Peter Mullan

Peter Mullan (born 2 November 1959)^[1] is a Scottish actor and film-maker who has been appearing in films since 1990.

Early life

Mullan, the sixth of eight children, was born in Peterhead in the northeast of Scotland, the son of Patricia, a nurse, and Charles Mullan, a lab technician who worked at Glasgow University.^[2][3] His family was Roman Catholic^[4] and moved to Mosspark, a working-class suburb on the south side of Glasgow.

An alcoholic and latterly a sufferer from lung cancer, Mullan's father became increasingly tyrannical and abusive.^[5] For a brief period, Mullan was a member of a street gang while at high school,^[5] and worked as a bouncer in a number of south-side pubs.^[6] His father died on the day Mullan began studying economic history and drama at the University of Glasgow.

Career

At University, Mullan began acting, and continued stage acting after graduation. He had roles in several Scottish films, including Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Braveheart, and a supporting role in Ken Loach's Riff-Raff. He also began to work as a writer and director, producing the short films Close, Good Day for the Bad Guys, and Fridge. His first full-length film Orphans won an award at the Venice Film Festival.

Mullan's appearance in Loach's film My Name Is Joe, portraying a recovering alcoholic wrestling with his demons, won him the Best Actor Award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.^[7] He appeared in the lead role in Brad Anderson's 2001 psychological/supernatural thriller Session 9. In 2002 he returned to directing and screenwriting with the controversial film The Magdalene Sisters, based on life in an Irish Magdalene Asylum. For that movie Mullan won a Golden Lion award from the Venice Film Festival.

In 2004, he starred in On a Clear Day and Criminal. In 2006 he had a small but critical role in Children of Men, a thriller directed by Alfonso Cuarón. In 2007, he played a prominent role in the Channel 4 adaptation of Boy A, and will star as James Connolly in the upcoming movie Connolly.

He currently co-stars in the Red Riding Trilogy and the second series of ITV crime drama The Fixer.

Personal life

A Marxist,^[5] Mullan was a leading figure in the left-wing theatre movement which blossomed in Scotland during the Conservative Thatcher government, including stints in the 7:84 and Wildcat theatre companies. A strident critic of Tony Blair's New Labour government, he told The Guardian "the TUC and the Labour Party sold us [the working class] out big style, unashamedly so".^[8]

Mullan took part in a 2005 occupation of the Glasgow offices of the UK Immigration Service, protesting the UKIS's "dawn raid" tactics when deporting failed asylum seekers.^[9]

In January 2009 he joined other actors in protesting the BBC's refusal to screen a Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for Gaza. They told BBC director general Mark Thompson in an email: "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."^[10]

Mullan is also a life long follower of Celtic Football Club.

Filmography

Film

Television

References and notes

External links

• Peter Mullen at the Internet Movie Database