Peter Mullan (born 2
November 1959) is a Scottish
actor and
film-maker who has been appearing in films since 1990.
Early life
Mullan,
the sixth of eight children, was born in Peterhead
in the northeast of Scotland, the son of Patricia,
a nurse, and Charles Mullan, a lab technician
who worked at Glasgow
University
. His family was Roman Catholic and moved to Mosspark
, a
working-class suburb on the south side of Glasgow
.
An
alcoholic and latterly a sufferer from
lung cancer, Mullan's father became
increasingly tyrannical and abusive. For a brief period, Mullan was
a member of a street gang while at high school, and worked as a
bouncer in a number of south-side
pubs.
His
father died on the day Mullan began studying economic history and
drama at the University of Glasgow
.
Career
At University, Mullan began acting, and continued stage acting
after graduation. He had roles in several Scottish films, including
Shallow Grave,
Trainspotting,
Braveheart, and a supporting role in
Ken Loach's
Riff-Raff. He also began to work as a writer
and director, producing the
short films
Close,
Good Day for the Bad Guys, and
Fridge. His first full-length film
Orphans won an
award at the
Venice Film
Festival.
Mullan's appearance in Loach's film
My Name Is Joe, portraying a recovering
alcoholic wrestling with his demons, won him the
Best Actor Award at
the
1998 Cannes Film
Festival. He appeared in the lead role in Brad Anderson's 2001
psychological/supernatural thriller
Session 9. In 2002 he returned to directing
and screenwriting with the controversial film
The Magdalene Sisters, based on
life in an Irish Magdalene Asylum. For that movie Mullan won a
Golden Lion award from the Venice Film
Festival.
In 2004, he starred in
On a Clear
Day and
Criminal.
In 2006 he had a small but critical role in
Children of Men, a thriller directed by
Alfonso Cuarón. In 2007, he
played a prominent role in the Channel 4 adaptation of
Boy A, and will star as
James Connolly in the upcoming movie
Connolly.
He currently co-stars in the Red Riding Trilogy and the second
series of ITV crime drama
The
Fixer.
Personal life
A
Marxist, Mullan was a leading figure in
the left-wing theatre movement which blossomed in Scotland during
the Conservative
Thatcher
government, including stints in the
7:84 and
Wildcat theatre companies.
A strident critic of
Tony Blair's
New Labour government, he told
The Guardian "the
TUC and the Labour Party sold us [the
working class] out big style, unashamedly so".
Mullan took part in a 2005 occupation of the Glasgow offices of the
UK Immigration Service,
protesting the UKIS's "dawn raid" tactics when deporting failed
asylum seekers.
In January 2009 he joined other actors in protesting the BBC's
refusal to screen a
Disasters Emergency Committee
appeal for Gaza. They told BBC director general Mark Thompson in an
email: "Like millions of others, we are absolutely appalled at the
decision to refuse to broadcast the appeal. We will never work for
the BBC again unless this disgraceful decision is reversed. We will
urge others from our profession and beyond to do likewise."
Mullan is also a life long follower of
Celtic Football Club.
Filmography
Film
Television
References and notes
- Sources differ as to Mullen's exact birthdate; the Internet
Movie Database states 2 November 1959.
- "Peter Mullan Biography (1960–)" Yahoo.com (Retrieved: 15 August
2009)
- "Biography: Peter Mullan",
FilmReference.com (Retrieved: 15 August 2009)
- Malcolm, Derek; "Sins of the sisters", Guardian.co.uk 16
September 2002 (Retrieved: 15 August 2009)
- Matheou, Demetrios; "Local Hero" Guardian.co.uk, 7 January 2001
(Retrieved: 15 August 2009)
- "Peter Mullan & Anne-Marie Duff"
FutureMovies.co.uk, 9 July 2003 (Retrieved: 15 August
2009)
- "The Players: Peter Mullen" Guardian.co.uk
(Retrieved: 15 August 2009)
- "Protesters in 'asylum raid' demo"
news.BBC.co.uk, 2 November 2005
(Retrieved: 15 August 2009)
- English, Paul; "Peter Mullan and other stars to boycott BBC over
Gaza charity snub" DailyRecord.co.uk, 27 January 2009
(Retrieved: 15 August 2009)
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