Belfast-born and RADA-trained Ciaran (pronounced KEER-awn) Hinds has become best known for his appearances in several period dramas. Immediately after finishing drama school, the tall, swarthy actor traveled throughout Europe finding work wherever he could. Eventually he landed in Paris where Peter Brook cast him in "The Mahabharata" in 1987. But it was his portrayal of Shakespeare's "Richard III" in 1993 that catapulted Hinds to the front ranks in costume epics.
Hinds made his film debut as one of the medieval knights in "Excalibur" (1981), John Boorman's take on the Arthurian legend. He went on to play one of a pair of brothers in love with the same woman in turn-of-the-century Ireland in "December Bride" (1990) and a professor in the 1950s Ireland in "Circle of Friends" (1995). Hinds was effective as a well-to-do former naval officer who re-encounters his former fiancee in "Persuasion" (also 1995), based on the Jane Austen novel. More recently, he was a clergyman whose relationship with a headstrong Australian heiress causes difficulties for them both in Gillian Armstrong's "Oscar and Lucinda" (1997).
On the small screen, Hinds has also excelled at period pieces. He first garnered notice as one of the British kidnap victims held in Lebanon in the "HBO Showcase" production "Hostages" (1993). As the suave and slick operator of a child-care center who may or may not be a pederast and killer in "Prime Suspect 3" (PBS, 1994), Hinds was eerily chilling in a rare contemporary role. Returning to costumers, he cut a dashing figure as Brian de Bois Guilbert in "Sir Walter Scott's 'Ivanhoe'" (A&E, 1997) and was suitably imperious as Rochester in "Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre'" (A&E, 1997).
- Also Credited As:
Ciaran Hinds, Ciarán Hinds
- Born:
February 9, 1953 in Belfast, Northern Ireland
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Job Titles:
Actor
Significant Others
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Companion: Helene Patarot. together since 1987; of French and Vietnamese ancestry; born c. 1954
Education
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Queen's College, Belfast, Northern Ireland, law
Milestones
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1976 Worked with Glasgow Citizens Theatre
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1976 Professional acting debut with the Glasgow Citizens Theatre in Scotland; debut performance was as the rear end of a horse in "Cinderella"
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1981 Film debut in "Excalibur"
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1984 Spent part of one season with the Greenwich Theatre in London
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1987 Appeared in Peter Brook's staging of "The Mahabharata"
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1990 First worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in "The Last Days of Don Juan", directed by Danny Boyle
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1990 Had featured role in Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover"
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1992 Appeared as Samuel Byck in the London premiere of the Stephen Sondheim-John Weidman musical "Assassins"
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1992 Starred with Colin Firth and Stephen Dillane in "Hostages"
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1993 Breakthrough stage role, "Richard III"
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1993 Played slightly sinister character in "Prime Suspect 3"
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1994 First played Rochester in a radio presentation of "Jane Eyre"
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1995 Portrayed a professor in "Circle of Friends"
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1996 Co-starred in "Persuasion"
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1997 Co-starred with Liza Walker and Clive Owen in the original production of Patrick Marber's "Closer"
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1997 Had featured role in "Oscar and Lucinda"
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1997 Starred as Rochester in the BBC/A&E TV production of "Jane Eyre"
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1999 Made Broadway debut recreating London stage role in "Closer"
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2000 Acted in the British TV drama "The Sleeper"
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2002 Cast as President Alexander Nemerov in the drama feature "Sum Of All Fears"
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2002 Portrayed Finn McGovern in the crime drama "Road To Perdition"
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2003 Appeared in "Calender Girls" which also starred Helen Mirren
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2003 Cast in the action feature "Tomb Raider 2"
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2003 Co-starred in the feature "Veronica Guerin", which starred Cate Blanchett as the title character
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2004 Cast in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera," the screen adaptation of the long-running stage musical
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2005 Cast in Steven Spielberg's "Munich," which centers on the aftermath of the tragic massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics
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2005 Portrayed Julius Caesar in the HBO original series "Rome"