Profile of Irish Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers: From Assassin to Mission: Impossible in 10 Years

“There will be ups and downs, but it’s important to remember you're on your own beautiful journey and once you're on it you have to see it through to its conclusion and try to never be afraid to do anything because what is the worse that can happen?”

For an Irishman, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers burst onto the big screen in a very unusual way, playing the nameless assassin who shot down Michael Collins (played by fellow Irishman Liam Neeson) in director Neil Jordan’s 1996 film about the legendary revolutionary leader.

Just ten years later, Meyers was starring alongside Tom Cruise in summer blockbuster movie Mission: Impossible 3 as wisecracking team member Declan Gormley, and there have been other memorable performances along the way.

He beat out at least 200 actors and was nominated for an Emmy and won a Golden Globe portraying one of the most famous men of all time, Elvis Presley, in a TV mini series, and he also received the Chopard Trophy for outstanding newcomer at the Cannes film festival in Woody Allen’s movie Match Point, where he again played something unlikely – a professional Irish tennis player – who turns to murder.

Born Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keefe on July 27, 1977, in Dublin, he was suffering from a heart condition and was baptized quickly, for fear he would not live long. He spent several months in the hospital before being discharged, and his family moved to County Cork before he was a year old.

At the age of 3 his father left the family, leaving his mother to care for him and his three younger brothers. His childhood was rather chaotic, and he spent some time in an orphanage and was expelled from school at age 16, although he was happy to now be spending his time at the local pool hall.