been sold to Netflix, hadn't gone abroad at that point - but it's just good work - that's all there is to it.
I've gotten work based on how I look, and I've not gotten work based on how I look. It's all good.
I've definitely enjoyed myself more on the projects where I've played a good person, rather than on the projects where I've played somebody who is morally compromised.
It's weird to be very good at something and not necessarily to want to do it.
When you work with actors, what you're hoping to absorb is good ways to be an actor as opposed to how to handle being famous.
My mum and my dad have really good taste in movies. My gran would tape them off the TV and write notes about them, rating them.
The rom-com genre is not something that necessarily lights my jets.
I stand to learn more working as an actor with really talented people than I do by directing a feature.
I've been interested in the writing/directing thing and really fell into acting by complete accident.
The worst thing as an actor is when you're not getting opportunities to try and show what you can do; the best thing is when you get material that really lets you express something and that you're excited about.
The whole idea with acting is that you take some risks. And if you take some risks, you're really going to mess up sometimes. But it's not OK to mess up a movie; it's not OK to do that just so you can improve as an actor. But film-making takes a little bit of risk in every department.
Really, all I worry about is the work in hand.
Everyone talks about how we're on our phones all the time, but the fact remains that when I'm away on a film set for two months, I can Skype my family. I remember the phone calls my parents had to make when my dad was away for a while when I was younger - that once-a-week expensive phone call! The time pressure on talking to your father!