Colin James Farrell (born
May 31, 1976) is a Golden Globe and
IFTA-winning Irish actor, who has
appeared in Hollywood
films including Tigerland, Daredevil, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, Alexander, In
Bruges, and S.W.A.T.
Early life
Farrell
was born in Castleknock
, Dublin
, the son of
Rita, a housewife, and Eamon, a footballer who played for Shamrock Rovers FC. His uncle
Tommy Farrell also played
for Rovers. Farrell has three siblings: two sisters, Claudine (who
is his personal assistant) and Catherine; and a brother, Eamon jnr.
Farrell
was educated at St. Brigid's National School
Castleknock
followed by Castleknock College
and Gormanston
College. Farrell auditioned for the Irish group
Boyzone when he was still unknown, but was
unsuccessful. Farrell attended
The Gaiety School of Acting, but
dropped out and was cast in the part of Danny Byrne on
Ballykissangel, a
BBC television drama. Farrell appeared
on the show from 1998 to 1999.
Career
Farrell had small parts in television shows and films, including
the BBC drama
Ballykissangel
in 1998 and his film debut in
Tim Roth's
The War Zone.
Then in 2000, he was
cast in the lead role of Private Roland Bozz in Tigerland, an American
film
directed by Joel Schumacher.
Farrell's next American films,
American Outlaws (2001) and
Hart's War (2002), were not
commercially successful, but his 2003 films, including
Phone Booth,
S.W.A.T., and
The Recruit were well-received box office
successes. Although he has a pronounced Irish accent, Farrell uses
an American accent in some of his films including
American
Outlaws and his breakthrough role,
Tigerland. Farrell
is also a proven supporting actor, given his performances as an
ambitious cop who chases after a potential criminal, played by
actor
Tom Cruise in
Minority Report (2002), and as
the skilled villain
Bullseye in
Daredevil (2003).
In late 2003, Farrell starred as a criminal who plots a bank heist
with
Cillian Murphy in the comedy
Intermission, which
held the record as highest-grossing Irish
independent film in Irish box office
history until 2006. In 2004, Farrell appeared in several
independent films that received only a limited theatrical release
in most countries, including
A Home at the End of the
World, which received some positive reviews. Farrell
appeared as a
bisexual character in
A
Home at the End of the World.
Farrell appeared in the title role of
Alexander the Great in
Oliver Stone's 2004
biopic Alexander, which, while receiving some
favorable reviews internationally, received mostly mediocre and
negative reviews in the United States. It was marked by controversy
for portraying the ancient conqueror as bisexual, and received
criticism from some historians for its portrayal of the ancient
Persians, though others praised it for its accuracy in these
regards as well. The movie grossed a total of $167 million
worldwide, despite its poor showing within the United States, just
exceeding its budget of $155 million.
His next film was 2005's
Academy
Award-nominated
The New
World, also a historical epic that was met with mixed
reviews. Farrell played the leading role of captain
John Smith, the founder of 17th
century colonial
Jamestown,
Virginia who falls in love with a beautiful
Native American
princess,
Pocahontas, played by
Q'Orianka Kilcher. The film received
positive reviews, despite being released in only 811 theaters
worldwide and having a relatively low box office gross.
The
New World was followed by Ask the Dust, a romance film set in
period Los
Angeles
and co-starring Salma
Hayek. It received a very limited theatrical release and
was not a financial success. 2006 brought more success in Farrell's
career, as he appeared opposite
Jamie
Foxx in
Michael
Mann's action-crime film
Miami
Vice. The film was a box office success grossing a total
of US $164 million worldwide. Farrell was next seen in
Woody Allen's
Cassandra's Dream, which premiered in
2007 and was distributed in the U.S. in early 2008. Farrell's next
film,
Martin McDonagh's
In Bruges, opened the Sundance Film
Festival in 2008; Farrell received his first
Golden Globe nomination and win for his role as
Ray, a hired hitman. Shortly thereafter he appeared
Kicking It, a documentary following
six homeless men from different countries as they attempt to
qualify for the
Homeless World
Cup. Farrell appeared on screen and provided narration. The
film released simultaneously in theaters and television, airing on
ESPN2 with a very short window to DVD release.
Farrell received positive press for his involvement in the
heartwarming true-life tale, and enthusiastic reviews for the two
dramatic roles that preceded it.
On 11 January 2009, he won the
Golden
Globe award for Best Actor: Musical or Comedy for his role in
In Bruges, in which he co-starred with
Brendan Gleeson.
He stars in
Terry Gilliam's film
The Imaginarium
of Doctor Parnassus, alongside
Heath Ledger and
Christopher Plummer.
Farrell's next project will be in a film adaptation of
Flann O'Brien's
metafictional novel
At Swim-Two-Birds alongside
Cillian Murphy and
Gabriel Byrne. Actor
Brendan Gleeson will be directing the film,
which will be released in 2010.
Personal life
Farrell was raised
Catholic
and has a large cross tattoo on his left forearm. Farrell has a
son, James Padraig (born 12 September 2003), with US model Kim
Bordenave. In October 2007, Farrell revealed that his son has
Angelman Syndrome, a rare genetic
disorder characterized by intellectual and developmental delay,
speech impediment, sleep disturbance, seizures, hand flapping
movements, and frequent laughter/smiling.
