Peter Mullan

Peter Mullan (; born 1959) is a Scottish actor and filmmaker. His credits include '' Riff-Raff'' (1991), '' Shallow Grave'' (1994), ''Braveheart'' (1995), '' Trainspotting'' (1996), '' My Name Is Joe'' (1998), '' The Claim'' (2000), '' Neds'' (2010), '' War Horse'' (2011), '' The Fixer'' (2008), '' Top of the Lake'' (2013), '' Mum'' (2016-2019), '' Ozark'' (2017-2018), '' Westworld'' (2018-2020), '' Cursed'' (2020), '' The North Water'' (2021), '' The Underground Railroad'' (2022), '' The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'' (2022–2024), '' After the Party'' (2023), and '' Baghead'' (2023).

He won a Golden Lion at 59th Venice International Film Festival for his direction of '' The Magdalene Sisters'' (2002).

Early life and education

Peter Mullan was born in 1959 in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the son of Patricia (a nurse) and Charles Mullan (a lab technician at Glasgow University). The seventh of eight children, Mullan was brought up in a working class Roman Catholic family.Malcolm, Derek
"Sins of the sisters"
'' Guardian.co.uk'' 16 September 2002 (Retrieved: 15 August 2009). They later moved to Mosspark, a district in Glasgow. An alcoholic, Mullan's father became increasingly tyrannical and abusive; he died from lung cancer when Mullan was 17.Matheou, Demetrios
"Local Hero"
'' Guardian.co.uk'', 7 January 2001 (Retrieved: 15 August 2009).

For a brief period, Mullan was a member of a street gang while at secondary school, and worked as a bouncer in a number of south-side pubs."Peter Mullan & Anne-Marie Duff"
''FutureMovies.co.uk'', 9 July 2003 (Retrieved: 15 August 2009). He was homeless for short periods at the ages of 15 and 18.

Mullan went on to the University of Glasgow to study economic history and drama, where he began acting on stage.

Career

Acting

Mullan continued stage acting after graduation. He had roles in films alongside actors such as Robert Carlyle in '' Riff-Raff'' (1991), '' Shallow Grave'' (1994), with Mel Gibson in ''Braveheart'' (1995), and with Ewan McGregor in Danny Boyle's '' Trainspotting'' (1996).

Mullan's role as a recovering alcoholic in '' My Name Is Joe'' (1998) won him the Best Actor Award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

As a director, his film, '' Orphans'' (1998), won awards at the Venice Film Festival 1998 and Festival du Film de Paris 1999.

He won the World Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Breakout Performances at 2011 Sundance Film Festival for his work on Paddy Considine's '' Tyrannosaur'' (2011).

Mullan has appeared as supporting or guest actor in numerous cult movies, including '' Session 9'' (2002), '' Young Adam'' (2003), '' Children of Men'' (2006), the final two ''Harry Potter'' films (2010–2011), and '' War Horse'' (2011).

In television, he played a lead role in the 2008 ITV series '' The Fixer''. Mullan appeared in Gerard Lee's and Jane Campion's 2013 miniseries '' Top of the Lake'' as Matt Mitcham, head of the Mitcham family and father of Tui Mitcham, whose disappearance is the main topic of the series. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for his work in the series. From 2016 to 2019, he starred in the BBC Two sitcom '' Mum'', and from 2017 to 2018, Mullan appeared in the first two seasons of the Netflix series '' Ozark''. In 2018 and 2020, he starred in the second and third season of HBO's '' Westworld'', in a recurring and guest capacity respectively. Also in 2020, he starred in the first season of the Netflix series '' Cursed''.

Mullan appeared in the 2021 miniseries '' The North Water'' (2021), and '' The Underground Railroad''. He also starred as Dwarf king Durin III in the Amazon Prime Video series '' The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'', which premiered in 2022.

In 2023 he starred in the New Zealand drama series '' After the Party'', and alongside Freya Allan in '' Baghead'' (2023).

Directing

Mullan is an art house movie director. In 2002, he returned to directing and screenwriting with the controversial film '' The Magdalene Sisters'', based on life in an Irish Magdalene asylum. He won a Golden Lion at 59th Venice International Film Festival for the film, listed by many critics among the best films of 2003 and nominated for BAFTA Award for Best British Film, and European Film Award for best film.

He also won a Golden Shell at San Sebastián International Film Festival for '' Neds'' (2010).

He won top prizes both for acting (Cannes Best Actor award for ''My Name Is Joe'') and for the best film (Golden Lion for ''The Magdalene Sisters'') at major European film festivals.

Personal life

Mullan married Ann Swan, an actress and scriptwriter, in 1989; they divorced in 2006. He has four children – three with Swan, including one son with autism, and one with former girlfriend, activist Robina Qureshi. He is in a relationship with New Zealand actress Robyn Malcolm, whom he met while filming Top of the Lake in 2013.

A self-described Marxist, Mullan continues to support socialist causes and was a leading figure in the left-wing theatre movement that blossomed in Scotland during the Margaret Thatcher and John Major Conservative governments in the 1980s and early to mid-1990s. These included stints with the 7:84 and Wildcat Theatre companies. An outspoken critic of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s New Labour governments, he told ''The Guardian'' "the TUC and the Labour Party sold us he working class">working_class.html" ;"title="he working class">he working classout big style, unashamedly so"."The Players: Peter Mullan"
'' Guardian.co.uk'' (Retrieved: 15 August 2009). Ahead of the 1999 Scottish Parliament election, Mullan pledged support for the new Scottish Socialist Party and their leader Tommy Sheridan. Mullan took part in a 2006 occupation of the Glasgow offices of the UK Immigration Service, protesting against the UKIS's "dawn raid" tactics when deporting failed asylum seekers."Protesters in 'asylum raid' demo"
'' news.BBC.co.uk'', 2 November 2005 (Retrieved: 15 August 2009).

In January 2009, Mullan joined other actors in protesting against the BBC's refusal to screen a Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for Gaza. They told BBC director general Mark Thompson: "Like millions of others, we are absolutely appalled at the decision to refuse to broadcast the appeal. We will never work for the BBC again unless this disgraceful decision is reversed. We will urge others from our profession and beyond to do likewise."English, Paul
"Peter Mullan and other stars to boycott BBC over Gaza charity snub"
'' DailyRecord.co.uk'', 27 January 2009 (Retrieved: 15 August 2009). Mullan has agreed to appear in an adaptation of Iain Banks's novel '' Stonemouth'' after the BBC aired a DEC appeal for Gaza in late 2014.

Mullan was a supporter of the Yes Scotland campaign in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum."Peter Mullan: I would love to do more comedy in the future"
'' Metro.co.uk'' (Retrieved: 14 September 2015). In 2015, he criticised the BBC for "horrendous bias" against the Yes campaign and told the ''Radio Times'' that "to see the BBC used as a political cudgel against a legitimate democratic movement ... really broke my heart.""Peter Mullan: BBC showed 'horrendous bias' in Scottish referendum coverage"
'' Guardian.co.uk'' (Retrieved: 14 September 2015).

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullan, Peter
1959 births
Living people
20th-century Scottish male actors
21st-century Scottish male actors
Alumni of the University of Glasgow
Scottish Marxists
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor winners
Directors of Golden Lion winners
Male actors from Glasgow
People from Peterhead
Scottish film directors
Scottish male film actors
Scottish male television actors
Scottish male voice actors
Scottish nationalists
Scottish people of Irish descent
Scottish screenwriters