- Farrell set for 'challenge' of downing Bordeaux in Top 14
- Springbok Etzebeth diverts attention from looming caps record
- Inter on a high ahead of Milan derby as Napoli face Juve test
- Bank of Japan leaves key interest rate unchanged
- Asian markets track Wall Street record to extend global rally
- Guirassy and Anton to return to Stuttgart with new side Dortmund
- Marseille bidding to continue 'almost perfect' Ligue 1 start
- Arnold quits as coach of Australia men's football team
- Harris and Oprah hold star-studded US election rally
- Allies to remember failed WWII parachute operation
- Perez leading new-look Villarreal charge against leaders Barca
- Man City face Arsenal in Premier League title showdown, Postecoglou under pressure
- Fake celebrity endorsements, snubs plague US presidential race
- Documentary brings Argentine 'death flights' to the big screen
- Strike shows challenge to Boeing 'reset' of labor relations
- World leaders to gather at UN as crises grow and conflicts rage
- How plastic pollution poses challenge for Canada marine conservation
- Scientists track plastic waste in pristine Canada marine park
- South Africa's Buhai grabs LPGA Queen City lead
- Japan inflation firms to 2.8% ahead of BoJ rate decision
- Russia's Kadyrov accuses Musk of 'remotely disabling' his Cybertruck
- Titan sub had to abort a dive days before fatal implosion: testimony
- Ohtani eyes MLB history after surpassing 50 stolen bases
- Barca downed by Monaco as Arsenal held in Champions League stalemate
- Head's 'good night at office' after century seals win over England
- Dubois seeks legitimacy with Joshua scalp
- Rate cut could lift consumer spirits before US elections
- Last-gasp Gimenez strike sends Atletico past Leipzig
- Barca stumble at Monaco after early red card
- Raya heroics save Arsenal in Champions League opener at Atalanta
- Guardians beat Twins to secure MLB playoff berth
- Jihadist attack in Mali capital killed more than 70: security sources
- Alonso hails 'efficient' Leverkusen after Feyenoord rout
- Ex-Man United striker Anthony Martial joins AEK Athens
- NFL unbeatens meet as Texans visit Vikings, Steelers host Chargers
- Head's hundred seals Australia win over England in 1st ODI after Labuschagne strikes
- Dream debut for Wirtz as Leverkusen thump dire Feyenoord
- Myanmar flood death toll climbs to 293: state media
- Israel army says West Bank air strike kills 4 militants
- LIV golfers get green light for US Ryder Cup team, PGA Championship
- US accuses social media giants of 'vast surveillance'
- Ten Hag to bed Hojlund, Mount in carefully when they return for Man Utd
- Breaking bad as McIlroy endures 'weird' day
- EU chief announces $11 bn for nations hit by 'heartbreaking' floods
- Spanish PM, Palestinian leader urge Mideast de-escalation
- New study reinforces theory Covid emerged at Chinese market
- World Bank boosts climate financing by 10 percent
- Bagnaia eyeing summit on home ground in 100th MotoGP
- 'Something was wrong', defendant in French mass rape tells court
- Hezbollah chief admits 'unprecedented' blow in device blasts
Cillian Murphy: Ireland's self-effacing 'analogue' award magnet
Self-effacing Irish actor Cillian Murphy is having to get used to red carpet glitz and acceptance speeches.
The 47-year-old Cork native won his first Oscar on Sunday -- on his first nomination -- for his leading role in Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer", capping a glittering awards season that saw him snare a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and other prizes.
He bested a stacked field that included four American rivals -- Paul Giamatti ("The Holdovers"), Jeffrey Wright ("American Fiction"), Bradley Cooper ("Maestro") and Colman Domingo ("Rustin").
"We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb. And for better or for worse, we're all living in Oppenheimer's world", Murphy said as he received an ovation from the audience at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
"So I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers, everywhere."
Murphy 's portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the US physicist who masterminded the atomic bomb, has been widely lauded, and is the culmination of years of fruitful collaboration with Nolan, which has included six films together.
"I knew the character was so much in his head and that the performance was so much interior, how you could transmit thought process through the face, the eyes," Murphy told the BBC.
After all the accolades for "Oppenheimer", the Irishman's thin face, trademark sculpted cheekbones and piercing blue eyes are likely to become even more globally recognisable.
The veteran performer's film career has already included standout roles in acclaimed epics like Nolan's "Dunkirk" and Ken Loach's Irish historical drama "The Wind That Shakes the Barley".
But for many fans, he is Birmingham gangland boss Tommy Shelby, from the wildly popular television drama "Peaky Blinders".
Murphy has not shied away from conflicted roles, playing the villainous Scarecrow in Nolan's "Batman" trilogy and a transgender woman in the 1970s-set "Breakfast on Pluto".
"I've always been interested in the melancholic, or the ambiguous, or the more transgressive -- that, to me, is drama, getting into those knotty places. I find it really stimulating," he told Esquire magazine for a 2022 profile.
- 'Analogue' -
Despite his burgeoning fame, Murphy is often described as humble -- a profile helped by an aversion to technology and social media that translates into maintaining an internet and telephone-free home.
"He's the most analogue individual you could possibly encounter," said "Oppenheimer" producer Emma Thomas, who is Nolan's wife.
Murphy is also known for trying to avoid excessive media attention.
"If you behave like a celebrity, then people will treat you like a celebrity, and if you don't, they won't," the actor told the Irish Times.
"There's not much to write about me in the tabloids."
Born to language teacher parents in Cork, Murphy played guitar as a teenager and formed an avant-garde rock band with school pals called "Son of Mr. Green Genes" after a Frank Zappa track.
"Music was what I wanted to do, and for a while, it looked like it would work out," Murphy told the BBC.
However, bowing to parental pressure, the band members turned down a record company deal.
With the door closed on one passion, another door opened in 1996 when, aged 20, he quit a law degree and set out on an acting career.
"I'd probably have been wealthier if I had stayed with law, but pretty miserable doing it," he confided in one interview.
- 'Chameleon' -
Murphy had dipped his toe into acting at both school and university in Cork, where an English teacher and early mentor William Wall described him as a "chameleon of an actor".
In 1996, after pestering a local director, Murphy landed a lead part in the frenetic "Disco Pigs", a play written by fellow Corkonian Enda Walsh.
The stage show was a critical success, going on an 18-month world tour, and Murphy never looked back.
His big cinema break came in 2002 when Scottish director Danny Boyle gave him the lead in post-apocalyptic London horror flick "28 Days Later".
Then in 2005, Nolan cast Murphy in "Batman Begins", the first chapter of the "Dark Knight" trilogy starring Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader.
Regular film appearances followed, but his work on "Peaky Blinders" from 2013 to 2022 -- which is set largely in the period between the two world wars.
Married to Irish artist Yvonne McGuinness for the past 20 years, the couple and their two sons moved back to Ireland in 2014 after more than a decade in London to reconnect with their homeland.
His latest film "Small Things Like These" about the country's mother and baby homes scandal -- which he produced as well as stars in -- opened last month at the Berlin film festival to stellar reviews.
Murphy still finds time to host the occasional late night BBC radio show, serving up an eclectic mix of his favourite tunes alongside commentary in a soothing Cork accent.
J.V.Jacinto--PC