Catherine Elise Blanchett is an Australian actor and producer. Often regarded as one of the best performers of her generation, she is recognised for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters and the stage. Blanchett has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards and four Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.
The Phantom of the Opera is a 2004 musical romantic drama film based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical of the same name, which in turn is based on the 1910 French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux. Produced and co-written by Lloyd Webber and directed by Joel Schumacher, it stars Gerard Butler in the title role, with Emmy Rossum, Patrick Wilson, Miranda Richardson, Minnie Driver, Simon Callow, Ciarán Hinds, Victor McGuire, and Jennifer Ellison in supporting roles.
Brenda Fricker is an Irish actress, whose career has spanned six decades on stage and screen. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award, earning the award for Best Supporting Actress for the biopic My Left Foot (1989). She also appeared in films such as The Field (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), Angels in the Outfield (1994), A Time to Kill (1996), Veronica Guerin (2003), Inside I'm Dancing (2004) and Albert Nobbs (2011).
Veronica Guerin Turley was an Irish investigative journalist focusing on organised crime in the Republic of Ireland, who was murdered in a contract killing believed to have been ordered by a South Dublin-based drug cartel. Born in Dublin, she was an athlete in school and later played on the Irish national teams for both Association football and basketball. After studying accountancy she ran a public-relations firm for seven years, before working for Fianna Fáil and as an election agent for Seán Haughey. She became a reporter in 1990, writing for the Sunday Business Post and Sunday Tribune. In 1994 she began writing articles about the Irish criminal underworld for the Sunday Independent. In 1996, after pressing charges for assault against major organised crime figure John Gilligan, Guerin was ambushed and fatally shot in her vehicle while waiting at a traffic light. The shooting caused national outrage in Ireland. Investigation into her death led to a number of arrests and convictions.
The Special Criminal Court is a juryless criminal court in Ireland which tries terrorism and serious organised crime cases.
Niall Tóibín was an Irish comedian and actor. Born in Cork into an Irish speaking family, Tóibín grew up on the north-side of the city in Bishop's Field.
Alan Devine is an Irish actor.
Ciarán Hinds is an Irish actor from Belfast. Hinds is known for a range of screen and stage roles. He has starred in feature films including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Persuasion (1995), Oscar and Lucinda (1997), Road to Perdition (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Munich (2005), Amazing Grace (2007), There Will Be Blood (2007), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Silence (2016), First Man (2018) and Belfast (2021). He was nominated for an Oscar and BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Belfast.
Martin Cahill was an Irish crime boss from Dublin. He masterminded a series of burglaries and armed robberies, and was shot and killed while out on bail for kidnapping charges. The Provisional Irish Republican Army took responsibility for Cahill's murder but no one was ever arrested or formally charged.
Gerard Hutch is an Irish criminal. He was the prime suspect for two of the biggest armed robberies in Irish history. Known for leading a "disciplined, ascetic lifestyle" since leaving prison in 1985, he was nicknamed "The Monk" by investigative journalist Veronica Guerin. Hutch is also the leader of the organized crime group the Hutch Gang, and was charged but acquitted of the murder of David Byrne.
Little Fish is a 2005 Australian film directed by Rowan Woods and written by Jacquelin Perske. Starring Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, and Sam Neill, the film is about a heroin addict who is desperately trying to escape her past to achieve her goals. It was developed and produced by Vincent Sheehan and Liz Watts of Porchlight Films, with Cate Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton's production company Dirty Films receiving an Associate Producer credit.
When the Sky Falls is a 2000 film à clef directed by John Mackenzie and starring Joan Allen. The narrative centres on reporter Veronica Guerin, who wrote about drug-related crime for the Sunday Independent, and her eventual murder.
Notes on a Scandal is a 2006 British psychological drama/thriller directed by Richard Eyre and produced by Robert Fox and Scott Rudin. Adapted from the 2003 novel of the same name by Zoë Heller, the screenplay was written by Patrick Marber. The film stars Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett and centres on a lonely veteran teacher who uncovers a fellow teacher's illicit affair with an underage student.
Enda Oates, occasionally credited as Enda Oats, is an Irish stage, film, and television actor. He has received attention for his stagework, but is best known to Irish television audiences as the Reverend George Black in the long-running series Glenroe for RTÉ, and as Barreller Casey in the sitcom Upwardly Mobile.
John Gilligan is a convicted Irish gangster. He was given a 28-year prison sentence for the trafficking of commercial quantities of cannabis resin. On appeal, this sentence was reduced to 20 years, and in October 2013, he was released after serving 17 years.
Oscar and Lucinda is a 1997 romantic drama film directed by Gillian Armstrong and starring Cate Blanchett, Ralph Fiennes, Ciarán Hinds and Tom Wilkinson. It is based on the 1988 Booker Prize-winning novel Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey. In March 1998, the film was nominated at the 70th Academy Awards for the Best Costume Design.
John "the Coach" Traynor was a major Irish organized crime figure who was a both a longtime confidential source for Irish investigative journalist Veronica Guerin and a prime suspect in allegedly arranging her 1996 contract killing.
Charles Bowden is a convicted Irish criminal, who after turning state's witness in the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, was the first person to enter Ireland's Witness Security Programme.
Australian actress Cate Blanchett has worked extensively on screen and on stage. She made her stage debut in 1992 as Electra in the National Institute of Dramatic Art production of the play of the same name, and followed in 1993 with performances in Timothy Daly's Kafka Dances, for which she won the Sydney Theatre Critics Award for Best Newcomer, and the Sydney Theatre Company stage production of Oleanna, winning Best Actress. She is the first actor to win both awards at once. She went on to perform several other roles on stage, notably Susan Traherne in Plenty (1999), Hedda Gabler in Hedda Gabler (2004), Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (2009), Yelena in Uncle Vanya (2011), and Claire in The Maids (2013).
Amy Shiels is an Irish film and television actress who has appeared in the films Veronica Guerin, Slaughter, Twin Peaks, and as Lunafreya Nox Fleuret in Final Fantasy XV.
