Con O'Neill (actor)

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Con O'Neill
Con O'Neill Photo Op GalaxyCon Raleigh 2024.jpg
O'Neill at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2024
Born
Robert O'Neill

(1966-08-15) 15 August 1966 (age 58)
Weston-super-Mare, England
OccupationActor
Years active1983–present

Con O'Neill (born Robert O'Neill on 15 August 1966) is an English actor. He started his acting career at the Everyman Theatre and became primarily known for his performances in musicals. He received critical acclaim and won a Laurence Olivier Award for playing Michael "Mickey" Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers . Subsequently, he was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for the same role. He has also appeared in many films and television series, including Chernobyl , The Batman and Our Flag Means Death .

Contents

Early life

O'Neill was born on 15 August 1966 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.[ citation needed ] Aged one, O'Neill moved with his family to Parbold, growing up in the village of Up Holland, both near Wigan, in Lancashire. [1] [2]

O'Neill was discouraged from being an actor at an early age; O'Neill told Northern Soul: "My careers adviser at my school in Wigan, when I said I wanted to be an actor, told me not to be so ridiculous and why didn't I want to join the army?".

Career

O'Neill began his acting career at Liverpool's Everyman Youth Theatre. [3]

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1988 for his performance in Willy Russell's Blood Brothers , [4] and was nominated for Broadway's 1993 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Blood Brothers. [5]

In the 1980s, he had a walk-on role in One Summer as Jackson. He starred in Dancin' Thru the Dark , the 1990 film adaptation of Willy Russell's Stags and Hens . [6] In 1990, he played a principal role in Amongst Barbarians , part of the BBC ScreenPlay series. In 1992, he played Cougar Glass in the world premiere of Philip Ridley's The Fastest Clock in the Universe . He appeared in Moving Story , a TV comedy drama, as Nick, part of a removals team. He appeared as wheelchair user PC Ian LeFebre in "The Mild Bunch", the second season's eighth episode of Pie in the Sky (1995). He had a supporting role in Cider with Rosie (1998). In 2003, he portrayed Mickey in The Illustrated Mum. In 2006, he starred as Aston in a tour of Sheffield theatres' production of Harold Pinter's The Caretaker . [7] In 1999, he starred in The Last Seduction II .

In 2008, he appeared in Criminal Justice , a five-part TV drama on the BBC, playing the part of Ralph Stone, a solicitor. He played the part of Joe Meek in both the 2008 film [8] and 2005 play [9] of Telstar: The Joe Meek Story . In 2011, he took the role of dock worker Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester (from 18 May to 25 June 2011). [10] This portrayal won the 2011 Manchester Theatre Award for Best Actor. [11] [12] In 2012, he played Dr. Bob Massey in "Fearful Symmetry", S6:E3 of Lewis .

He played St. Paul in the 2013 miniseries The Bible . [13] The same year he also appeared in Life of Crime as DCI Ferguson and in Midsomer Murders "Schooled in Murder" as Jim Caxton. He portrays Val Pearson in the sitcom Uncle (2014 to 2017). [14] He played Cliff in Cucumber , an eight-part TV drama series. [15] In 2015, he starred in the 35th-anniversary staging of Willy Russell's Educating Rita at The Liverpool Playhouse. [16] [17] He appears as Neil Ackroyd in the second and third series of Happy Valley . In 2016, O'Neill played the part of Joe Brierley in the second series of Ordinary Lies and appeared in two episodes of the Doctor Who spin-off Class . In the 2019 HBO miniseries Chernobyl he portrayed the plant director Viktor Bryukhanov. In 2022 and 2023, he appeared in the HBO series Our Flag Means Death as the pirate Izzy Hands.

O'Neill portrays Gotham City Police Department's Chief Mackenzie Bock in minor roles for both the feature film, The Batman (2022) and its follow-up TV miniseries, The Penguin (2024).

