One of the most influential and talked about actors of recent months is certainly Cillian Murphy, known for his extraordinary role in Oppenheimer: a multi-award winning film at every possible and imaginable award ceremony.
Cillian is a proudly Irish actor: born in Cork and, together with his wife, he decided to return to Ireland to live with their children who were taking on, in his words, a “posh” English accent.
The actor began as a musician when he was a young man and later embarked on a career as an actor. He started out with theatre work and then, towards the end of the 1990s, took part in independent Irish films.
Following some better known films that started his career such as 28 Days Later by Danny Boyle (2002), Intermission by John Crowley, Girl with a Pearl Earring by Peter Webber and Cold Mountain by Anthony Minghella (2003), the actor began what would be his climb to success.
In 2013 he took the role of Thomas Michael Shelby in the successful TV series Peaky Blinders and, over 10 years, created a very strong bond between himself and his character while in 2005, he began what has resulted in a very long collaboration with director Christopher Nolan.
In fact, after the Dark Knight trilogy, they also found themselves working together on the films Inception (2010), Dunkirk (2017) and finally Oppenheimer (2023) which was the first time he got the role of the protagonist in one of Nolan’s films and the first film after his hiatus from the big screen (the last film was the sequel to A Quiet Place, 2020).
For Murphy, becoming Oppenheimer was a great challenge.
In fact, unlike his colleague Bradley Cooper who prepared for six years to best interpret the musician Leonard Bernstein, the actor had only about 6 months to immerse himself in the role of the physicist.
A preparation that also included an intense, super strict diet (he ate just one almond a day) which allowed him to more faithfully represent the appearance of the protagonist.
Despite the great success, the Oscar win and the film still showing in select cinemas, Murphy immediately got back to work. These are two titles that we will be able to see soon: Small Things Like These, announced before the release of Nolan's film and chosen as the opening of the Berlin festival; and Steve, a recently announced Netflix project, about which there is not yet much information, where the actor will be the protagonist and producer.
Indeed a positively inspirational career that continues to bless the world of cinema. Congratulations to Cillian for his recent success at the Oscar’s.
Written by Olga Raimondo
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