Paul Mescal

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Paul Mescal
File:Paul Mescal 44.MVFF.jpg
Mescal at the 2021 Mill Valley Film Festival
Born (1996-02-02) 2 February 1996 (age 28)
Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland
Education The Lir Academy (BA)
Occupation Actor
Years active 2017–present

Paul Mescal (/ˈmɛskəl/; born 2 February 1996) is an Irish actor. He is best known for his starring role in the miniseries Normal People (2020), which earned him a British Academy Television Award as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award.

Early life and education

Mescal was born on 2 February 1996 in Maynooth, County Kildare to Dearbhla, a Garda officer, and Paul, a schoolteacher who also acted semi-professionally.[1][2] The eldest of three children, he has a brother and a sister.[3][4] He attended Maynooth Post Primary School.[5] He was a minor and under-21 Gaelic football player for Kildare and a member of the Maynooth GAA club.[6][7] Gaelic footballer Brian Lacey praised Mescal's skills as a defender,[8] while physical trainer Cian O'Neill described him as "mature beyond his years ... very developed and very strong".[9] He gave up the sport after a jaw injury.[10] Mescal performed on stage for the first time at age 16, portraying the titular Phantom in the musical The Phantom of the Opera,[3][5] after which he auditioned and gained admission to The Lir Academy at Trinity College Dublin.[11] Mescal graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting in 2017.[12] He had secured agents for his acting career prior to his graduation.[11]

Career

Upon graduating from drama school, Mescal was offered roles in two theatrical productions, Angela's Ashes and The Great Gatsby; he took on the latter and starred as the titular Jay Gatsby at the Gate Theatre in Dublin.[13] He also portrayed the Prince in a contemporary retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes at the same theatre that year.[14] In 2018, he obtained a role in the play The Plough and the Stars at the Lyric Theatre in London.[13] Mescal also played Bryan in the world premiere of the 2018 play Asking for It by Louise O'Neill at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin; Steve Cummins of The Times commended his distinctive performance.[15] That same year, Mescal starred in the Rough Magic Theatre Company's productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for the Kilkenny Arts Festival and the Dublin Theatre Festival, respectively.[16] In the meantime, he appeared in a commercial for Denny sausages.[17] In 2020, he performed in the play The Lieutenant of Inishmore at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre.[18]

Mescal starred in his first television role opposite Daisy Edgar-Jones in the drama series Normal People, an adaptation of the 2018 novel of the same name by Sally Rooney.[19] It premiered in the UK on BBC Three on 26 April 2020 and in the US on Hulu three days later.[20][21] He played student Connell Waldron, whom he viewed as different from himself in the way Waldron's traits include hesitance and emotional unavailability.[11] Like the actor did in real life, the character plays Gaelic football and attends Trinity College.[22] Mescal's performance earned him acclaim as well as the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor.[23][24] In their respective reviews for Variety and Slate, Caroline Framke called Mescal's navigation through the character's emotional collapse "breathtaking", while Willa Paskin praised his concurrent embodiment of "intelligence, insecurity and quiet confidence".[25][26] He also received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries.[27][28]

In July 2020, Mescal performed spoken word and sang with Dermot Kennedy at the London Natural History Museum.[29] He also starred in Drifting, a short film, which was screened at the 2020 Galway Film Fleadh.[30] Mescal played a firefighter in the Channel 5 miniseries The Deceived and appeared in the music video for the song "Scarlet" by The Rolling Stones the following month.[31][32] Reviewing The Deceived, The Independent critic Ed Power highlighted Mescal's effortless "sleepy-eyed charm" and "flawless" Donegal accent.[33] The actor performed in a virtual stage reading of the play This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan as part of a series to benefit the charity the Actors Fund of America in October.[34] In December, he appeared in Phoebe Bridgers' music video for the song "Savior Complex", directed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.[35]

Mescal will make his feature film debut in The Lost Daughter, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal in her directorial debut.[36] He is set to portray leading roles in Carmen, a contemporary film adaptation of the opera of the same name, and God's Creatures, a psychological drama film.[37][38] He is attached to star in the films Bring Them Down, a thriller; Foe, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Iain Reid; and The History of Sound, a romance.[39][40][41]

Personal life

Mescal resides in London.[42] He plays the piano.[10]

Acting credits

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2020 Drifting Cian Short film [30]
2021 The Lost Daughter Will [36]
TBA Carmen Aidan Post-production [37]
TBA God's Creatures TBA Post-production [38]

Television

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2020 Normal People Connell Waldron Miniseries [20]
2020 The Deceived Sean McKeogh Miniseries [31]

Music videos

Year Title Artist(s) Ref.
2020 "Scarlet" The Rolling Stones [32]
2020 "Savior Complex" Phoebe Bridgers [35]

Theatre

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2017 The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby Gate Theatre, Dublin [13]
2017–2018 The Red Shoes Prince Gate Theatre, Dublin [14]
2018 The Plough and the Stars Lieutenant Langon Lyric Theatre, London [13]
2018 Asking for It Bryan Abbey Theatre, Dublin [15]
2018 A Midsummer Night's Dream Demetrius Kilkenny Arts Festival [16]
2018 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Stephen Dedalus Dublin Theatre Festival [16]
2020 The Lieutenant of Inishmore Mad Padraic Gaiety Theatre, Dublin [18]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
2020
 TV Choice Awards Best Actor Normal People Nominated [43]
Dorian Awards Best TV Performance – Actor Nominated [44]
Gold Derby TV Awards Breakthrough Performer of the Year Won [45]
Gold Derby TV Awards Limited/Movie Actor Won [45]
Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Nominated [27]
GQ Men of the Year Awards Hugo Boss Breakthrough Actor N/A Won [46]
Digital Spy Reader Awards Rising Star Normal People Won [47]
2021
 AACTA International Awards Best Actor in a Series Nominated [48]
Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries Nominated [28]
Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best Actor Nominated [49]
RTS Programme Awards Actor (Male) Nominated [50]
MTV Movie & TV Awards Best Breakthrough Performance Nominated [51]
British Academy Television Awards Best Actor Won [24]
IFTA Film & Drama Awards Best Leading Actor in a Drama Series Won [52]

References

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External links

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