It explodes with Oppenheimer: Who is Cillian Murphy, Christopher Nolan’s tortured hero?

This week, Cillian Murphy takes center stage in one of the most anticipated films of the year, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. The 47-year-old actor portrays Robert Oppenheimer, a major historical figure considered the father of nuclear weapons.

Cillian Murphy was born to a mother who was a French teacher and a father who worked for the Irish Department of Education. He got to know himself for the first time in the theater, especially in plays Disco pigs, Much ado about nothing and shape of things.

After several television films and confidential feature films, the young man began to make a name for himself in England with a role in La Vie à la folie, and then in Disco Pigs, an adaptation of a play he had played a few years earlier.

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In 2003, he gained recognition for his role in Danny Boyle’s post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later, then starred in Intermission, a choral film set in the heart of Dublin’s working-class neighbourhoods, which won no less than four IFTA awards.

In 2004, Cillian Murphy appeared in two major American productions: Cold Mountain and The Girl with a Pearl Earring. He then left period films for Gotham City, where he took on the Scarecrow tinsel in Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005).

In 2005, we find him in Wes Craven’s thriller Red Eye, where he amazes as a psychopath. He then shared the score with Liam Neeson on Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto. In 2006, he starred in Ken Loach’s The Wind Rises, about the Irish War of Independence. The film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

In a most eclectic career, the Irishman teamed up with Danny Boyle a second time for the brilliant sci-fi film Sunshine (2007), in which he had to illuminate the setting sun. He reprized his role as the Coward in The Dark Knight (2008), considered his best Batman.

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Alternating between Irish and Hollywood performances, the Douglas native was awarded the Perrier’s Bounty by Brendan Gleeson before reuniting with Nolan for the SF thriller Inception alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and other big stars such as Marion Cotillard and Tom Hardy.

Having become one of the talented director’s favorite actors, Cillian Murphy worked under his direction again in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises. Then, four years later, we see him in the tenth film, the realistic Dunkirk, set during World War II.

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In 2013, Killian became the hero of the British series Peaky Blinders. He plays Tommy Shelby, head of a family of gangsters in 1920s Birmingham. The success is and, with its 6 seasons and 36 episodes, the program continues until 2022.

At the same time, the actor alternates between mainstream films (Transcendence, In the Heart of the Ocean, Free Fire, Anna, Without A Noise 2) and more intimate performances (Broken with Tim Roth, Jennifer Connelly’s Dream Catcher, Party with Kristin Scott Thomas).

In 2023, Christopher Nolan offers him the lead role in the biographical Oppenheimer. For this occasion, the Irish actor steps into the shoes of an American scientist who was asked by the government to develop atomic weapons during World War II:

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“I always told Chris Nolan, publicly and privately, that if I was available and he wanted to be in a movie, I would always be there. No matter how big the role. But deep down, secretly, I was dying to play him.”– says Killian. He adds:

“He was just like, ‘Look, I wrote this script about Oppenheimer.’ I wish mine was an Oppenheimer. It was a great day. It felt like the time was right to take on such a responsibility. And it was really big.”

“The character was complex, contradictory and very iconic. But I knew I was working with one of the greatest directors of all time. I felt confident. He has had a huge impact on my life, both creatively and professionally.”