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John Lynch (actor)

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For other people named John Lynch, see John Lynch (disambiguation).

John Lynch
Lynch in 2015
Born
Northern Ireland
Alma materRoyal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation(s)Actor, novelist
Years active1984–present
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1997; sep. 2008)​
RelativesSusan Lynch (sister)
Leah O'Rourke (niece)

John Lynch is an Irish actor and novelist. He won the AFI (AACTA) Award for Best Actor for the 1995 film Angel Baby. His other film and television appearances include Cal (1984), The Secret Garden (1993), In the Name of the Father (1993), Sliding Doors (1998), The Fall (2013–2016), Medici (2019), The Head (2020–2022), and The Banishing (2021).

Lynch has also written two novels, Torn Water (2005) and Falling Out of Heaven (2010).

Early life

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Lynch was born in Ireland to an Irish father, Fin Lynch, and an Italian mother, Rosina Pavone, better known as Rose.[1][2][3] His mother was from Trivento, a town in the Province of Campobasso in Molise, Southern Italy. His parents met in London, where his mother was a teacher.[4] He is the eldest of five children,[2][3] and was raised as a Catholic.[1]

In 1968, when he was seven years old, he moved with his family to the townland of Corrinshego, where his father was from, in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Corrinshego, where he spent the rest of his childhood and teenage years, is on the western outskirts of Newry.[1][5][4] Lynch later attended St. Colman's College in Newry. He began acting in Irish language plays at school during the early years of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. His sister Susan Lynch and his nephew Thomas Finnegan are also actors.[3]

Career

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Lynch has appeared in numerous films related to Northern Ireland's problems such as Cal (1984) with Helen Mirren,[5] for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles,[6] The Railway Station Man (1992) with Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, In the Name of the Father (1993) with Daniel Day-Lewis, Nothing Personal (1995) and Some Mother's Son (1996), also with Mirren, as well as the Irish-themed film Evelyn (2002).[7] In Some Mother's Son he played the role of Irish Republican hunger strike leader Bobby Sands.

He was a supporting actor in Derek Jarman's Edward II (1991), as Lord Craven in Agnieska Holland's film The Secret Garden (1993), as Tadhg in The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), and as Gerry in Sliding Doors (1998).[7]

Lynch played the lead in the Australian feature Angel Baby,[7] winning the Australian Film Institute award for best leading actor and the Australian Film Critics award for best actor of 1995.[8] He was nominated for a Satellite Film Award for the film Moll Flanders in 1996.[7] He worked with acclaimed Belgian director Marion Hänsel on her adaptation of Booker Prize-nominated author Damon Galgut's novel, The Quarry (also known as La Faille; 1998),[5] which won Best Film at the Montreal World Film Festival. Lynch played the part of football legend George Best in the 2000 film Best.[7] He won Best Actor for his role in Best at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival in 2000.[7] He wrote and co-produced the film.[5]

In 2005, Lynch was nominated for an IFTA for his role in The Baby War.[9] He starred in Five Day Shelter as Stephen, which won a European Film Award and was in competition at the Rome Film Festival. In 2011, he played the lead in Craig Vivieros' first feature film, the prison drama Ghosted. He played the role of Wollfstan in Black Death, and appeared in the 2012 film version of Michael Morpurgo's novel, Private Peaceful.[7]

Lynch is also a novelist. His first novel, Torn Water, was published in November 2005 by 4th Estate, a literary imprint of HarperCollins, and his second, Falling Out of Heaven, was published on 13 May 2010 by the same publisher.[5]

Personal life

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Lynch married film-maker Mary McGuckian in 1997, having met her on the set of Words Upon the Window Pane a few years earlier.[4] They separated in 2008 and later divorced. As of 2023, he resides in Nice with his wife, Christine.[1][3][10]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1984 Cal Cal
1990 Hardware Shades
1871 O'Brien
1991 Edward II Spencer
1992 The Railway Station Man Damian Sweeney
1993 The Secret Garden Lord Craven
In the Name of the Father Paul Hill
1994 The Secret of Roan Inish Tadhg Coneelly
Princess Caraboo Amon McCarthy
Words Upon the Window Pane John Corbet
1995 Angel Baby Harry
Nothing Personal Liam
1996 Some Mother's Son Bobby Sands
Moll Flanders Jonathan (the Artist) Nominated Best Supporting Actor - Satellite Awards
1997 This Is the Sea Padhar McAliskey
1998 Sliding Doors Gerry
The Quarry The Man
2000 Best George Best
2002 Puckoon O'Brien
Re-Inventing Eddie Eddie Harris
Evelyn Senior Counsel Mr. Wolfe
2003 Conspiracy of Silence Father Matthew Francis
Alien Hunter Dr. Michael Straub
2004 The Bridge of San Luis Rey Captain Alvarado
2005 Isolation Dan
Lassie Sam Carraclough
2008 In Transit Yakov
2009 Holy Water Tom Gaffney Later renamed Hard Times
The Tournament Gene Walker
2010 Five Day Shelter Stephen
Black Death Wolfstan
Night Wolf McRae Also known as 13Hrs
2011 Ghosted Jack
2012 The Hot Potato Bill
Private Peaceful Sergeant Hanley
2013 Möbius Joshua
2014 The Hybrid Powell [11]
2016 Detour Frank
Alleycats Redman
Upstream Sean
2017 Pilgrimage Brother Ciarán
Kissing Candice Donal
Number One Gary Adams
2018 Paul, Apostle of Christ Aquila
2020 Boys from County Hell George Bogue [12]
2021 The Banishing Malachi [13]
2024 Sew Torn Hudson Armitage
The Watchers Professor Kilmartin

