Ireland is having something of a renaissance in Hollywood. The country racked up multiple nominations at the and followed it up with becoming the first
Irish performer to take home the at the 2024 ceremony. In addition to Murphy, several other stars from the Emerald Isle have given breakout or career-cementing performances in the last few years, including Saoirse Ronan, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan, Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley, Andrew Scott, , the entire cast of , and of course, . Farrell, who was nominated for Best
Actor in 2023 for , recently spoke to about the “amazing” talent of his native country. “I mean, we punch so far above our weight, you know?” he said. “We’re only a country of five million people and I don’t know, Irish people—just whether it’s through
music, the written word, whether it’s prose of poetry, film, theater of course, we just—we have a deep connection to… I think just to the importance of story and to leaning into stories and meanings with which we understand ourselves and the world around us.” Last month, —one of those interviewed for the recent documentary —shared a similar sentiment with the
BBC. “We come from a landscape of poetry,” he said of the wealth of talent coming from
Ireland. “They’re great storytellers.” Ros Hubbard, the Irish casting director credited with discovering Farrell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, among others, has her own theory about the Irish renaissance. “I think everyone wants to portray feeling and character but our actors are not overburdened with too much ‘poncey’ [pretentious or affected] training. Most of their work is through film. You are getting a genuine truthful delivery in their acting,” she said earlier this year, . “I can’t even think of one Irish actor who would irritate me. They are just natural-born actors and the difference between them and me is that they know how to bring it to the next level which is showing people what they mean. Absolutely bringing the script to life the way they do.” Ruth Barton, a critic and film studies professor at Trinity College
Dublin, last year about the pipeline for Irish talent, which is bolstered by state-subsidized theater. Young actors can start their training on stage, graduate to Irish TV, and then aim for bigger projects. And it’s a pretty smooth transition to
Hollywood, where “they’re getting pretty accomplished actors coming in who know what to do, who speak English, and who don’t have to deal with the kind of cultural adjustment either because, you know, we can see
American TV here.” All of these theories explain why Irish talent has exploded in recent years, but not why those stars have become so beloved. Of course, goes a long way, but the Internet has particularly embraced Ireland. For that phenomenon, Barton has another theory: “Ireland stands for nothing on the world stage,” she mused to . “We’re not an aggressor. We’re not a colonizer. The Troubles are over. We actually live in one of a few countries with a fairly stable democracy. We don’t have crazy leaders. It’s a benign kind of identity, Irishness.” In other words, it’s just good craic.