Liam Cunningham
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Liam Cunningham (born 2 June 1961) is an Irish actor. He is known for playing
Davos Seaworth Davos Seaworth, also known as the Onion Knight or Davos Shorthand, is a fictional character from the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of epic fantasy novels by American writer George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation ''Game of Thrones' ...
in the
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epic-fantasy series ''
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 ...
''. Cunningham has been nominated for the London Film Critics' Circle Award, the British Independent Film Award, has won two Irish Film & Television Awards, and shared a
BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
with
Michael Fassbender Michael Fassbender (; born 2 April 1977) is a German-Irish actor. His accolades include nominations for two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, he was listed at number nine on ''The Irish Ti ...
, for their crime-drama short film ''Pitch Black Heist''. His film roles include '' A Little Princess'' (1995), '' Jude'' (1996), '' Dog Soldiers'' (2002), '' The Crooked Man'' (2003), '' The Wind That Shakes the Barley'' (2006), ''
Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...
'' (2008), '' The Escapist'' (2008), '' The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'' (2008), ''
Good Vibrations "Good Vibrations" is a song by the American rock music, rock band the Beach Boys, produced and composed by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Mike Love. Released as a single on October 10, 1966, it achieved immediate critical and commercial success, ...
'' (2013), '' Let Us Prey'' (2014) and '' The Childhood of a Leader'' (2015). In 2020, he was listed at number 36 on ''
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 ...
'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors.


Early life

Cunningham was born in East Wall, which is an inner city area of the Northside of
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
. He grew up in Kilmore West with his three sisters and a brother. Cunningham left secondary school at 15 and pursued a career as an electrician. In the 1980s, Cunningham moved to
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
for three years where he maintained electrical equipment at a safari park and trained Zimbabwean electricians. After returning to Ireland, Cunningham became dissatisfied with his work as an electrician and decided to pursue his interest in acting. He attended acting classes and began to work in local theatre, including 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 ...
. He appeared in a production of ''Studs'' at The Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, London.


Career

Cunningham's debut film role came in '' Into the West'' (1992), where he played a police officer. His on-screen acting continued with roles in '' War of the Buttons'' (1994), and '' A Little Princess'' (1995), before making his role as Phillotson in '' Jude'' (1996). He continued with character roles in '' Falling for a Dancer'' (TV, 1998), '' RKO 281'' (1999), '' Shooting the Past'' (TV, 1999), '' When the Sky Falls'' (2000) and '' Stranded'' (2002). Cunningham came to international prominence with his role as Captain Ryan in the critically acclaimed, independent horror film, '' Dog Soldiers'' (2002). Cunningham starred in well-received films such as '' The Wind That Shakes the Barley'' (2006) which won the
Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...
at the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...
; ''
Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...
''; '' The Escapist'' (both 2008); '' The Guard''; and '' Black Butterflies'' (both 2011). He also had roles in many high budget British and American films including ''
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse ''The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse'' is a 2005 disaster horror comedy film based on the British television series ''The League of Gentlemen''. It is directed by Steve Bendelack at his directorial debut and written by the series' cast alon ...
'' (2005), '' The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'' (2008), '' Harry Brown'' (2009), '' Clash of the Titans'', ''
Centurion In the Roman army during classical antiquity, a centurion (; , . ; , or ), was a commander, nominally of a century (), a military unit originally consisting of 100 legionaries. The size of the century changed over time; from the 1st century BC ...
'' (both 2010). On television, he appeared as President ''Richard Tate'' in the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
programme '' Outcasts''. Cunningham was producer Philip Segal’s first choice to portray the Eighth Doctor in the TV movie of ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' (1996), but was vetoed by Fox executives. In 2012, Cunningham joined the main cast for the second season of
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
's ''
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 ...
'' portraying former smuggler
Davos Seaworth Davos Seaworth, also known as the Onion Knight or Davos Shorthand, is a fictional character from the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of epic fantasy novels by American writer George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation ''Game of Thrones' ...
, and in 2013 he starred in '' The Numbers Station'' alongside
John Cusack John Paul Cusack ( ; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor. With a career spanning over four decades, he has appeared in over 80 films. He began acting in f ...
. He was also cast in season 5 of the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
series ''
Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...
'' as a sorcerer. He featured in the music video for " High Hopes" by Irish alternative rock band
Kodaline Kodaline () are an Irish rock band. Originally known as 21 Demands, the band adopted their current name in 2012 to coincide with the changing of their music. The group comprises Steve Garrigan, Vincent May, Mark Penderson and Jason Boland. Gar ...
from their EP ''The High Hopes''. In April 2013, he appeared in the seventh series of the
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...
series ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' in the episode "
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
", where he played Captain Zhukov, the commander of a Russian submarine in 1983 facing one of the Ice Warriors. In 2015, he played the father in
Brady Corbet Brady James Monson Corbet ( ; born August 17, 1988) is an American filmmaker and former actor. He had roles in films such as ''Thirteen (2003 film), Thirteen'' (2003), ''Mysterious Skin'' (2004), ''Funny Games (2007 film), Funny Games'' (2007), ...
's directorial debut film, ''The Childhood of a Leader''. In February 2020, it was announced that Cunningham would voice
Man-At-Arms A man-at-arms was a soldier of the High Medieval to Renaissance periods who was typically well-versed in the use of arms and served as a fully-armoured heavy cavalryman. A man-at-arms could be a knight, or other nobleman, a member of a kni ...
in the
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animated series '' Masters of the Universe: Revelation''.


