Colin Farrell

Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell, at the premiere of Miami Vice (2006)
Born	Colin James Farrell May 31, 1976 (1976-05-31) (age 33) Castleknock, Dublin, Ireland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1996–present
Spouse(s)	Amelia Warner (2001) divorce
Official website

Colin James Farrell (born May 31, 1976) is an Irish actor, who has appeared in several high-profile Hollywood films including Tigerland, Daredevil, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, Alexander, In Bruges and S.W.A.T.

Early life

Colin Farrell was born in Castleknock, Dublin, the son of Rita, a housewife, and Eamon Farrell, a footballer who played for Shamrock Rovers FC.^[1][2] His uncle Tommy Farrell also played for Rovers. Farrell has three siblings: two sisters, Claudine (who is his personal assistant)^[3] and Catherine; and a brother, Eamon Óg. Farrell was educated at St. Brigid's National School Castleknock followed by Castleknock College and Gormanston College. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was a promising young football player for Dublin team, Castleknock Celtic, as a goalkeeper and dated Angie Miller. Farrell auditioned for the Irish group Boyzone when he was still unknown, but was unsuccessful.^[4] Farrell attended The Gaiety School of Acting, but dropped out and was cast in the part of Danny Byrne on Ballykissangel, a BBC television drama. Farrell appeared on the show from 1998 to 1999.

Acting career

Farrell had a number of small parts in various television shows and films, including the BBC drama Ballykissangel in 1998 and his film debut in Tim Roth's The War Zone.^[5] Then in 2000, he was cast in the lead role of Private Roland Bozz in Tigerland, an American film directed by Joel Schumacher. Farrell's next American films, American Outlaws (2001) and Hart's War (2002), were not commercially successful, but his 2003 films, including Phone Booth, S.W.A.T., and The Recruit were well-received box office successes. Although he has a pronounced Irish accent, Farrell uses an American accent in some of his films including American Outlaws and his breakthrough role, Tigerland. Farrell is also a proven supporting actor, given his performances as an ambitious cop who chases after a potential criminal, played by actor Tom Cruise in Minority Report (2002), and as the skilled villain Bullseye in Daredevil (2003).

In late 2003, Farrell starred as a criminal who plots a bank heist with Cillian Murphy in the comedy Intermission, which held the record as highest-grossing Irish independent film in Irish box office history until 2006.^[6] In 2004, Farrell appeared in several independent films that received only a limited theatrical release in most countries, including A Home at the End of the World, which received some positive reviews.^[7][8] Farrell appeared as a bisexual character in A Home at the End of the World.^[9]

Farrell at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival

Farrell appeared in the title role of Alexander the Great in Oliver Stone's 2004 biopic Alexander, which, while receiving some favorable reviews internationally, received mostly mediocre and negative reviews in the United States.^[10] It was marked by controversy for portraying the ancient conqueror as bisexual, and received criticism from some historians for its portrayal of the ancient Persians,^[11] though others praised it for its accuracy in these regards as well.^[12][13] The movie grossed a total of $167 million worldwide, despite its poor showing within the United States, just exceeding its budget of $155 million.^[14]

His next film was 2005's Academy Award-nominated The New World, also a historical epic that was met with mixed reviews.^[15] Farrell played the leading role of captain John Smith, the founder of 17th century colonial Jamestown, Virginia who falls in love with a beautiful Native American princess, Pocahontas, played by Q'Orianka Kilcher. The film achieved success, despite being released in only 811 theaters worldwide and having a relatively low box office gross.^[16][17]

The New World was followed by Ask the Dust, a romance film set in period Los Angeles and co-starring Salma Hayek. It received a very limited theatrical release and was not a financial success.^[18] 2006 brought more success in Farrell's career, as he appeared opposite Jamie Foxx in Michael Mann's action-crime film Miami Vice. The film was a box office success grossing a total of US $164 million worldwide.^[19] Farrell was next seen in Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream, which premiered in 2007 and was distributed in the U.S. in early 2008. Farrell's next film, Martin McDonagh's In Bruges, opened the Sundance Film Festival in 2008; Farrell received his first Golden Globe nomination and win for his role as Ray, a hired hitman. Shortly thereafter he appeared Kicking It, a documentary following six homeless men from different countries as they attempt to qualify for the Homeless World Cup. Farrell appeared on screen and provided narration. The film released simultaneously in theaters and television, airing on ESPN2 with a very short window to DVD release. Farrell received positive press for his involvement in the heartwarming true-life tale, and enthusiastic reviews for the two dramatic roles that preceded it.