In December 2005, Farrell voluntarily checked into a rehabilitation
treatment center for addictions to
recreational drugs and
painkillers. His
publicist commented that Farrell had started
taking painkillers due to a back injury. He was released in January
2006. In May 2006, Farrell started attending rehabilitation
meetings.
It was announced on 14 September 2009, that Farrell and his current
partner, Polish actress
Alicja Bachleda-Curuś were
expecting their first child together. Their son, Henry Tadeusz
Farrell, was born on October 7, 2009.
Sex tape
In July 2005, Farrell filed a lawsuit suing his former girlfriend,
Playboy model
Nicole Narain, the Internet Commerce Group
(ICG) and adult entertainment producer David Hans Schmidt over the
unauthorized public distribution of a 14-minute
sex tape that Farrell made with Narain in
2003. Farrell claims he understood the tape as being "strictly
private and confidential and will take legal court actions to
anyone who tries to distribute it", but it was leaked to Schmidt
and ICG who tried to release it publicly.
A Los Angeles judge issued an injunction barring the sale, distribution, or
display of the tape.
Narain claimed that she did not give the tape to anyone and was not
sure if or how copies were taken from her. She originally said that
she would work with Farrell to ensure that it remained private, but
Farrell said that Narain, along with Schmidt, was trying to release
it in order to damage his career and "make money out of it", which
Nicole denies.
In January 2006, the tape surfaced on website named dirtycolin.com.
The site was shut down on the same day because the server
overloaded, but re-opened a week later. The tape was then
pirated through
file sharing systems. Both Farrell's and
Narain's lawyers denounced the site, which was shut down again a
few days later for unknown reasons. Farrell's legal team said it
would take legal action against sites that hosted the tape. A trial
date for the Narain lawsuit was set for July 17, 2006, but the
judge allowed Farrell and Nicole to mediate until April 20. On
April 16, the two reached a settlement with confidential terms.
However, Farrell's lawsuit against ICG continued with a trial date
set for July 21, 2006.
Alleged proposition for sex
In 2005,
Dame Eileen Atkins — who
was 70 at the time — revealed on
Loose
Women that a "stunningly gorgeous big film star" spent
nearly three hours propositioning her for "sex with no strings".
The "star" was later revealed to be actor Colin Farrell, whom
Atkins had acted alongside in the film,
Ask the Dust. Atkins claimed she
was tempted, but turned him down because he is 42 years her junior.
Farrell did not comment on the accusation initially, although since
he has admitted and joked about the incident on chat show
Friday Night with Jonathan
Ross.
Dessarae Bradford's accusations
Farrell has been sued twice for alleged harassment and sending foul
messages to telephone sex worker Dessarae Bradford. The lawsuits
were later dismissed due to a lack of evidence provided by
Bradford. Bradford, who has announced that she is "waging war on
Colin Farrell", has recorded a song entitled "Colin Farrell is My
Bitch" and has self-published a book called
Colin Farrell: A
Dark Twisted Puppy.
Bradford took a
lie detector test on an
i TV program in an attempt to support
her claims and stories. She failed the test.
On 20 July 2006, as Farrell was being interviewed by
Jay Leno on the set of
The Tonight Show,
Bradford evaded security, walked on stage as cameras were rolling,
confronted Farrell, and threw her book on Leno's desk. In front of
a silent, stunned audience, Farrell escorted her off the stage
himself, told the camera crew to stop filming, and handed her over
to security. As Bradford was led out of the studio, she shouted
"I'll see you in court." Farrell's response was, "Darling, you're
insane!"
Outside the studio, NBC
security handed her to Burbank
police, who eventually released her. After
Farrell apologized to the audience, describing Bradford as "my
first
stalker", the show then continued
filming and the incident was edited out of the broadcast aired that
night. The following day, Farrell obtained a
restraining order against Bradford.
Celebrity status
Farrell was named one of
People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful
People" in 2003. He was also voted sixth in the World's "Sexiest
Man" contest by
Company
magazine that same year.
In 2007, Farrell joined other celebrities including
Bruce Willis,
Muhammad
Ali,
Eva Mendes,
Vanessa L. Williams and Arnold Schwarzenegger to become an
official games spokesman for the Special Olympics World Games in
Shanghai, China
.
Selected filmography
Awards
References
- Colin Farrell Biography (1976-)
- Colin Farrell: People.com
- Colin Farrell Biography & Filmography
- "Loach Film Sets New Money Mark", RTE.ie,
August 8, 2006. Retrieved on July 18, 2007.
- Reames, Jean. "Fire Bringer - Oliver Stone's
Alexander"
- Goodridge, Mike. "Why Alexander Won't Meet Oscar," January
24, 2005, in Advocate.com
- Jaafar, Ali. "Parallel eyes Irish projects",
Variety, 2 September 2009. Accessed 2 September 2009.
- Famous Catholics
- Superstar Colin tells of 'blessed' life with
special needs child. Irish Independent. October 15,
2007.
- Colin Farrell and Girlfriend Welcome a Son
- The Associated Press
- Sundance Film Festival
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