Tessa Ndjonkou is obsessed with Cillian Murphy. So is everyone else, and for good reason.
“I just saw him!”, my flatmate screamed as she wrenched the kitchen door open.
Still panting from her run and eyes glazed, she struggled to catch her breath and pointed frantically at the door. I followed her gaze and saw that no one was there.
“Girl, who?”, I asked. She gulped, took a shaky breath and said “Cillian Murphy. I ran all the way from Monkstown to tell you”.
A beat. I turned around to pay attention to my pasta cooking. “Oh yeah” I heard myself say, “It happens a lot. He lives there, a lot of people see him”. As I dig around in search of my colander and try my best to look unphased. Deep down, I am devastated. Everyone and their mother seems to be casually running into Cillian Murphy, but me.
Everyone and their mother seems to be casually running into Cillian Murphy, but me.
I’m under no illusion that a casual run-in with the reluctant superstar would be comfortable for either parties, but I persist in wishing he would do me the immense honor.
Maybe it’s the sheer range of his acting performances across genres or just the complete disregard and frankly, abject horror he has for any claim to stardom - but I just need to see it for myself. I am the problem - I am aware. There is absolutely no need for me to see the man behind the myth or the legend, that changes nothing in the fact that I desperately want to.
The Cork-born actor got his start at the theater in Edna Walsh’s play Disco Pigs in 1996 and later reprised the role in the 2001 film adaptation. He rose to prominence with his role as transgender Irishwoman Patricia “Kitten” Braden which earned him a Golden Globe nomination and an Irish Film and Television Award (IFTA) for Best Actor. Since then he has had repeated collaboration with British director Christopher Nolan who has made him his “muse”. Their partnership began twenty years ago when Murphy was selected to play the role of supervillain Scarecrow in The Dark Knight Trilogy and reached its apotheosis in 2024 when he became the first Irishman to win an Academy Award for Best Actor. On the small screen, he has become a household name since he first embraced the role of Thomas Shelby in the British period crime drama sensation, Peaky Blinders, which first premiered ten years ago. His sharp jaw, piercing blue eyes, coarse accent and drastic haircut have become instantly recognizable.
In a previous University Observer article, John O’Connor studied the Mescalification of Hollywood. In other words, he studied the shifting trend in big household names in Hollywood placing their trust in Irish talent rather than the typical British and American young leading men. Frankly, it’s been a nice few years for “Hot Irish Men” like Mescal, Andrew Scott, Colin Farell, Daryl McCormack and Barry Keoghan. While their sudden appeal is somewhat inexplicable it is enjoyable and honestly, long overdue.
During his acceptance speech, the actor made sure to thank his Irish support system in Los Angeles and back home: he made sure to thank his publicist Craig Bankey, his parents, his children, Malachy and Aran and his wife Yvone McGuinnness. He rounded off his speech by saying: “Go raibh míle maith agaibh” one of the most common and genuine ways of expressing thanks in Irish. It is momentous that he took this opportunity to highlight Irish identity and the Irish language especially in the wake of stereotyping jokes on Irishness during last years’ awards season. Indeed, in an Observer article published around this time last year, Ciara Whelan exposed the dark underbelly of anti-Irish jokes made by host Jimmy Kimmel during the ceremony and during a Saturday Night Live sketch which aired the same week in which Colin Farell and Brendan Gleeson were mocked. In affirming his identity as a “proud Irishman”, Murphy depoweres the constant and self-aggrandizing and unjustified claim that a significant amount of White Americans have to Ireland but more important to an incredibly false and outdated conception of what the country and culture is or was. Most recently, Lindsay Lohan’s latest project, Irish Wish flies in the face of all that Ireland is and further comforts audiences that Ireland is frozen in time, uncivilized and inexplicably worse than the United States for no apparent reason.
In affirming his identity as a “proud Irishman”, Murphy depoweres the constant and self-aggrandizing and unjustified claim that a significant amount of White Americans have to Ireland but more important to an incredibly false and outdated conception of what the country and culture is or was.
Regardless of what American audiences make of Cillian Murphy, his win was monumental for Ireland and was felt by people as a true win for Ireland. A plethora of tweets emerged following his win: “Smiling so hard for my dear close personal friends Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan” and “Cillian Murphy makes history as the first person to win an Oscar and also DJ at Workman’s”. Even the President and Tánaiste decided that congratulations were in order and obliged via their official X accounts.
Regardless of what American audiences make of Cillian Murphy, his win was monumental for Ireland and was felt by people as a true win for Ireland.
While Cillian Murphy’s historic win could mark a new age for Irish cinema and acting talent because of the unhinging of colonial hegemony, this does not mean that he enjoys fame at all.
In fact, for many his appeal comes from the fact that his celebrity appears to be circumstantial, accidental and perhaps to some extent a burden.