Lalor Roddy
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Lalor Roddy (born 30 November 1954) is an Irish actor, described by ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'' theatre critic
Fintan O'Toole Fintan O'Toole (born 16 February 1958) is an Irish journalist, literary editor, and drama critic for ''The Irish Times'', for which he has written since 1988. He was drama critic for the ''New York Daily News'' from 1997 to 2001 and is Advisin ...
as "surely the finest Irish actor of his generation".


Youth

Roddy was born and grew up in
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. His mother was associated with the Lyric Theatre in its early days. As an young man, he left for the United States to play football. Upon his return to Northern Ireland, he majored in psychology at the
University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...
. Roddy had been working as a psychologist in England until he returned home to Ireland at the age of 33 to take up acting.


In the theatre

In 1988, together with Tim Loane and Stephen Wright, he founded the Tinderbox theatre company in Belfast, which produced two plays by
Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...
. The two plays were produced on the very modest budget of £75 each. In 1989, the Tinderbox company received a cheque from the playwright
Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...
, described as the "ultimate endorsement" in the world of Irish theatre. From 1989 to 2000, the Tinderbox company hosted an annual Festival of New Irish Playwriting intended to present "artistically dangerous" new plays. The intention behind the Tinderbox was to challenge the sectarian hatreds in
Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
that led to '
the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
' of Northern Ireland, and create a theatre company that would "despite the system" put on new plays that might bring people together. Roddy was one of the co-artistic directors of the company. The Tinderbox company came to be, in the 1990s and 2000s, one of the leading theatre companies in Belfast. Roddy's performances in Belfast attracted attention of the
Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...
(RSC) and he played roles in the RSC's productions of Billy Roche’s ''Amphibians'' and James Robson’s ''King Baby''. In 1998, he played with the RSC for a full season at the company's home in
Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...
. Roddy starred in two plays with the
Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre (), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland () is a theatre in Dublin, Ireland. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the p ...
in Dublin, namely ''
Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme ''Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme'' is a 1985 play by Frank McGuinness. Plot synopsis The play centres on the experiences of eight unionist Ulstermen who volunteer to serve in the 36th (Ulster) Division at the beginning of ...
'' and ''In a Little World of Our Own''. For the latter play, he won the ESB/''Irish Times'' Award for best supporting actor. ''Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme'', with its sympathetic portrayal of Protestant Ulstermen serving in the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
during the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the leader of whom is a repressed homosexual, was described as a "landmark" play in Dublin, and Roddy's performance in the play did much to enhance his reputation. ''In a Little World of Our Own'', whose subject were Ulster Unionists involved in a paramilitary group, was described as an important production. Roddy noted that
Gary Mitchell Gary Mitchell (born 3 May 1965) is a Northern Irish playwright. By the 2000s, he had become "one of the most talked about voices in European theatre ... whose political thrillers have arguably made him Northern Ireland's greatest playwright". ...
, the playwright who wrote ''In a Little World of Our Own'', was Protestant while
Frank McGuinness Professor Frank McGuinness (born 1953) is an Irish writer. As well as his own plays, which include '' The Factory Girls'', '' Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme'', '' Someone Who'll Watch Over Me'' and '' Dolly West's Kitche ...
, the playwright who wrote ''Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme'', was a Catholic. In 2004, he was nominated in the ESB/''Irish Times'' Theatre Awards for best actor for his performance in ''The Weir''. In 2004 and again in 2014, he acted in the controversial play ''Defender of the Faith'' by Stuart Carolan, set in 1986 on an isolated farm in
County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...
, where a family that supports the
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
(IRA) suspects that one of them might be an informer for
the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
.


Television and film work

Through primarily a theatre actor working throughout
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, Roddy is best known internationally for work in film and television, having appeared in over sixty films and television episodes. One of his best known roles on the screen is also one of his briefest, namely as the assassin who tried to kill Bran Stark in '' The Kingsroad'' episode of ''
Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...
''. In 2013, he told the Irish journalist Hilary Fennell: "Being a professional actor means holding onto your own persona despite edging towards someone else's." In 2018, he starred in ''Séamus'', a short film written and directed by the American filmmaker Gursimran Sandhu.