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1988 The Modern World: Ten Great Writers Stephen Dedalus Documentary
1990 Who Bombed Birmingham? IRA man in cottage Television film
1990–1991 Making Out Gavin 6 episodes
1991 Shrinks Kevin Saunders Episode #1.2
All Good Things Vincent Gibney 6 episodes
Chimera Peter Carson 4 episodes
The Play on One Rudy Episode: "Out of the Blue"
1993 Peak Practice Father Davey Episode: "Impulsive Behavior"
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Sean O'Casey Episode: "Ireland, April 1916"
2001 The Seventh Stream Tomas Dunhill Television film
2002 Boston Public Jerry Episode: "Chapter Thirty-One"
2005 The Baby War Pierce O'Carroll Television film
Bleak House Nemo 2 episodes
2007 The Yellow House Paul Gauguin Television film
Spooks Davie King Episode: "Isolated"[14]
2008 Trial & Retribution Gary Webster Episode: "Kill the King: Part 1"
The Passion Sagan 4 episodes
2009, 2012 Merlin Balinor 2 episodes
2010 Silent Witness Tom Flannery 2 episodes
Mo Gerry Adams Television film
The Nativity Gabriel 3 episodes[15]
2011 Vera Edmund Fulwell Episode: "The Crow Trap"
The Jury Alan Lane 5 episodes
2012 Labyrinth Simon de Montfort Miniseries; 2 episodes
2013 Crossing Lines Frankie Episode: "The Terminator"
2013–2016 The Fall Assistant Chief Constable Jim Burns 17 episodes
2014 The Musketeers Luca Sestini Episode: "A Rebellious Woman"
Shetland Frank Blake 2 episodes
The Assets Vitaly Yurchenko 4 episodes
2015 The Trials of Jimmy Rose DI Steve McIntyre 3 episodes
2016 One of Us Bill Douglas 4 episodes
2018 The Terror John Bridgens 5 episodes
2019 Tin Star Pastor Johan Nickel 7 episodes
Harlots Jonas Young Episode #3.1
Medici Pope Sixtus IV 3 episodes
2020–2022 The Head Arthur Wilde Main role
2023 Blue Lights James McIntyre 6 episodes[16]

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
1985
 British Academy Film Awards BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer To Film Cal Nominated [6][17]
1995
 Australian Film Institute Awards AFI Best Actor in a Lead Role Angel Baby Won [17][8]
1996
 Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Actor - Male Won [7][17]
1997
 Satellite Awards Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Moll Flanders Nominated [7][17]
2000
 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Jury Award for Best Actor Best Won [7][17]
2005
 IFTA Film & Drama Awards Best Supporting Actor in Television The Baby War Nominated [9][17]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "John Lynch – looking back on a 'wounding' past". irishnews.com. 5 November 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Actor Lynch is a citizen of Trivento". ansa.it. 27 July 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d "The other fall guy - Why John Lynch loves working with Gillian Anderson". belfasttelegraph.co.uk. 26 November 2014.
  4. ^ a b c "After 'Cal', his first film, John Lynch ..." The Irish Times. 29 October 2005.
  5. ^ a b c d e Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television, vol 52 (2003), Gale, Detroit
  6. ^ a b "Film - Most Promising Newcomer To Film in 1985". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "John Lynch cv" (PDF). Markham, Froggatt and Irwin. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  8. ^ a b "Angel Baby". kinolorber.com. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Winners of the 3rd Annual Irish Film & Television Awards 2005". ifta.ie. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  10. ^ Soufi, Daniel (4 January 2023). "Actor John Lynch: 'Some people stop drinking when they realize alcohol is bad for them – I did the opposite'". El País. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  11. ^ The Hybrid at IMDb
  12. ^ "'Our humour is armour… a shield used to deflect doom and gloom': John Lynch on the dark comedy in his new film Boys from County Hell". belfasttelegraph.co.uk. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  13. ^ Tallerico, Brian. "The Banishing movie review & film summary (2021) | Roger Ebert". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  14. ^ "MI-5" Isolated (TV Episode 2007) - IMDb, retrieved 15 April 2023
  15. ^ The Nativity, BBC, November 2010; retrieved 21 December 2010.
  16. ^ "Blue Lights: Release date, cast and latest news for BBC police drama". Radio Times. 27 March 2023. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  17. ^ a b c d e f "John Lynch Awards". IMDb (Index source only). Retrieved 8 December 2022.
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