Macdara Ó Fátharta is an Irish

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, most famous for his role as the villainous publican Tadhg Ó Direáin on the long-running

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

, '' Ros na Rún''.

Biography

A native of

Inis Meáin Inishmaan ( ; , the official name, formerly spelled , meaning "middle island") is the middle of the three main Aran Islands in Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland. It is part of County Galway in the province of Connacht. Inishmaan has a ...

, Ó Fátharta was born and raised in the historic cottage used by

John Millington Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909), popularly known as J. M. Synge, was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, essayist, and collector of folklores. As an important driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, Ir ...

and

Padraig Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who was one of the leaders of the Ea ...

early in the twentieth century when they were studying Irish on the island. On leaving school, Ó Fátharta spent two years with an acting school 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 ...

and subsequently twenty years with the Abbey from 1972 to 1996, while there he acted in plays by John B. Keane,

Brian Friel Brian Patrick Friel (c. 9 January 1929 – 2 October 2015) was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. (subscription requ ...

, Tom Murphy,

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, Chekov, all of his production involvement can be found in the Abbey archives. In 1975 he appeared in a play by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy called ''Katie Roche'' where he played the part of Jo Mahony. In 1995 Ó Fátharta adapted the seminal novel ''

Cré na Cille ( )) is an Irish language novel by Máirtín Ó Cadhain. It was first published in 1949 and is considered one of the greatest novels written in Irish. Title literally means "Earth of the Church"; it has also been translated as ''Graveyard Cl ...

'' for the stage and later wrote the screenplay for the film version. He has over ten television productions to his credit, and parts in films such as ''

Far and Away ''Far and Away'' is a 1992 American epic Western romantic adventure drama film directed by Ron Howard from a screenplay by Bob Dolman and a story by Howard and Dolman. It stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. This was the last cinematography cr ...

'', ''

The Blackwater Lightship ''The Blackwater Lightship'' is a 1999 novel written by Irish novelist Colm Tóibín. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Tóibín conceived the book while traveling in Spain and, as he did not have access to a typewriter, bought a pen a ...

'', and the first-ever

feature film ''

Poitín Poitín (), anglicized as poteen () or potcheen, is a traditional Irish distilled beverage (40–90% ABV). Former common names for Poitín were "Irish moonshine" and "mountain dew". It was traditionally distilled in a small pot still, and the ...

''. He is married to

Eileen Dunne Eileen Dunne (born 28 April 1958) is an Irish retired journalist, newsreader and presenter with RTÉ, Ireland's national radio and television station, where she presented the main television news programmes '' Six One News'', '' Nine O'Clock New ...

who is a news presenter on

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

Selected filmography

* ''

'' (2004) * ''

Song of Granite ''Song of Granite'' is a 2017 Irish biographical drama film directed by Pat Collins. It was selected as the Irish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. Plot The origins and rise of sea ...

'' (2017)

Playography

* ''Katie Roche'' (1975)

References

* Macdara Ó Fátharta, An Gúm 2013

External links

* Macdara Ó Fátharta a
The Teresa Deevy Archive
* Macdara Ó Fátharta a
The Abbey theatre Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofatharta, Macdara Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Irish male film actors Irish male stage actors Irish male television actors Male actors from County Galway TG4 people