About the Cast

COLIN FARRELL (Ray)

In addition to In Bruges, Colin Farrell will also shortly be seen on movie screens starring with Edward Norton in Gavin O’Connor’s Pride and Glory.

Born and raised in Castleknock in the Republic of Ireland, Mr. Farrell is the son of former football player Eamon Farrell and the nephew of Tommy Farrell. Both Tommy and Eamon Farrell played for the Irish Football Club, Shamrock Rovers, in the 1960s.

He had an early ambition to follow in his father and uncle's footsteps, but his interest soon turned towards acting and he joined the Gaiety School of Drama in Dublin. Before completing his studies, he landed a role in Deirdre Purcell's miniseries Falling for a Dancer; a regular role on the BBC series Ballykissangel and a supporting role in Tim Roth's feature The War Zone followed soon after.

Colin Farrell’s subsequent film credits have included Joel Schumacher’s Tigerland, Phone Booth, and (in a cameo) Veronica Guerin; Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report; Roger Donaldson’s The Recruit; Mark Steven Johnson’s Daredevil; Clark Johnson’s S.W.A.T.; John Crowley’s Intermission; Michael Mayer’s A Home at the End of the World; Oliver Stone’s Alexander, Terrence Malick’s The New World; Robert Towne’s Ask the Dust; Michael Mann’s Miami Vice; and Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream.

BRENDAN GLEESON (Ken)

Dublin-born Brendan Gleeson previously starred for In Bruges writer/director Martin McDonagh in Six Shooter, which won the Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film.

Audiences worldwide know the actor from (to date) two Harry Potter movies, The Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix, directed by Mike Newell and David Yates, respectively, and both also starring Ralph Fiennes of In Bruges.

A former teacher, Mr. Gleeson left the profession to pursue a career in his first love – acting. He joined the Irish theater company Passion Machine and subsequently studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He has since starred on the stage (including with the Royal Shakespeare Company) and in films and television.

Following small roles in such films as Jim Sheridan’s The Field, Mike Newell’s Into the West, and Ron Howard’s Far and Away, he landed his breakout role in Mel Gibson’s Academy Award-winning Braveheart.

His portrayal of real-life criminal Martin Cahill in John Boorman’s The General, tandemed with his performance in Paddy Breathnach’s I Went Down, brought Mr. Gleeson Best Actor honors from the Boston Society of Film Critics. The General also earned him the Irish Film & Television Award (IFTA) and London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.

His many other films include John Boorman’s The Tailor of Panama, In My Country (a.k.a. Country of My Skull), and The Tiger’s Tail; Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins, The Butcher Boy, and Breakfast on Pluto; John Woo’s Mission: Impossible II; Steven Spielberg’s AI; Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later…; Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York; Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy; Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven; and Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf.

Mr. Gleeson recently completed work on Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s telefilm Churchill at War, in which he stars as Winston Churchill.

RALPH FIENNES (Harry)

Ralph Fiennes has twice been nominated for an Academy Award, for his performances in Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient and Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, both of which won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Born in Suffolk, Mr. Fiennes grew up in England and Ireland. He attended RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), after which he began his professional acting career on the stage. He performed at London’s Regents Park, the Theatre Clwyd, and the Oldman Coliseum. Two years after graduating RADA, he joined Michael Rudman’s company at the Royal National Theatre. He later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where for two seasons he appeared in such plays as Henry VI, King Lear, and Love’s Labour’s Lost.

An appearance on the original Prime Suspect miniseries, directed by Christopher Menaul, led to his being cast by the director to portray the legendary T.E. Lawrence in the telefilm A Dangerous Man: Lawrence after Arabia. The starring role in another telefilm, Peter Markham’s The Cormorant, followed. Mr. Fiennes made his feature film debut starring opposite Juliette Binoche, as Heathcliff, in Peter Kosminsky’s Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.

In addition to Academy and Golden Globe Award nominations, his performance as SS Commandant Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List won him the BAFTA, New York Film Critics Circle, National Society of Film Critics, Boston Society of Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics Association, and London Critics Circle [Film] Awards, among other honors.

Mr. Fiennes next starred as Charles Van Doren in Robert Redford’s acclaimed Quiz Show. His subsequent films included Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days; The English Patient (for which, in addition to his second Oscar nod, he also received BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations); Gillian Armstrong’s Oscar and Lucinda; and Martha Fiennes’ Onegin (which he also executive-produced). His performance in István Szabó’s epic Sunshine earned him the European Film Award for Best Actor.

Mr. Fiennes’ other films include Neil Jordan’s The End of the Affair and (in a cameo) The Good Thief; Brett Ratner’s Red Dragon; Wayne Wang’s Maid in Manhattan; David Cronenberg’s Spider; Arie Posin’s The Chumscrubber; Merchant Ivory’s The White Countess; Martha Fiennes’ Chromophobia, which world-premiered as the Closing-Night film at the 2005 Cannes International Film Festival; Robert Edwards’ Land of the Blind; (in voiceover) Steve Box and Nick Park’s Academy Award-winning animated feature Wallace & Gromit – The Curse of the Were-rabbit; and Bob Balaban’s Bernard and Doris.

Also for Focus Features, he starred in Fernando Meirelles’ The Constant Gardener, for which he was again a BAFTA Award nominee, opposite Rachel Weisz. His performance also brought him the British Independent Film Award and London Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Actor.

For the past fifteen years, he has consistently alternated stage and film performances. He starred in Jonathan Kent’s Almeida Theatre staging of Hamlet, the subsequent Broadway engagement of which won him a Tony Award. Mr. Fiennes returned to the Almeida for the director’s staging of David Hare’s modern translation of Chekhov’s Ivanov, the production of which was honored with an invitation to Moscow for a special weeklong run.