Filmography

* ''Screenplay'' (1991) * ''Between the Lines'' (1993) *''
Screen Two ''Screen Two'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1985 to 1998 (not to be confused with a run of films shown on BBC2 under the billing ''Screen 2'' between April 1977 and March 1978 ...
'' (1994) * ''Circles of Deceit'' (1996) *''
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries ''The Ruth Rendell Mysteries'' is a British television crime drama series, produced by TVS and later by its successor Meridian Broadcasting, in association with Blue Heaven Productions, for broadcast on the ITV network. Twelve series were broa ...
'' (1997) * ''Love and Rage'' (1998) * ''Best'' (2000) * ''The Escapist'' (2002) *''
Pulling Moves ''Pulling Moves'' is a Northern Irish television series set in Lenadoon, West Belfast. It follows the exploits of four friends: Wardrobe ( Simon Delaney), Ta ( Ciarán McMenamin), Shay (Ciaran Nolan) and Darragh (Kevin Elliot). The series first ...
'' (2003) *''
Boy Eats Girl ''Boy Eats Girl'' is a 2005 horror-comedy film directed by Stephen Bradley and starring Samantha Mumba, produced and shot in Ireland. The plot tells of a teenage boy who comes back to life as a zombie, similar to the plot of the American film ''M ...
'' (2005) * ''Murphy's Law'' (2006) *''Middletown'' (2006) * ''Hunger'' (2008) *'' Summer of the Flying Saucer'' (2008) *''Ditching'' (2009) * ''Cherrybomb'' (2009) *''
Five Minutes of Heaven ''Five Minutes of Heaven'' is a 2009 film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel from a script by Guy Hibbert. The film premiered on 19 January 2009 at the 25th Sundance Film Festival where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award for Hirschbie ...
'' (2009) *''10 Minute Tales'' (2009) * ''Jack Taylor'' (2010) *''
Mount Analogue ''Mount Analogue: A Novel of Symbolically Authentic Non-Euclidean Adventures in Mountain Climbing'' is a classic allegorical adventure novel by the early 20th-century French novelist René Daumal. The novel describes an expedition undertaken by ...
'' (2010) *''
Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...
'' (2011) *''
Grabbers ''Grabbers'' is a 2012 monster horror comedy film directed by Jon Wright and written by Kevin Lehane. A co-production of Ireland and the United Kingdom, the film stars Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Bronagh Gallagher and Russell Tovey among an e ...
'' (2012) * ''Jump'' (2012) *''Cowboys and Dissidents'' (2012) *'' The Good Man'' (2012) *''
Dani's Castle ''Dani's Castle'' (also known as ''Rich, Jimmy & Kait's Castle'' during the third series) is a British children's comedy series broadcast on the CBBC Channel. It is the spin-off series to ''Dani's House''. Dani inherits a castle in Northern Ire ...
'' (2013) *''
Ripper Street ''Ripper Street'' is a British mystery drama television series set in Whitechapel in the East End of London starring Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, and MyAnna Buring. It begins in 1889, six months after the infamous Jack t ...
'' (2013) *''The Light of My Eyes'' (2014) *''
Robot Overlords ''Robot Overlords'' (originally titled ''Our Robot Overlords'') is a 2014 British independent science fiction film, starring Callan McAuliffe, Ben Kingsley and Gillian Anderson. The film is directed by Jon Wright and produced by Piers Tempest. ...
'' (2014) *''
I Am Belfast ''I Am Belfast'' is a 2015 documentary film about Belfast, directed by Mark Cousins. Reception The film holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film a ...
'' (2015) - Narrator *''Today'' (2015) * ''Rebellion'' (2016) *''
Michael Inside ''Michael Inside'' is a 2017 Irish prison film written, directed and co-produced by Frank Berry (director), Frank Berry. It was nominated for four 15th Irish Film & Television Awards, Irish Film & Television Awards and won the Best Film prize. ...
'' (2017) *'' Float Like a Butterfly'' (2018) * ''Don't Go'' (2018) *'' The Devil's Doorway'' (2018) *''Séamus'' (2018) * '' That They May Face the Rising Sun'' (2023)


Books

* * *


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roddy, Lalor Living people 1954 births Male actors from Belfast Male film actors from Northern Ireland 20th-century male actors from Northern Ireland 21st-century male actors from Northern Ireland Alumni of Ulster University