There have been quite a few physical changes to the 2023 Oscar nominees since the start of their careers, and Barry Keoghan is no exception.
However, The Banshees of Inisherin actor went through a lot more than a makeover before he was considered among the contenders for an Oscar.
That’s because he had a complicated childhood and life story that few know about: we explain.
This was Barry Keoghan’s difficult childhood
Barry Keoghan was born on October 18, 1992 in a run-down area of ​​Dublin, Ireland and lived for a time with his mother and brother Eric.
However, his mother began to develop a strong addiction to drugs, which became influential in the 1990s.
For this reason the two little ones had to grow up in foster homes. According to what Keoghan said in an interview on “The Late Late Show”, he lived with his brother in 13 different places.
In an interview with “British GQ” he also talked about his difficult childhood, saying that when he was 10 years old both he and his brother were taken away by their maternal grandmother.
Two years later, she received the news that her mother had died: “It wasn’t a ‘sudden death’ kind of shock, as she was in and out of hospital often and the family knew to some extent what was coming.
At that time Barry began to develop an obsession with various famous actors, such as Marlon Brando, Paul Newman or James Dean.
And, despite the fact that the arts weren’t exactly “well-regarded” among the local boys he lived with, he didn’t stop fighting for what he loved.
Barry Keoghan’s successful career: how it began
At the age of 16, Barry Keoghan was expelled from school but continued to pursue what he truly loved: acting.
It was at that age that he saw an ad in a shop window inviting actors to join a new project: “All I saw was school leave, get paid, go,” the actor told British GQ.
But his efforts didn’t stop there, as he repeatedly called ‘Between the Canals’ director Mark O’Connor until he convinced him to hire him.
Thus he got his first role in a film project as such, and then began to participate in independent shows and films of Irish origin. Among them are ‘Stalker’, ‘Stay’, ‘Love/Hate’ or ‘Mamma’.
In 2017, he landed a role in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, and in the same year he shot The Killing of a Sacred Deer, films that catapulted him to stardom.
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After that he joined the cast of “American Animals”, “Chernobyl”, “Eternals” and even appeared in “The Batman” (by the way, Keoghan wants to return as the Joker in “The Batman 2”).
“The Banshees of the Inisherin” was the film that earned him his first Oscar nomination, in the category of Supporting Actor.