On 11 January 2009, he won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor: Musical or Comedy for his role in In Bruges, in which he co-starred with Brendan Gleeson.

Personal life

Farrell was raised a Catholic and has a large cross tattoo on his left forearm.^[20] Farrell has a son, James (born 12 September 2003), with US model Kim Bordenave. In October 2007, Farrell revealed that his son has Angelman Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by intellectual and developmental delay, speech impediment, sleep disturbance, seizures, hand flapping movements, and frequent laughter/smiling.^[21]

In December 2005, Farrell voluntarily checked into a rehabilitation treatment center for addictions to recreational drugs and painkillers.^[22] His publicist commented that Farrell had started taking painkillers due to a back injury. He was released in January 2006. In May 2006, Farrell started attending rehabilitation meetings.

Sex tape

In July 2005, Farrell filed a lawsuit suing his former girlfriend, Playboy model Nicole Narain, the Internet Commerce Group (ICG) and adult entertainment producer David Hans Schmidt over the unauthorized public distribution of a 14-minute sex tape that Farrell made with Narain in 2003. Farrell claims he understood the tape as being "strictly private and confidential and will take legal court actions to anyone who tries to distribute it",^[23] but it was leaked to Schmidt and ICG who tried to release it publicly. A Los Angeles judge issued an injunction barring the sale, distribution, or display of the tape.

Narain claimed that she did not give the tape to anyone and was not sure if or how copies were taken from her. She originally said that she would work with Farrell to ensure that it remained private, but Farrell said that Narain, along with Schmidt, was trying to release it in order to damage his career and "make money out of it", which Nicole denies.^[24][25]

In January 2006, the tape surfaced on website named dirtycolin.com. The site was shut down on the same day because the server overloaded, but re-opened a week later. The tape was then pirated through file sharing systems. Both Farrell's and Narain's lawyers denounced the site, which was shut down again a few days later for unknown reasons. Farrell's legal team said it would take legal action against sites that hosted the tape. A trial date for the Narain lawsuit was set for July 17, 2006, but the judge allowed Farrell and Nicole to mediate until April 20. On April 16, the two reached a settlement with confidential terms. However, Farrell's lawsuit against ICG continued with a trial date set for July 21, 2006.^[26]

Alleged proposition for sex

In 2005, Dame Eileen Atkins — who was 70 at the time — revealed on Loose Women that a "stunningly gorgeous big film star" spent nearly three hours propositioning her for "sex with no strings".^[27] The "star" was later revealed to be actor Colin Farrell, whom Atkins had acted alongside in the film, Ask the Dust. Atkins claimed she was tempted, but turned him down because he is 42 years her junior.^[28] Farrell did not comment on the accusation initially, although since he has admitted and joked about the incident on chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

Dessarae Bradford's accusations

Farrell has been sued twice for alleged harassment and sending foul messages to telephone sex worker Dessarae Bradford. The lawsuits were later dismissed due to a lack of evidence provided by Bradford.^[29][30] Bradford, who has announced that she is "waging war on Colin Farrell", has recorded a song entitled "Colin Farrell is My Bitch" and has self-published a book called Colin Farrell: A Dark Twisted Puppy.^[29]

Bradford took a lie detector test on an i TV program in an attempt to support her claims and stories. She failed the test.^[31]

On 20 July 2006, as Farrell was being interviewed by Jay Leno on the set of The Tonight Show, Bradford evaded security, walked on stage as cameras were rolling, confronted Farrell, and threw her book on Leno's desk. In front of a silent, stunned audience, Farrell escorted her off the stage himself, told the camera crew to stop filming, and handed her over to security. As Bradford was led out of the studio, she shouted "I'll see you in court." Farrell's response was, "Darling, you're insane!" Outside the studio, NBC security handed her to Burbank police, who eventually released her. After Farrell apologized to the audience, describing Bradford as "my first stalker", the show then continued filming and the incident was edited out of the broadcast aired that night.^[30] The following day, Farrell obtained a restraining order against Bradford.^[32]

Celebrity status

Farrell was named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2003.^[33] He was also voted sixth in the World's "Sexiest Man" contest by Company magazine that same year.^[34]

In 2007, Farrell joined other celebrities including Bruce Willis, Muhammad Ali, Eva Mendes, Vanessa L. Williams and Arnold Schwarzenegger to become an official games spokesman for the Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai, China.^[35]

Selected filmography

Awards

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Colin Farrell

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• Colin Farrell at the Internet Movie Database
• Colin Farrell at Allmovie
• Colin Farrell at TV.com