Dark-haired and handsome, with usefully indistinct looks that allowed him to play fresh-faced innocents and much more sinister types, versatile Irish actor Aidan Gillen began acting as a youth in his native Dublin, but moved at age 19 hoping to find more opportunities in London. The young performer soon landed bit parts in the 1987 features "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne" and "The Courier" (billed under his birth name of Aidan Murphy) before making his starring stage debut the following year playing Tony in "Handful of Stars" at London's Bush Theatre. He racked up significant theatrical credits, counting among them turns in "The Playboy of the Western World" at the Almeida, "Juno and the Paycock" at the National and "Mojo" at the Royal Court. Gillen's first major screen role came in Antonia Bird's 1993 drama "Safe", screened at film festivals worldwide, produced by and aired on the BBC. Gillen played Gypo, a street kid who makes his money with partner Kaz through a prostitution scheme, playing her pimp and making off with the payment and the girl. American audiences were introduced to the actor two years later, with a very different role in "Circle of Friends" (1995), a sleeper romance that launched the career of Minnie Driver. Gillen played the charming love interest of Eve, the most conscientious and morally upstanding of the girls comprising the titular group. The following year he impressed as star of the fact-based "Some Mother's Son", playing a fictional member of the group of jailed Irish Republican Army members who go on a legendary and tragic hunger strike to demand political prisoner status. Gillen played a hunger striking prisoner who lapses into a coma, leaving his pacifist schoolteacher mother (Helen Mirren) to decide his fate: either allowing her son to die for his cause or authorizing intravenous feeding. Less harrowing was his turn as Paddy, an Irish immigrant gardener pining for his boss' privileged daughter in the unremarkable "Gold in the Streets" (1997). Later that year he gave a strong performance in the feature "Mojo", reprising his role of the obnoxious and unbalanced son of the central sleazy rock star manager in Jez Butterworth's screen adaptation of the hit London stage production.
In 1999, "Queer as Folk", a frank, funny and touching portrait of gay life set on Manchester's bustling Canal Street, debuted on Britain's Channel 4 to a flurry of debate, critical acclaim and public notice. Gillen starred in the eight-part hour-long series as Stuart Alan Jones, a confident philanderer, making the most of his freedom and desirability with an exceptionally active social life. The smallest alteration of the actor's looks (a little more color added to his pallid complexion, a bit more grease in his hair), and his complete immersion in the role caused an amazing transformation to a dashing and desirable sexual force. Gillen's portrayal showcased Stuart's charm as well as his faults, making for an interesting and oddly likable character. He reprised his role in 2000's "Queer as Folk 2", a two-episode finale to the popular series. Next up for the actor was a starring role in "Buddy Boy", which played at the Venice and Toronto film festivals in 1999 and enjoyed a US release the following year, Here, he was cast as Francis, a shy and pious young man who develops a voyeuristic interest in a neighbor woman (Emmanuelle Seigner) that leads him to intriguing revelations,