Worked as a schoolteacher for nearly ten years while acting in semi-professional and professional productions

Made feature acting debut in Jim Sheridan's "The Field"

Played the sidekick to Mel Gibson's William Wallace in "Braveheart"

Acted in the TNT adaptation of "Kidnapped"

Portrayed a dimwitted, low-level criminal in "I Went Down"; directed by Paddy Breathnach and scripted by Conor McPherson

Had title role of Irish criminal Martin Cahill in John Boorman's "The General"

Had featured role in "Mission: Impossible II" starring Tom Cruise

Co-starred with Brian Cox in "Salt Water"; adapted from McPherson's play "This Lime Tree Bower"

Re-teamed with Boorman to play a drunken revolutionary in "The Tailor of Panama"

Co-starred in "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," helmed by Steven Spielberg

Cast in Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York"

Played a corrupt police official in the Los Angeles cop drama "Dark Blue"

Appeared in director Danny Boyle's post-modern zombie thriller "28 Days Later"

Cast in director Anthony Minghella's film adaptation of the novel "Cold Mountain"

Cast as Spartan king Menelaus in director Wolfgang Petersen's epic "Troy"

Starred in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village"

Cast opposite Orlando Bloom in Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven"

Played a hard-drinking Irish emigrant opposite Cillian Murphy in Neil Jordan's "Breakfast on Pluto"

Portrayed Alastor 'Mad­Eye' Mood in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," adapted from the fourth book in the fantasy series by J.K. Rowling and directed by Mike Newell

Reprised role of Mad-Eye Moody for "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"

Co-starred in Robert Zemeckis' "Beowulf," which was filmed using a special technique of motion capture

Co-starred with Colin Farrell as Irish contract killers in "In Bruges"

Nominated for the 2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy ("In Bruges")

Portrayed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the HBO movie "Into the Storm"