Personal life

Cunningham lives in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
with his wife Colette, with whom he has three children, daughter Ellen and sons Liam Jr. and Sean.


Political views and activism

In 2025, Cunningham expressed his belief that high-profile individuals in society have a responsibility to speak out on significant political issues. However, Cunningham also noted he felt it was the role of elected politicians to fix problems in society, not celebrities. Cunningham is opposed to private healthcare. In 2020, he stated "I don't have private health insurance. I never have had it because nobody should. It would be very easy to start a national health system here. Just make it illegal for TDs to have private health insurance, and we'd have a fucking great health service here very quickly". Cunningham endorsed the
Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
political alliance Solidarity–People Before Profit in the 2020 Irish general election. In 2020 Cunningham criticised the Irish government's housing policy, stating "The government are a bunch of fucking idiots who can't even plan to allow young people to afford their own houses". In 2022, Cunningham joined the "Raise the Roof" campaign, led by a coalition of left-wing Irish political parties and trade unions, which called on the government to act faster on housing. In 2024, Cunningham stated he had been involved in pro-Palestinian campaigns for "30 to 40 years". In 2015, Cunningham was one of over 100 artists who signed a letter to ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' announcing support for a cultural boycott of Israel. In 2023, he was one of over two thousand to sign an Artists for Palestine letter calling for a ceasefire and accusing western governments of "not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them." In June 2025, several outlets reported that Cunningham had joined the June 2025 Gaza Freedom Flotilla aboard the humanitarian aid ship Madleen, which departed from Sicily en route to the Gaza Strip; however, he was not onboard. It was also in June 2025 that Cunningham appeared at a
People before Profit People Before Profit (, PBP) is a Trotskyist political party formed in October 2005. The party is active in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. History As Socialist Environmental Alliance People Before Profit was established in 200 ...
press event and criticised the Irish Government’s approach to the Gaza conflict, arguing that economic priorities are being placed ahead of humanitarian concerns. Cunningham called for stronger action, including passing the Occupied Territories Bill with meaningful provisions, and ending trade with Israel. While at the event, Cunningham also endorsed a campaign which called on the Irish government to retain the policies of Irish neutrality and the triple lock policy for its defence forces.


Filmography


Film


Television


Music videos


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Liam 1961 births 20th-century Irish male actors 21st-century Irish male actors Irish male film actors Irish male stage actors Irish male television actors Living people Male actors from Dublin (city) People from Coolock Irish activists for Palestinian solidarity