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1990 Dancin' Thru the Dark Peter McGeghan
1996Scarborough Ahoy!MichaelShort film
1998 Bedrooms and Hallways Terry
1999 The Last Seduction II Troy Fenton
2001Persephone's PlaygroundFatherShort films
WatchmenBurglar
2005What's Your Name 41?Sam Clarke
2008 Telstar: The Joe Meek Story Joe Meek
2010 The Kid Dennis
2011Bash StreetMatty Snr.
The Send OffJohnShort film
2012FrankFidel
2013MarkMarkShort film
2017RiotPatrick
2018IsabellaMichaelShort films
The PenJohn
2019StiltsFather
2021Vengeance Is MineHarry Kane
Pork ScratchingsRobShort film
2022 The Batman Chief Mackenzie Bock
The OutingFrankShort film
TBA The Way of the Wind Enoch Post-production

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1983 One Summer [18] JacksonMini-series; Episodes 1 & 4 (Credited as Robert O'Neill)
1984 Travelling Man PeterSeries 1; Episode 3: "The Watcher"
Brookside LeggersEpisode 199: "Ideal Tenant"
1986Joe ClearyEpisode 335: "Difference of Opinion"
1989 The Bill Ricky DenballSeries 5; Episode 4: "The Mugging and the Gypsies"
Norbert Smith: A Life Davy ThrobTelevision film
1990 ScreenPlay RalphSeries 5; Episode 1: "Amongst Barbarians"
The Lilac Bus [19] TomTelevision film adaptation of the Maeve Binchy book, The Lilac Bus
1991 Inspector Morse Paul MatthewsSeries 5; Episode 5: "Promised Land"
1993 Casualty Denis SimpsonSeries 7; Episode 19: "Getting Involved"
The Riff Raff Element JedSeries 1; Episodes 1 & 3
1994–1995 Moving Story NickMain cast. Series 1 & 2; 13 episodes
19953 Steps to HeavenAngel FarnhamTelevision film
Pie in the Sky PC Ian LefebvreSeries 2; Episode 8: "The Mild Bunch"
The Perfect Match PhilTelevision film
1996 Soldier Soldier C/Sgt. Robert HicksSeries 6; Episode 9: "Asking for It"
1997 Wycliffe Ben WalkerSeries 4; Episode 4: "Lone Voyager"
The History of Tom Jones: a Foundling Captain BlifilMini-series; Episode 1
Heartbeat Rex HawkinsSeries 7; Episode 16: "The Queen’s Message"
Peak Practice Nick GillespieSeries 5; Episode 6: "Lost Feeling"
1998 Cider with Rosie Uncle RayTelevision film
1999 Always and Everyone Kenny FletcherSeries 1; 4 episodes
Real WomenJoSeries 1 & 2; 5 episodes
2001 Waking the Dead Colm HareSeries 1; Episodes 5 & 6: "The Blind Beggar: Parts 1 & 2"
2002 Trial & Retribution Alan BrickmanSeries 6; Episodes 1 & 2: "Trial & Retribution VI: Parts One & Two"
2003 In Deep TerrySeries 3; Episodes 3 7 4: "Queen and Country: Parts 1 & 2"
Doctors Adam JamisonSeries 5; Episode 122: "How's This My Problem?"
The Illustrated Mum MickeyTelevision film
2004 Murder City Spencer GrievesSeries 1; Episode 4: "Mr. Right"
Wipe OutDadTelevision film
2005 My Hero MartinSeries 5; Episode 9: "Big Brother"
The StepfatherBruce ShapiroTelevision film
Ultimate Force LavelleSeries 3; Episode 4: "Weapon of Choice"
2007 Learners GerryTelevision film
2008 Criminal Justice Ralph StoneSeries 1; Episodes 1–5
2009MargotTitoTelevision film
2011PostcodeClive ViperTelevision short film
2012 Uncle Gwen's DadPilot episode for the series, Uncle
Lewis Dr. Bob MasseySeries 6; Episode 3: "Fearful Symmetry"
Wallander Jan PetrusSeries 3; Episode 1: "An Event in Autumn"
Coming Up Jed SullivanSeries 10; Episode 5: "Postcode Lottery"
2013 Midsomer Murders Jim CaxtonSeries 15; Episode 6: "Schooled in Murder"
The Bible Paul Mini-series; Episode 10: "Courage"
Life of Crime DCI FergusonMini-series; Episodes 1 & 2
2014–2017 Uncle ValSeries 1–3; 11 episodes
2015 Banana Cliff CostelloMini-series; Episode 2
Cucumber Mini-series; 5 episodes
2016 The Tunnel Neil GreySeries 2; Episodes 6–8
Class Huw MacLeanEpisodes 4 & 5: "Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Brave-ish Heart"
Ordinary Lies Joe BrierleySeries 2; Episodes 1–6
2016–2023 Happy Valley Neil AckroydSeries 2 & 3; 11 episodes
2017 Harlots Nathaniel LennoxSeries 1; Episodes 2 & 3
2018 Urban Myths TonySeries 2; Episode 2: "Backstage at Live Aid"
2019 Cleaning Up GrahamEpisodes 3, 4 & 6
Queens of Mystery Len SavageSeries 1; Episodes 3 & 4: "Death by Vinyl: First & Final Chapters"
Chernobyl Viktor Bryukhanov Mini-series; 3 episodes
Wild Bill Ray GilchristMini-series; Episode 4: "Bad Blood in the Soil"
Ladhood Mr. StonesSeries 1; Episode 3: "Down Days"
2020 COBRA Harry RowntreeSeries 1; Episodes 3–6
2022 Without Sin Roman McKellerMini-series; Episodes 3 & 4
2022–2023 Our Flag Means Death Izzy Hands Main role. Series 1 & 2; 16 episodes
2023 Nolly Jack BartonMini-series; Episodes 1–3
2024 Time Bandits Sheriff of Nottingham Episode 3: "Medieval"
The Penguin Chief Mackenzie Bock Mini-series; Episodes: "Homecoming" and "A Great or Little Thing"
SAS: Rogue Heroes General Montgomery Series 2; Episodes 5 & 6 [20]

