John Lynch (born 26 December 1961) is an actor and novelist from Northern Ireland. He won the AFI (AACTA) Award for Best Actor for the 1995 film '' Angel Baby''. His other film appearances include ''

Cal Cal or CAL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Cal'' (novel), a 1983 novel by Bernard MacLaverty * "Cal" (short story), a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov * ''Cal'' (1984 film), an Irish drama starring John Lynch and Helen Mir ...

'' (1984), '' The Secret Garden'' (1993), '' In the Name of the Father'' (1993), '' Sliding Doors'' (1998), '' The Fall'' (2013–2016), ''

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

'' (2019), '' The Head'' (2020), and '' The Banishing'' (2021). Lynch has also written two novels, ''Torn Water'' (2005) and ''Falling Out of Heaven'' (2010).

Early life

Lynch was born in

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

to a Northern Irish father, Fin Lynch, and an Italian mother, Rosina Pavone, better known as Rose. He was raised as a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. His parents met in London, where his mother was a teacher. In 1968, when he was seven years old, he moved with his family to the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

of Corrinshego, where his father was from, in

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

. Corrinshego, where he spent the rest of his childhood and teenage years, is on the western outskirts of Newry.''Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television'', vol 52 (2003), Gale, Detroit Lynch later attended St. Colman's College in Newry. He began acting in

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

plays at school during the early years of

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

in Northern Ireland. He is the eldest of the five children of his parents, his Italian mother being from Trivento, a town in the

Province of Campobasso A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Molise it, Molisano (man) it, Molisana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 ...

, Southern Italy. His younger sister

Susan Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

and his nephew Thomas Finnegan are also actors.

Career

Lynch has appeared in numerous films related to Northern Ireland's problems such as ''

'' (1984) with

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom ...

, for which, hewas nominated for '' BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles'', '' In the Name of the Father'' (1993) with Daniel Day-Lewis, ''

The Railway Station Man ''The Railway Station Man'' is a 1992 British drama film directed by Michael Whyte, and starring Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland and John Lynch. It was based on the 1984 novel of the same name by Irish writer Jennifer Johnston. It was filme ...

'' (1992) with Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, ''Nothing Personal'' and ''

Some Mother's Son ''Some Mother's Son'' is a 1996 film written and directed by Irish filmmaker Terry George, co-written by Jim Sheridan, and based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in the Maze Prison, in Northern Ireland. Provisional Irish Republican Ar ...

'' (1996), also with Mirren, as well as the Irish-themed film '' Evelyn'' (2002). He starred as a supporting actor in Derek Jarman's '' Edward II'' (1991), as Lord Craven in Agnieska Holland's film of ''The Secret Garden'' (1993), as Tadhg in '' The Secret of Roan Inish'' (1994), and as Gerry in '' Sliding Doors'' (1998). Lynch played the part of football legend

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

in the 2000 film ''

Best Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

''. He played the lead in the Australian feature ''Angel Baby'', winning the

Australian Film Institute The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry. It is responsi ...

award for best leading actor and the Australian Film Critics award for best actor of 1995. He was nominated for a Satellite Film Award for the film ''Moll Flanders'' in 1996. He worked with acclaimed Belgian director Marion Hansel on her adaptation of Booker-nominated author Damon Galgut's novel, ''The Quarry'' (also known as ''La Faille''; 1998), which won Best Film at the Montreal Film Festival. He won Best Actor for the lead role in ''

'' at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival in 2000. He wrote and co-produced the film. In 2005, Lynch was nominated for an

IFTA Ifta is a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it has been part of the town Treffurt Treffurt () is a small town in the western region of the Wartburgkreis district which belongs to the ...

for his role in ''The Baby War''. He starred in ''Five Day Shelter'' as Stephen, which won a European Film Award and was in competition at the Rome Film Festival. He played the lead in Craig Vivieros' first feature film, the prison drama ''Ghosted''. He played the role of Wollfstan in ''

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

'', and appeared in the 2012 film version of

Michael Morpurgo Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo (''né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as '' War Horse'' (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytelli ...

's novel, ''

Private Peaceful ''Private Peaceful'' is a novel for older children by British author Michael Morpurgo first published in 2003. It is about a fictional young soldier called Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who is looking back on his life from the trenches of World Wa ...

''. Lynch is also a novelist. His first novel, ''Torn Water'', was published in November 2005 by 4th Estate, a literary imprint of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

, and his second, ''Falling Out of Heaven'', was published on 13 May 2010 by the same publisher.

Personal life

Lynch married film-maker Mary McGuckian in 1997, having met her on the set of ''

Words Upon the Window Pane ''Words Upon the Window Pane'' is a 1994 Irish drama film directed by Mary McGuckian and starring Geraldine Chaplin, Ian Richardson, and Jim Sheridan. McGuckian directorial debut, it is based on William Butler Yeats' one-act play of the same name ...

'' a few years earlier. They separated in 2008. He currently lives in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

in the south of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

with his current girlfriend, Christine, who is French.

Selected filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, John 1961 births 20th-century male actors from Northern Ireland 21st-century male actors from Northern Ireland Living people Male film actors from Northern Ireland Male stage actors from Northern Ireland Male television actors from Northern Ireland Male novelists from Northern Ireland People educated at St Colman's College, Newry People from Newry People from Northern Ireland of Italian descent People of Molisan descent