“Why isn’t everyone talking about Domhnall Gleeson?” Irish actor wins first Hollywood award | film

After a varied career in which he played a psychopath, a romantic comedy character, an intergalactic warlord, and a plucky newspaper editor among others, Domhnall Gleeson won his first Hollywood award.

The Irish American Alliance announced that Gleeson will receive the Oscar Wilde Award at the 20th anniversary event in Los Angeles in March in the lead-up to the Academy Awards. It honors a body of work rather than a specific performance.

The Irish actor has received critical acclaim and nominations for film and television appearances, winning Irish Film and Television Awards and a Berlin International Film Festival award, but has not taken home a major Hollywood award.

“I first saw Domhnall in 2006 when he played Davy in Martin McDonagh’s play The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” said Trina Fargo, founder and president of the Irish American Alliance. “His talent has been evident for 20 years and it has been a pleasure to watch him go from strength to strength, and we look forward to honoring him.”

The American-Irish Alliance is a non-profit organization that works to strengthen relations between the two countries, and is credited with hosting one of the liveliest parties of Hollywood’s awards season. Previous award winners include Jamie Dornan, Kenneth Branagh and Kerry Condon.

Next year’s ceremony will also honor Maura Tierney, who starred in the film Twisters and is best known for the TV series ER.

Gleason has made his name in independent films and blockbuster franchises such as Harry Potter and Star Wars, and has a growing presence on television shows.

He plays the editor of a struggling newspaper in Ohio in The Paper, an American spinoff of The Office that follows the mockumentary format. He stars opposite Jesse Buckley in the upcoming BBC Christmas special, The Scarecrows’ Wedding, and did the voiceover for the Ken Burns documentary The American Revolution.

He has also appeared in two Apple TV productions, Guy Ritchie’s Fountain of Youth, with John Krasinski and Natalie Portman, and Echo Valley, with Julianne Moore and Sidney Sweeney.

An Esquire profile last month said Gleeson’s performance earned praise “even if it remains somehow underappreciated.” The title of the article was: “Why isn’t everyone talking about Domhnall Gleeson?”

The Dubliner was nominated for a Tony Award for 2006’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore and a 2023 Golden Globe for The Patient, in which he plays a serial killer opposite Steve Carell, but missed Emmy and Oscar nominations.

He is the son of Brendan Gleeson, and his film credits include Ex Machina, Anna Karenina, True Grit, Brooklyn, Calvary, The Revenant, and About Time, a romantic comedy about time travel. He played General Hux in the Star Wars reboot and Bill Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

“When he performs, his appearance is almost seamless, absorbing the contours of his characters’ expressions so completely that they sometimes appear reconstructed,” Esquire said. She noted his “alabaster skin and burnt sienna eyebrows” – a more lyrical description from The Guardian, which described Gleeson as “a ginger Hugh Grant”.