Video games

YearTitleRoleNotes
2014 Dark Souls II Titchy Gren (voice)
2022 Elden Ring Mohg (voice)

Accolades

YearAwardCategoryNominee(s)ResultRef.
2022 Peabody Awards Entertainment Our Flag Means Death Nominated [21]

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References

  1. ↑ Hunt, El (2 February 2023). "Con O'Neill Was Connected With Sarah Lancashire Long Before Happy Valley". Bustle.
  2. ↑ Handley, Malcolm. "Victorious Exchange". The Free Library. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  3. ↑ "Con O'Neill". ATG Tickets. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  4. ↑ "Olivier Winners 1988". olivierawards.com. Society of London Theatre. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Outstanding Performance of the Year by an Actor in a Musical
  5. ↑ "The official website of the American Theater Wing's Tony Awards". Tonyawards.com. 1 January 2000. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  6. ↑ "Willy Russell Archive". www.ljmu.ac.uk. Liverpool John Moores University. DOC obtained via select tab 'Archive Catalogue' then next select 'Dancin Thru The Dark Film'. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014.
  7. ↑ Woodcock, Mike. "The Caretaker @ Sheffield Crucible". BBC. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Telstar — Film". The Guardian (reviews). 16 June 2009.
  9. ↑ "Telstar Opening in London". playbill.com. Playbill. 24 June 2005.
  10. ↑ East, Ben (25 May 2011). "A View From The Bridge". The Stage. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  11. ↑ "2011 Manchester Theatre Awards: Trophy winners". Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  12. ↑ "2011 Manchester Theatre Awards: Best Actor". Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  13. ↑ Perkins, Dennis (1 April 2013). "The Bible". The A.V. Club .
  14. ↑ "Uncle". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  15. ↑ "Russell T Davies drama series". channel4.com (Press release). Channel 4. 6 May 2014.
  16. ↑ Jones, Catherine (25 November 2014). "Everyman and Playhouse new season revealed". Liverpool Echo .
  17. ↑ Hutchison, David (25 November 2014). "Educating Rita leads new... Playhouse season". The Stage .
  18. ↑ "One Summer". Letterboxd.com. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  19. ↑ "The Lilac Bus (1992)". Archived from the original on 16 January 2021.
  20. ↑ "Filming begins on SAS Rogue Heroes series two, as new and returning cast are announced". bbc.co.uk/mediacentre. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  21. ↑ Voyles, Blake (20 September 2023). "83rd Peabody Award Nominees" . Retrieved 20 September 2023.
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