The Wire
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The Wire

Aidan Gillen (born Aidan Murphy on 24 April 1968) is an Irish stage and screen actor.

Biography[]

Gillen was born in the Drumcondra suburb of Dublin, Ireland. He began his acting career as a teenager with Dublin Youth Theatre, at the age of 16 playing Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Project Arts Centre, before moving to London.

He is perhaps best known in England for his role as Stuart Alan Jones in the ground-breaking British television series, Queer as Folk, and its sequel, Queer as Folk 2. American audiences know him best for his role as Tommy Carcetti in HBO's television series The Wire.

Gillen was nominated for a Tony Award for his highly acclaimed Broadway role in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker in 2003. He has also been nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award for his portrayal of Teach in the Dublin Gate Theatre's 2007 production of David Mamet's American Buffalo.

In 2011, Gillen began playing Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish on the award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones, for which he received his second Irish Film & Television Award nomination.[6] To date he has appeared in all seven broadcast seasons

He lives in North London.

Stage and screen credits[]

Filmography[]

  • The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987, credited as Aidan Murphy)
  • The Courier (1988)
  • An Ungentlemanly Act (1992, TV) as Marine Wilcox
  • Safe (1993, TV) as Gypo
  • A Handful of Stars (1993, TV) as Tony
  • Belfry (1993, TV) as Dominic
  • Circle of Friends (1995) as Aidan
  • Some Mother's Son (1996) as Gerard Quigley
  • Gold in the Streets (1996) as Paddy
  • Mojo (1997) as Baby
  • Amazing Grace (1998) as Young Man
  • Buddy Boy (1999) as Francis
  • Queer as Folk (1999-2000, TV) as Stuart Alan Jones
  • Lorna Doone (2000, TV) as Carver Doone
  • The Darkling (2000, TV) as Jeff Obold
  • The Low Down (2000) as Frank (Best Newcomer, Edinburgh Film Festival)
  • The Second Death (2000) as Pool Player 1
  • Dice (2001, TV miniseries) as Glenn Taylor
  • My Kingdom (2001) as Puttnam
  • The Final Curtain (2002) as Dave Turner
  • Poirot: Five Little Pigs (2003, TV) as Amyas Crale
  • Burning The Bed (2003) as Stephen
  • Shanghai Knights (2003) as Lord Nelson Rathbone
  • Photo Finish (2003)
  • The Wire (2004-present, TV series) as Councilman Thomas 'Tommy' J. Carcetti
  • Guns, Money and Homecooking (2005) as Tony
  • Walk Away and I Stumble (2005, TV) as Paul
  • Trouble with Sex (2005) as Conor
  • Blackout as Karl

Television[]

  • Love/Hate 
  • Killing Time
  • An Ungentlemanly Act
  • Safe (BAFTA Best Actor nomination)
  • The Wexford Trilogy: A Handful of Stars and Belfry
  • Queer As Folk
  • Dice
  • Five Little Pigs
  • Law & Order
  • Three seasons of The Wire
  • Game of Thrones

Theatre[]

  • Juno and the Paycock, Soldier (National Theatre, Lyttelton 1989)
  • The Long Way Round, Albin (National Theatre: Cottesloe 1989)
  • The Water Engine, Bernie (Hampstead Theatre 1989)
  • The Wexford Trilogy: Tony in A Handful of Stars and Dominic in Belfry (Bush Theatre 1992)
  • Marvin’s Room, Hank (Hampstead Theatre and Comedy Theatre 1993)
  • The Playboy of the Western World, Christopher Mahon (Almeida Theatre 1994)
  • Mojo, Skinny (Royal Court Theatre 1995)
  • The Tempest, Ariel (Almeida Theatre 2000)
  • Platonov, Platonov (Almeida Theatre 2001)
  • The Caretaker, Mick (Roundabout Theatre, New York 2003)
  • Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Edward (New Ambassadors Theatre 2005)
  • American Buffalo, Teach (Gate Theatre, Dublin 2007)
  • Glengarry Glen Ross, Richard Roma (Apollo Theatre 2007)
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