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Con O'Neill (actor)

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Con O'Neill
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.

Early life

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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

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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 P.C. 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 mini-series 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

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1989 Norbert Smith: A Life Davey Throb
1990 Dancin' Thru the Dark Peter McGeghan
1990 The Lilac Bus[18] Tom Adaptation of the Maeve Binchy book, The Lilac Bus
1995 Scarborough Ahoy! Michael Short film
1995 Three Steps To Heaven Angel Farnham
1998 Bedrooms and Hallways Terry
1999 The Last Seduction II Troy Fenton
2001 Persephone's Playground Father Short film
2008 Telstar: The Joe Meek Story Joe Meek
2022 The Batman Chief Mackenzie Bock
TBA The Way of the Wind Enoch Post-production

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1983 One Summer[19] Jackson Credited as Robert O'Neill
1989 The Bill Ricky Denball Episode: "The Mugging and the Gypsies"
1994 Moving Story Nick Main cast
1995 Pie in the Sky PC Ian LeFebre Episode: "The Mild Bunch"
1997 Heartbeat Rex Episode: “The Queen’s Message”
1998 Cider with Rosie Uncle Ray Television film
1999 Always and Everyone Kenny Fletcher Series 1
2005 Ultimate Force Lavelle series 3 Episode: "Weapon of Choice"
2008 Criminal Justice Ralph Stone Series 1
2012 Lewis Dr. Bob Massey Episode: "Fearful Symmetry"
2012 Wallander Jan Petrus Episode: "An Event in Autumn"
2013 Midsomer Murders Jim Caxton Episode: "Schooled in Murder"
2013 Life of Crime DCI Ferguson 3 episodes
2013 The Bible Paul 2 Episodes
2014–2017 Uncle Val 11 episodes
2015 Cucumber Cliff Main cast
2016 Ordinary Lies Joe Brierley Series 2
2016–2023 Happy Valley Neil Ackroyd Series 2 and 3
2016 The Tunnel Neil Grey 3 episodes
2016 Class Huw MacLean Episodes: "Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Brave-ish Heart"
2017 Harlots Nathaniel Lennox Series 1
2019 Chernobyl Viktor Bryukhanov 3 episodes
Television miniseries
2019 Queens of Mystery Len Savage 2 episodes "Death by Vinyl"
2019 Wild Bill Ray Gilchrist Episode 4
2020 COBRA Harry Rowntree Series 1, supporting
2022–2023 Our Flag Means Death Izzy Hands Main role
2022 Without Sin Roman McKeller 1 episode
2023 Nolly Jack Barton
2024 The Penguin Chief Mackenzie Bock 2 episodes
TBA SAS: Rogue Heroes General Montgomery Series 2[20]

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
2014 Dark Souls II Titchy Gren (voice)
2022 Elden Ring Mohg (voice)

Accolades

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Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
2022 Peabody Awards Entertainment Our Flag Means Death Nominated [21]

References

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  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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. ^ "2011 Manchester Theatre Awards: Best Actor". Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  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. ^ "The Lilac Bus (1992)". Archived from the original on 16 January 2021.
  19. ^ "One Summer". Letterboxd.com. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  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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