In the summer of 2000, he played the title roles of Richard II and Coriolanus in rotating repertory for the Almeida Theatre Company. Both Shakespeare plays were directed by Jonathan Kent and, following acclaim in London, were also performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Under the direction of Howard Davies at London’s National Theatre, Mr. Fiennes starred as Carl Jung in Christopher Hampton’s The Talking Cure. He also starred in Adrian Noble’s Royal Shakespeare Company staging of Ibsen’s Brand in the West End; and in Deborah Warner’s production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, at the Barbican Centre in London and on tour in Paris, Madrid, and Luxembourg.

In 2006, he reunited with Jonathan Kent for Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, which premiered at Dublin’s Gate Theatre in a sold-out run before coming to Broadway, where Mr. Fiennes was honored with a Tony Award nomination, as was the play.

He has starred in (so far) two movies as the dreaded Lord Voldemort; Mike Newell’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and David Yates’ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, both of which also starred Brendan Gleeson of In Bruges.

Mr. Fiennes’ upcoming films include Saul Dibb’s The Duchess, in which he stars with Keira Knightley; and Stephen Daldry’s The Reader, in which he stars opposite Nicole Kidman.

CLÉMENCE POÉSY (Chloë)

Clémence Poésy is one of France’s brightest new stars. She played the title role in Nina Grosse’s L’été d’Olga; and starred opposite Carole Bouquet in Francis Pallau’s Bienvenue chez les Rozes. Her other films include Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe’s Le Grand Meaulnes; and, most recently, Olivier Panchot’s Sans moi and Ariel Zeitoun’s Le gang des postiches (a.k.a. Le dernier gang).

Ms. Poésy has also starred in such telefilms as Olivier Péray’s La vie quand meme and Ilan Duran Cohen’s Les Amants du Flore.

Her first English-language performance was as Mary, Queen of Scots in the award-winning BBC miniseries Gunpowder, Treason & Plot,directed by Gillies MacKinnon. She later costarred on the NBC series Revelations, with Bill Pullman and Natascha McElhone. Most recently, she starred as Natasha in the miniseries War and Peace, directed by Robert Dornhelm.

Audiences worldwide saw Ms. Poésy as Fleur Delacour in Mike Newell’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which starred Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes of In Bruges.

She started acting on stage at a very young age, in Le Dragon and in Mai ‘45/Mai ‘95.

JÉRÉMIE RÉNIER (Eirik)

As a child, Brussels-born Jérémie Rénier worked with La Rétine de Plateau, the non-profit organization that helps to make Belgian short films and get them shown. After attending circus school, by age 10 he had a role in the multipart Belgian film Les sept péchés capitaux [The Seven Deadly Sins], and starred as Pinocchio at the Mons Royal Theatre.

His big break came with landing the lead role in Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s La Promesse [The Promise], which won awards all over the world, including Best Foreign-Language Film citations from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics. He reunited with the Dardenne brothers nine years later to star in L’enfant [The Child], which won the top prize [the Palme d’Or] at the 2005 Cannes International Film Festival and earned Mr. Rénier a European Film Award nomination for Best Actor, among other honors.

His other films include François Ozon’s Les Amants criminels [Criminal Lovers]; Christophe Gans’ Le Pacte des loups [Brotherhood of the Wolf]; Jean-Marc Montout’s Violence des échanges en milieu tempéré [a.k.a. Work Hard, Play Hard], for which he was nominated for a César Award; Joachim Lafosse’s Nue propriété [a.k.a. Private Property], opposite Isabelle Huppert and his real-life brother Yannick Rénier; and, also for Focus Features, Joe Wright’s Atonement, opposite Romola Garai.

THEKLA REUTEN (Marie)

Dutch actress Thekla Reuten speaks five languages. After graduating from Amsterdam’s Academy of Dramatic Arts, she landed a starring role on the television series Wij Alexander.

Film and theater roles also followed, notably in two features that were both Academy Award-nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film; Dominique Deruddere’s Ledereen beroemd! [Everybody’s Famous!] and Ben Sombogaart’s De Tweeling [Twin Sisters].

Ms. Reuten’s other films include Tom Roberts’ In Tranzit, alongside Vera Farmiga and John Malkovich; Alex Van Warmerdam’s Ober [Waiter]; and Margarethe von Trotta’s award-winning Rosenstrasse.

In the spring of 2006, she starred in the U.K. opposite Gael García Bernal in the sold-out Almeida Theatre run of Federico García Lorca’s Blood Wedding, directed by Rufus Norris.

Ms. Reuten’s work in U.S. film and television has included starring roles in the second series of Sleeper Cell, as a series regular, and Brett Leonard’s telefilm Highlander: The Source. She will soon be seen in the highly anticipated new season of Lost, premiering in the winter of 2008.

JORDAN PRENTICE (Jimmy)

Ontario-born actor Jordan Prentice works on stage, screen, and television. He most recently wrapped filming Marco Schnabel’s The Love Guru, with Mike Myers.

His feature credits also include Danny Leiner’s Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle; Allan Moyle’s Weirdsville; Michael Mabbott’s mockumentary The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico; Danny DeVito’s Death to Smoochy; and Joe Nussbaum’s American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile and Andrew Waller’s American Pie Presents: Beta House.

Mr. Prentice’s television work has included guest roles on The Shakespeare Comedy Show, The War Next Door, and Goosebumps, among other programs.

His stage work includes Revenger’s Medicine Show, by Eric Woolfe, at the Eldritch Theatre.