Cillian Murphy’s 10 greatest performances
Prized by Irish and English alike, Cillian Murphy is without a doubt a national treasure and one of our proudest exports. He’s lent his talents to British indies and mega Hollywood blockbusters and, despite his signature ocean-blue eyes and marble-esque cheekbones, has transformed himself into a vast array of three-dimension, emotionally complex characters.
Born and raised in Cork, Murphy wasn’t always on track to become an actor. Up until his early 20s, he was regularly performing as the guitarist in several bands, with every intention of making it as a full-time musician. On the brink of success, one of his more popular musical outfits was offered a five-album deal by a London record label, but with some of the bandmates still in school and Murphy himself starting college, they turned it down.
Whilst we can’t be certain whether the world is a worse-off place or not for the absence of Murphy’s musical career, we know one thing for sure. His decision to pursue acting, which would come not long after, has gifted audiences around the world with one of the most prolific, versatile and vibrant actors of the 21st century.
With the release of Oppenheimer also coming later this year, marking the actor’s first collaboration with director Christopher Nolan in a leading role, it’s fitting to celebrate the eclectic career of Murphy to date and take a look at his top ten performances.
Cillian Murphy’s 10 best performances:
10. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
Neither the first nor last of his roles in a Christopher Nolan film, Murphy’s turn in this cerebral espionage thriller played more of a functional role than a particularly interesting one.
Inception featured a group of spies who use futuristic technology to enter people’s dreams and steal classified information, corporate secrets and political plans. Murphy plays Robert Fischer, the heir of a multi-million business dynasty and the object of the team’s mission. Whilst his character as the petulant offspring of a business tycoon is compelling, what makes the role so great is Murphy’s ability to form a bedrock which underpins the performances from the larger ensemble A-lister cast.
9. Anthropoid (Sean Ellis, 2016)
Sean Ellis’ film about the real-life assassination of a high-ranking Nazi officer by Czechoslovakian soldiers was brutal and unflinching in its depiction of violence.
Infusing his performance with constant panic and desperation, Murphy’s incredible performance completely sells how high the stakes are to the audience. It also captures the utter bleakness and futility of facing off against the Third Reich in a gripping and intelligent war film.
8. Red Lights (Rodrigo Cortés, 2016)
In this supernatural psychological thriller, Murphy accompanies Sigourney Weaver as a scientific duo who attempt to debunk a famous psychic, played by Robert De Niro, whose most prominent critic died in a suspicious accident years ago.
The world of Red Lights hinges on a fairly substantial leap of faith from the audience, but Murphy’s empathetic and turmoiled portrayal of the physicist Tom Buckley and his realisation of how out of his element he is completely carries an otherwise mediocre film into worth-a-watch territory.
7. Sunshine (Danny Boyle, 2007)
Marking the director’s second collaboration with writer Alex Garland, Danny Boyle’s science fiction drama features an ensemble cast of astronauts that must rekindle the Sun before it dies, plunging the solar system into darkness and humanity into extinction.
As the physicist in charge of the mission, Murphy’s depiction of Robert Capa is wonderfully cold and dissociative, vividly painting a picture of a man who has eradicated all sense of emotion to ensure the mammoth task’s success.
6. A Quiet Place Part II (John Krasinksi, 2020)
In the follow-up to the hugely popular first instalment of the franchise, John Krasinski’s sequel introduced Murphy as Emmet. He is an old friend of the main characters who has become a hardened and solitary survivalist, completely changed by the alien apocalypse.
Emmet is so unlike any other character in Murphy’s resume that many mistook him to be played by another actor. His metamorphosis into a gaunt, gruff, bearded recluse is so total and complete that, despite being in a horror sequel, it makes it one of his best portrayals.
5. The Wind That Shakes The Barley (Ken Loach, 2006)
Ken Loach’s Cannes-winning masterpiece about the Irish civil war has Murphy as one of two brothers who sign up to join the IRA in a bid for Irish independence.
Whilst bleak and often downright depressing, the audience can’t help but stick it out until the very end thanks to the emotional investment evoked by Murphy’s performance as Damien O’Donovan, whose initial reluctance to join the Republican forces is gradually torn down by the savagery of the British Army.
4. Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan, 2017)
When Christopher Nolan tried his hand at the war genre, he ended up making one of the most visceral and artistic films of his career and earned himself his first Oscar nomination for ‘Best Director’. By breaking the film into three different narratives, following soldiers on land, on the sea and in the air, Nolan ensures the film doesn’t have a main character, weaving through various soldiers’ stories instead.
Murphy’s role is nevertheless tiny, perhaps one of the smallest in the film. However, his brief turn as a shivering pilot rescued at sea and his gut-wrenching depiction of shell shock convinced us all of the horrors of the war and reinforced the absolute importance of the Dunkirk rescue mission.
3. Breakfast On Pluto (Neil Jordan, 2005)
In this touching and progressive tale of a transgender woman abandoned at birth, we follow Kitten Braden as she attempts to reconnect with her biological mother, navigating IRA bombings and the 1970s glam rock scene along the way.
For all its serious subject matter, the film manages to make the audience laugh and cry. This precarious balancing act is only possible thanks to the tender yet exuberant performance from Murphy as Kitten that underpins the entire movie.
2. Peaky Blinders (Stephen Knight, 2013-2022)
Playing the Brummy World War I veteran who forms the titular ‘Peaky Blinders’ gang, it was Arthur Shelby who finally got Murphy his BAFTA nomination, a moment of industry recognition that was well overdue.
One of the few British shows to be as well-received across the pond as this side of it, the international fandom that Peaky Blinders has gained over its near-ten-year-run is due to Murphy. Like any long-running series, fans and audiences return because they love the characters, and for the sheer scale, impact and shockwave made by the cultural phenomenon that is Peaky Blinders, Murphy’s role as Arthur Shelby gets second place.
1. 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002)
This tale of apocalypse from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland details a contagious virus that ravages the UK, infecting citizens with a mysterious ‘rage’ virus that causes them to descend into a violent and bloodthirsty frenzy.
From the iconic opening moments as he wonders, clad in a hospital gown, through the desolate streets of central London, audiences around the world fell in love with Murphy and his depiction of Jim. It was the mainstream world’s introduction to Murphy, and his performance of an everyman who wakes up from a coma to find that his world has ended still resonates deeply today.
