Cillian Murphy

Murphy in 2012, photo by PR Photos

Place of Birth: Douglas, County Cork, Ireland

Date of Birth: 25 May, 1976

Ethnicity: Irish

Cillian Murphy is an Irish actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Oppenheimer (2023). His roles also include the films Disco Pigs, 28 Days Later, Intermission, Cold Mountain, Batman Begins, and its sequels; Red Eye, Breakfast on Pluto, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Sunshine (2007), Inception, In Time, Red Lights, Aloft, In the Heart of the Sea, Anthropoid, Free Fire, The Party, Dunkirk (2017), Anna (2019), and A Quiet Place Part II, and the show Peaky Blinders.

His father, Brendan Murphy, was a school inspector, and his mother, a teacher of French. He was raised in Ballintemple, Cork. Cillian is married to visual artist Yvonne McGuinness, with whom he has two children. Yvonne is the niece of politician John McGuinness.

Cillian’s paternal grandfather was Patrick Murphy (the son of John Murphy and Margaret Crowley). Patrick was born in Currow, Kerry. John was the son of Patrick Murphy and Ellen Fitzgerald. Margaret was born in Knockeenacurrig West, Kishkeam, County Cork, the daughter of Cornelius Crowley and Helen Daly.

Cillian’s paternal grandmother was Margaret (Madge) Flynn (the daughter of Patrick Flynn and Catherine “Kate” Sweeney).

Cillian’s maternal grandfather’s surname was O Mahony.

Source: Genealogy of Cillian Murphy (focusing on his father’s side) – https://www.geni.com

28 Responses

  1. Devotion says:

    he looks African with light skin…

  2. Capricious says:

    So he and Colin Farrell share the same ethnicity? Odd…

    Murphy looks more Scandinavian though. Something about his piercing blue eyes and full lips.

    • gel says:

      No one has any idea what the Irish look like do they! – most Irish look like this.

      • Capricious says:

        Funny you say this. Because when people criticize the idea of someone as dark as Colin Farrel being Irish, we hear folks go like “um, many Irish people look like this”.

        And now you’re telling me “most Irish people look like Cillian”? Um….

        Who is right? Because both sides are strong in their opinion.

        • Alice says:

          Most Irish are blue eyed and brown haired like Cillian but just like every other European nationality there are people with a range of colouring. You can get people with blond hair and blue eyes or red hair and green eyes and people like Colin Farrell.

          It is baffling that people think that any country in Europe is either all blond or all brunet. A place like Ireland has a lot of variety.

          Just as an example here is Colin Farrell’s co star in the movie In Bruges. Both Colin and Brendan Gleeson are Irishmen.

          https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Brendan_Gleeson.jpg

        • PB1897 says:

          Well both ‘sides’ are right. Do think think Ireland has one hair colour? Ireland, like every European nation, has a range of hair colours from ginger to black, blond to brown. The majority of the population has brown hair/blue eyes. Calling Colin Farrell dark is extremely generous use of the word (and ridiculous tbh, what are sub-saharan Africans if he’s dark?).

        • athelya says:

          is it that hard to comprehend that countries can and ethnicities can have a diverse colour range? you need to get out more.

        • Yesterday says:

          It’s almost like Ireland has both people with brown hair and eyes and people with blue eyes.

          Weird, I know.

  3. me says:

    he seems mad lol

  4. Alice says:

    I think the confusion is because on many sites it says that his mother is a French teacher when it should say that his mother teaches French.

  5. Alice says:

    Cillian doesn’t have any French ancestry. His mother teaches French but is Irish.

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