Nora-Jane Noone (born March 8, 1984) is an Irish film and television actress best known for her role in The Magdalene Sisters, where she played Bernadette.
Noone trained for two years at the Performing Arts School in Galway, and is a proficient musician (piano to Grade 7 level) and dancer. Her previous acting role before The Magdalene Sisters was as Jan in a secondary school production of "Grease".
Nora-Jane Noone made her professional movie debut playing the leading role of Bernadette in Peter Mullan's film The Magdalene Sisters. As the movie won the Best Film prize in the 2002 Venice Film Festival, and was nominated as Best British Picture at the British Academy Film Awards, Noone also won Best Actress in an Ensemble Role at the British Independent Film Awards and was nominated for best newcomer that year. She has also been nominated for best supporting actress in 2005 and 2010 at the Irish Film and Television Awards.
Noone also co-starred in The Descent and Doomsday, both directed by Neil Marshall, Speed Dating and Ella Enchanted. Other work includes the short films News for the Church written and directed by Andrew McCarthy and The Listener directed by Michael Chang. Noone also recorded Walking at Ringsend for BBC Radio 4. In 2008, Noone appeareared in Beyond the Rave and Insatiable.
Iain Glen (born 24 June 1961) is a Scottish film and stage actor.
Iain Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and educated at the Edinburgh Academy, an independent school for boys (now co-educational) in Edinburgh, followed by the University of Aberdeen. He then trained at RADA in London, where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal.
In 1990, Glen won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival for his role in Silent Scream.
It was announced on August 20, 2009 that Glen would star as Ser Jorah Mormont in the HBO series Game of Thrones. He appeared in the second series of Downton Abbey as Sir Richard Carlisle, a tabloid publisher who is a suitor to and subsequently engaged to Lady Mary.
In the 2012 BBC drama series Prisoners' Wives he plays Paul the husband of Francesca whose comfortable life comes crashing down when he is imprisoned for drug trafficking.
Glen is the younger brother of Hamish Glen, theatre director, artistic director of The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and formerly artistic director of the Dundee Repertory Theatre. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004; they have one son, Finlay (born 1994). His partner is now Charlotte Emmerson, and they have a daughter Mary (born September 2007).
Brendan Gleeson (born 29 March 1955) is an Irish actor. His best-known films include Braveheart, Gangs of New York, In Bruges, 28 Days Later, Troy, the Harry Potter films, The Guard and the role of Michael Collins in The Treaty. He won an Emmy Award in 2009 for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the film Into the Storm.
Gleeson was born in Dublin, the son of Pat and Frank Gleeson. Gleeson has described himself as having been an avid reader as a child. After training as an actor, he returned to Ireland and worked for several years as a secondary school teacher of Irish and English at the now defunct Catholic Belcamp College in North County Dublin, which closed in 2004. He was working simultaneously as an actor while teaching, doing semi-professional and professional productions in Dublin and surrounding areas. He left the teaching profession to commit full-time to acting in 1991.
Gleeson started his film career at the age of 34.[citation needed] He first came to prominence in Ireland for his role as Michael Collins in The Treaty, a television film broadcast on RTÉ One, and for which he won a Jacob's Award in 1992. He has acted in such films as Braveheart, I Went Down, Michael Collins, Gangs of New York, Cold Mountain, 28 Days Later, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, Lake Placid, Artificial Intelligence: AI, Mission: Impossible II and The Village. He won critical acclaim for his performance as Irish gangster Martin Cahill in John Boorman's 1998 film The General.