Gerard McCarthy (born 31 March 1981) is an actor from

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Biography

McCarthy was born in

and attended St. Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School. They

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

in 2022 & now use they/them pronouns.

Career

Gerard McCarthy was awarded Sir

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has served as its president since 2015. He has won an Academy Award, four BAFTAs (plus t ...

's Renaissance Scholarship to train at

Laine Theatre Arts Laine Theatre Arts, sometimes referred to as Laines, is an independent performing arts college, based in the town of Epsom in Surrey, England. The college was founded in 1974 by former professional dancer and dance teacher Betty Laine OBE, and ...

, graduating in 2002. They currently play Kevin McSwain in BBC 2's BAFTA nominated drama '' The Fall'', starring Gillian Anderson. On Netflix, they can be seen alongside Sir Derek Jacobi, Neve Campbell and Joely Richardson as Ashley Stokes in '' Titanic: Blood & Steel'', an epic 12-part series charting the extraordinary construction of RMS ''Titanic'' in the shipyards of Edwardian Belfast. The series was nominated for 5 IFTA Awards including Best Series. They played Brondsted in the first episode of Michael Hirst's History Channel series ''

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

'', starring Gabriel Byrne. McCarthy also played Rory Thompson in Samson Films' ''Belonging to Laura'', a modern-day adaptation of Oscar Wilde's ''

Lady Windermere's Fan ''Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman'' is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed on Saturday, 20 February 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London. The story concerns Lady Windermere, who suspects that her husband i ...

'' directed by Karl Golden, which was nominated for Best Single Drama at the IFTA Awards. McCarthy is known for their award-winning performance as

Kris Fisher Kris Fisher is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera '' Hollyoaks'', played by Gerard McCarthy. The character first appeared on-screen in September 2006 and left in August 2010 after McCarthy quit the show. He is noted f ...

on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

'' from 2006 to 2010, for which they were nominated in the Best Newcomer category at the British Soap Awards and the National Television Awards. On stage, McCarthy made their Shakespearean debut as Fenton in ''

The Merry Wives of Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...

'' at

Shakespeare's Globe Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. The original theatre was built in ...

in London. The production received widespread critical acclaim and subsequently transferred to New York and Los Angeles with McCarthy reprising their role in both cities. 2012 also saw them return to the stage in a highly acclaimed production of Joe Penhall's Olivier Award-winning play Blue/Orange. They recently filmed the BBC comedy ''Puppy Love'', written by and starring

Joanna Scanlan Joanna Marion Scanlan (born 27 October 1961) is a British actress. On television, she is known for her roles in British series such as ''The Thick of It'' (2005–2012), '' Getting On'' (2009–2012), ''Puppy Love'' (2014), and ''No Offence'' ( ...

and

Vicki Pepperdine Vicki Pepperdine (born 1961) is an English comedy actress and writer. She was nominated for two BAFTA TV Awards for co-writing the BBC sitcom '' Getting On'' (2009–12), and was also nominated for a British Comedy Award for her portrayal of D ...

(co-creators of the BAFTA nominated ''Getting On''), and returned to the stage at the end of 2014 in the world premiere of ''Jonathan Harker and Dracula'' McCarthy's debut feature film, ''

A Nightingale Falling ''A Nightingale Falling'' is a 2014 Irish film set during the Irish War of Independence based on the 2012 novel by PJ Curtis. Directed by Garret Daly and Martina McGlynn, and written by Daly, the film stars Tara Breathnach, Muireann Bird and Ger ...

'', premiered at the 2014

Galway Film Fleadh The Galway Film Fleadh (; Irish for "festival") is an international film festival founded in 1989 as part of the Galway Arts Festival. Describing itself as Ireland’s leading film festival, the event is held every July in Galway city in Irela ...

. In 2015 McCarthy returned to their homeland with the one-man show ''Cat - The Play'' by Richard Hardwick and Jamie Beamish before commencing a national tour of Jonathan Harvey's ''Beautiful Thing'', in which they played Tony. Shortly after, he played George Bailey in the UK premiere of ''

It's a Wonderful Life ''It's a Wonderful Life'' is a 1946 American Christmas by medium#Films, Christmas Fantasy film, fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet ''The Greatest Gift'', which Philip Van Doren Stern se ...

'' at Penge's Bridgehouse Theatre, directed by Guy Retallack. 2016 saw McCarthy return to ''

'' as a member of the core writing team, he then reprised their role of Kevin McSwain in season 3 of '' The Fall''. Most recently, McCarthy played the leading role of David Hothouse in the UK premiere of '' Stalking The Bogeyman''. The production received widespread critical and public acclaim with McCarthy receiving a Best Actor nomination at the Off West End Awards. In 2017, McCarthy has played Emmett Forrest in Leicester Curve's production of ''

Legally Blonde ''Legally Blonde'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic in his List of directorial debuts, feature-length directorial debut, and scripted by Karen McCullah, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith (writer), Kirsten Smith from ...

'' at the

Opera Garnier The Palais Garnier (, Garnier Palace), also known as Opéra Garnier (, Garnier Opera), is a 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from ...

in Monte Carlo. In 2018, they joined the cast of the BBC drama ''

Call the Midwife ''Call the Midwife'' is a BBC period drama series about a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the late 1950s and 1960s. The principal cast of the show has included Jessica Raine, Miranda Hart, Helen George, Bryony Hanna ...

'' as Terry Davidson, before playing Erwin Bach in the original West End cast of ''Tina, The Musical'' at the Aldwych Theatre, London. In 2020, McCarthy filmed the role of Bobby Frank in ''

'', written and directed by

and starring Caitriona Balfe,

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

Jamie Dornan James Peter Maxwell Dornan (; born 1 May 1982) is an actor, model and musician from Northern Ireland. Formerly a character actor, he often portrays solemn, steady characters. The recipient of two Irish Film and Television Awards, he has been n ...

& Ciaran Hinds, and in 2021, '' Just Johnny'', a short film written by McCarthy, was filmed on location in Northern Ireland, directed by Terry Loane.

Charity work

McCarthy began their association with the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice in October 2007 when they overcame their fear of heights by leading a fundraising abseil event, in which they had to climb down Belfast's Europa Hotel. They then became a celebrity supporter of The White Sapphire Ball in aid of the NI Children's Hospice, which auctioned off a romantic dinner with McCarthy for £4,500. In December 2009, they took part in a celebrity version of ''Panic Attack'' and won £1000 for the NI Children's Hospice. In January 2010, McCarthy led the Belfast4Haiti 5K run in their home city with Olympic gold medallist Dame Mary Peters. The event was organised to raise funds for victims of the Haiti earthquake.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Gerard Living people 1981 births Male soap opera actors from Northern Ireland Male stage actors from Northern Ireland Male film actors from Northern Ireland People educated at St. Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast Male actors from Belfast British television presenters 21st-century male actors from Northern Ireland Male Shakespearean actors from Northern Ireland LGBT actors from Northern Ireland Non-binary people from Northern Ireland Non-binary actors