The Top 10 Irish Actors

5. Michael Fassbender*

Another member of this Irish actors list who wasn’t born in Ireland. Fassbender moved from Germany when he was 2 years old and was born to a Mother from Ireland initially, which makes him plenty Irish in my book. He’s best known for his roles in the X-Men films as young Magneto and his breakout performance in Inglorious Basterds. Though some of our readers might remember him best for his ”performance” in Shame. Still, Fassbender has had a bit of a stumble lately with Assassin’s Creed and The Snowman. However, there’s little doubt that he’s going to right himself and prove himself to be one of the best Irish actors working in the industry today.

4. Saoirse Ronan*

Most people these days recognize Saoirse Ronan from the critically acclaimed film, Lady Bird. Before that though, I became a fan of hers for playing one of my favorite movie assassins in Hanna. Like Fassbender and Negga, she’s one of those Irish actors who wasn’t actually born on the Emerald Isle, but she did move there when she was 3 years old. As if that wasn’t enough, her name is as Gaelic as they come. Since then she’s proven herself an accomplished actress and not just in Lady Bird (where some might argue the Oscar was stolen from her by Frances McDormand). Still, she’s relatively young and it’s going to be exciting to see what she shows us in the future.  

3. Liam Neeson

It was with our favorite geri-action star in mind that we started building this list of Irish actors. Honestly, his name would have appeared hire on this list, but recently he’s taken to roles just for the paycheck (which he recently admitted in an interview) and his recent film The Commuter left a lot to be desired. Still, if there is someone on this list who represents Irish pride the best, it’s this man. Hell, half the characters in his movies tend to be outspoken about their Irish heritage at one point or another. Plus, Neeson has kind of become the dad that we all wished we had at one point or another. At least when it comes to kidnappings.

2. Cillian Murphy

A lot of people probably recognize Cillian Murphy from Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy or Inception. However, his stardom originates with one of the best zombie movies of all time, 28 Days later. Since then, he’s starred in a ton of movies I’ve loved from Watching the Detectives to Perrier’s Bounty to Sunshine. Sure these might not be the most critically acclaimed films, but who trusts critics these days (except for the case of Stars & Popcorn, those guys are great). Murphy has also starred in Netflix’s Peaky Blinders, where he’s shown off that he’s more than one of those Irish actors who can get by on looks and charm alone. He’s got some serious talent too!

1. Daniel Day-Lewis

As far as this list of Irish actors goes, no one has had a career as prestigious as Daniel Day-Lewis. He’s received three Oscars for his performances My Left Foot, Lincoln, and There Will Be Blood. Of course, his other movies prove to have performances that are just as riveting, which is no surprise since the man is reported to go full method. Recently though he’s announced that he plans to retire from acting after discovering a love for sewing in Phantom Thread. He’s made these threats in the past though, so we’ll see what actually happens. While all the actors on this list have Irish pride, Danny Boy is an actor that Ireland can have some serious pride in.

Now, there have been a ton of other great Irish actors from Sam Neill to Peter O’Toole. With only ten spots though, and a healthy respect for the actors that tend to just make popcorn movies, it was hard to narrow down the long list of Irish actors that deserve to be recognized. So, who is your favorite Irish actor of all time? Be sure to comment below and let us know what you thought of this list. We certainly plan to toast all of these actors on Saint Patrick’s Day and hope you do too. Just remember to drink responsibly if you do.