Cillian Murphy

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Cillian Murphy (born May 25, 1976 in Douglas, Cork, Ireland) is an Irish actor and musician. Cillian is an Irish name and is also sometimes incorrectly spelled Killian; both spellings are pronounced "Kil ee an."

Murphy studied law at the University College Cork. Initially his interest in performing was led by music. He played guitar with a Frank Zappa influenced band called Sons of Mr. Greengenes. However, by the time he left college his primary interest was acting. His first major role was in the UCC Drama Society production of Observe The Sons of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme. He went on to appear on stage in Disco Pigs. After touring with Disco Pigs in London, Edinburgh and Cork he left UCC without graduating.

Disco Pigs was Murphy's first big break. He was cast in the central role of Pig in Corcadorca's 1996 production of Enda Walsh's original play. He later reprised that role for the 2001 feature film version by Kirsten Sheridan. Also, he wrote and sang the song So New for the soundtrack. However, it wasn't until Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later became 2003's sleeper hit in the USA that the bigger studios and directors started to take notice.

In recent years he has had smaller parts in such Hollywood films as Girl with a Pearl Earring and Cold Mountain. 2005 was the year that brought Murphy into more reknown with his roles as Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow in Batman Begins and his role as the villain, Jackson Rippner, in Red Eye, co-starring Rachel McAdams.

Currently, he stars in the movie 'Breakfast on Pluto', based on the novel of the same title by Patrick McCabe. He has received outstanding reviews, and some believe that he will be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor.

He currently resides in London, England.

1 Personal life
2 Trivia
3 Filmography
4 External links

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Personal life

Murphy married his long term girlfriend, Yvonne McGuinness (b. 1972 in Ireland), in August 2004 in Provence, France. They recently had a son named Malachy.

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Trivia

He originally auditioned for the role of Bruce Wayne and Batman in the Batman movie Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan was reportedly impressed with his audition; while he decided to give Christian Bale the lead role, he persuaded Murphy to play Dr. Jonathan Crane/ The Scarecrow.
According to Entertainment Weekly magazine, he is currently at number 3 of The Most Valuable Players of Summer 2005, a list for entertainers who have breaktrough outstanding performances for the year 2005. He was placed behind Terrence Howard and Matt Dillon. The magazine went on to compare him with Robert Mitchum.