A handsome, dark-haired Irish actor with an intense screen presence, Colin Farrell shot to fame in the USA as a cagey army recruit with a penchant for troublemaking in "Tigerland" (2000). Like so many actors who seem to achieve overnight stardom, the Dublin-born actor had paid his dues with film and TV roles. Raised in the Castleknock section of Dublin, this son of a soccer player admits to a somewhat rebellious youth, attending several schools and indulging in beer drinking. After spending a year in Australia, he returned to Ireland and enrolled at the Gaiety School of Acting but left after a year when his career began to take off. Farrell landed his first film role in "Drinking Crude" (1997) and the following year had a supporting role in the period TV drama "Falling For a Dancer" (aired in the USA on Romance Classics). He then landed the regular role of Danny Byrne on the popular Irish series "Ballykissangel", which he played for two seasons.

 In an age when celebrities seem willing to confess every and all of their foibles and failings, Chris O'Donnell seems like an anomaly. Variously labeled by the press as "The Last Boy Scout" or "Mr. Squeaky Clean", he is an actor whose ordinary, decent personal life has translated to the screen in wholesome, regular guy roles. Blandly attractive, but possessing enough gravity to be a compelling screen presence, he has provided able support to some of cinema's powerful personalities (e.g., Jessica Lange, Al Pacino) as well as proving a successful light comedian, It was only when he attempted to translate his straight-laced, preppy persona and instinctual approach to performing into a dramatic leading man (as in 1997's "The Chamber") that he stumbled.

BIOGRAPHY