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Colm Meaney

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Colm Meaney is perhaps best known for his role as Chief Operating Officer Miles O'Brien on the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Meaney recently finished shooting the feature Bel Ami in London and Budapest.

Based on the classic French novel, Meaney stars in the film with Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas. Meaney will appear next in Robert Redford's latest film, The Conspirator, in which Redford directs an all-star cast including James McAvoy, Robin Wright and Kevin Kline.

Meaney recently starred in three films that opened within a week of each other in the U.S.: The Damned United, in which he starred opposite Michael Sheen and portrayed famed English football coach Don Revie, written by Oscar nominee Peter Morgan and directed by Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Tom Hooper; Turning Green, an independent film set in Ireland, in which he starred with Timothy Hutton; and Law Abiding Citizen, the hit film in which he starred with Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler.

Meaney's feature film debut was in John Huston's The Dead (1987), but it was his performance in director Alan Parker's The Commitments that gained wider recognition for him with North American audiences. He also starred in the two other films in Roddy Doyle's highly acclaimed The Barrytown Trilogy: The Snapper (for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture—Comedy or Musical) and The Van, which were both directed by Stephen Frears. He also starred in Alan Parker's Come See the Paradise and The Road to Wellville.

Meaney has successfully bridged the gap of starring in large studio films such as Con Air, Mystery, Alaska, Under Siege and Far and Away, and highly acclaimed independent films such as Layer Cake, Intermission, The Boys From County Clare, This Is My Father, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, Claire Dolan, Four Days, Into the West and Monument Ave. Meaney won Best Actor at the Newport Beach Film Festival for the independent film How Harry Became a Tree, a film for which he was also nominated for Best Actor in a Feature Film at the Irish Film and Television Awards. Other recent films include Three and Out, Five Fingers and Kings, which was Ireland's official Academy Award entry in 2008, and for which Meaney received an Irish Film and Television Award nomination for Best Actor in a Lead Role in a Feature Film.

Meaney's recent television credits include Syfy's Alice, a contemporary take on Alice in Wonderland, in which he and Kathy Bates played the King and Queen of Hearts. He also has been in the miniseries Covert One: The Hades Factor, ZOS: Zone of Separation, Scarlett and Random Passage, and the TNT telefilm King of Texas, opposite Patrick Stewart. He was also recently seen in Mercy, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and a David Mamet-written and directed episode of The Unit.

Meaney left school in Dublin at the age of 17 to apprentice as a fisherman, but his love of acting led him to enroll in drama classes at the Abbey Theatre, the national theater of Ireland. He first came to the United States in 1982 to work in New York and later made his Broadway debut in Breaking the Code, opposite Derek Jacobi. He then moved to Los Angeles in 1987.

Meaney recently returned to the stage to star with Kevin Spacey in the highly acclaimed production of A Moon for the Misbegotten at London's Old Vic and on Broadway. His other recent stage work includes The Cider House Rules (for which he won an Obie Award) at New York's Atlantic Theater and Juno and the Paycock at London's Donmar Warehouse Theatre.

Meaney resides in Mallorca, Spain, and Los Angeles.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2010.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Colm Meaney Facts

OccupationActor
BirthdayMay 30, 1953 (70)
SignGemini
BirthplaceDublin, Ireland
Height5' 11" (1m80)  How tall is Colm Meaney compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Not available.