Colm Meaney

Colm Meaney
Meaney at the 2016 TIFF
Born	Colm J. Meaney (1953-05-30) 30 May 1953 Dublin, Ireland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978–present
Spouse(s)	Bairbre Dowling (m. 1977–94) Ines Glorian (m. 2007)
Children	2

Colm J. Meaney (/ˈkɒləm/;^[1] Irish: Colm Ó Maonaigh; born 30 May 1953) is an Irish actor known for playing Miles O'Brien in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He has guest-starred on many TV shows from Law & Order to The Simpsons, and during its run, starred as railroad magnate Thomas Durant on AMC's drama series Hell on Wheels.

He has also had a significant career in motion pictures, and appeared in the film The Damned United, all three film adaptations of Roddy Doyle's The Barrytown Trilogy, and in Get Him to the Greek, and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.

Early life

Meaney was born in Dublin. He began studying acting when he was 14 years old and entered the Abbey Theatre School of Acting after secondary school. He became a member of the Irish National Theatre and worked for the next eight years in England, touring with several theatre companies.

Career

Meaney (right) with Deep Space 9 co-stars Marc Alaimo (left) and Armin Shimerman (middle)

Meaney's first television appearance was in Z-Cars on BBC 1, in 1978. He guest-starred on shows such as Remington Steele and Moonlighting before embarking on a successful film career; he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his role in The Snapper.

Meaney first appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation in its 1987 pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint", as an unnamed helm officer. His character became a frequently recurring one, and was given the name of Miles O'Brien as he became more prominent in the crew as Transporter Chief. In 1993, Meaney left The Next Generation for a more prominent regular role in its spin-off Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and remained on that show until its final episode, in 1999. With 225 total appearances on Star Trek, he has made more appearances on the franchise than any other actor except Michael Dorn.

Meaney played Colum O'Hara in the 1994 miniseries Scarlett, the sequel to Gone With the Wind. He has played a minor recurring role as Cowen,^[2] leader of the Genii on the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) series Stargate Atlantis,^[3] guest-starred on Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and appeared as Bob O'Donnell on the ABC show Men in Trees.

He was the only actor to appear in all three film adaptations of Roddy Doyle's The Barrytown Trilogy, wherein he played the father of the Rabbitte family. Due to rights issues, the family name was changed from film to film. His stage appearances include the Old Vic production of Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten. Meaney starred in British comedy film Three and Out released in the UK on 25 April 2008. In July of the same year An Post (Irish mail agency) issued a postage stamp showing Meaney as Joe Mullen in the film Kings.^[4]

In 2009, Meaney co-starred with Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx in Law Abiding Citizen, wherein Meaney played Detective Dunnigan. In March 2009, Meaney guest-starred as an Irish bartender on the St. Patrick's Day episode of The Simpsons, "In the Name of the Grandfather". In the same month the film The Damned United was released, a mostly fictional retelling of the 44-day period in which Brian Clough was manager of Leeds United. Meaney played the former Leeds manager Don Revie. He also co-starred in Soldiers of Fortune with Christian Slater and Ving Rhames. In 2013, Meaney co-starred with Steve Coogan in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. In 2014, he appeared as The Horse in the BBC's three-part crime story, The Driver.

Personal life

Meaney married Irish actress Bairbre Dowling in 1977,^[5] with whom he had a daughter, Brenda, in 1984. The couple divorced in 1994.^[6] He married French costume designer Ines Glorian in March 2007. They have a daughter together, Ada, born in 2005.^[5][6][7]

Meaney supported Sinn Féin candidate Martin McGuinness during the 2011 Irish Presidential Election.^[8]

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Colm Meaney.

• Colm Meaney at the Internet Movie Database