Who are Brendan Gleeson’s sons?
Brendan Gleeson is a popular actor, but you may have heard of some of his sons as well. Brendan — who was nominated for Best Actor at the 2023 Oscars for his performance in The Banshees of Inisherin, despite losing to Brendan Fraser — is the father of Domhnall, Brian, Rory and Fergus. And all of them are in the entertainment industry!
His eldest, Domhnall, has an impressive acting resume. He will next be seen as President Richard Nixon’s attorney on the HBO series White House Plumbers alongside Woody Harrelson, Justin Theroux and Lena Headey. In 2022, he played food-obsessed serial killer Sam Fortner opposite Steve Carrell in The Patient. The 39-year-old has been making waves in Hollywood for some time, playing Ron Weasley’s older brother Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter films alongside his father, who portrayed Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody. Domhnall has appeared opposite Rachel McAdams in About Time as well as in the sci-fi drama Ex Machina. He also played Jim Farrell on Brooklyn and Captain Andrew Henry on The Revenant, and has starred in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and HBO’s Run.
Meanwhile, 35-year-old Brian is also an actor, having appeared in “Snow White and the Huntsman” and “Assassin’s Creed,” and appearing in “Peaky Blinders” as Jimmy McCaver. Brian has worked with Domhnall on several projects over the years, including starring in Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! 2017 with Jennifer Lawrence. They also tried their hand at comedy together in 2021’s ‘Frank of Ireland’, with Brian playing a failed musician and Domhnall appearing as his messy best friend Doofus.
Brian, Domhnall and dad Brendan, 68, have also worked together as a trio before. They starred in a 2015 play called The Walworth Farce, a comedy that follows a man and his two sons who are trapped in an apartment together and reliving their past.
Brendan’s second son, Fergus, 38, is also in the arts. As a musician and songwriter, he sometimes performs alongside his father, and in 2020 they appeared on The Late Late Show with a duet of Queen’s Hornpipe. Meanwhile, Rory, 33, is a novelist, playwright and screenwriter, and his debut novel, Rockadoon Shore, was published in 2017. His debut short film Psychic premiered in 2018 with Brendan directing, Domhnall and Brian costarring and Fergus composing the score. “I enjoy working with them,” Brendan said of working with his kids in an October interview with The Irish Sun. “[I]That keeps me on my toes a bit.”
However, his sons’ creative success means Brendan isn’t as big at home as he used to be. “There was a time when I could roam around and know more than everyone else, and that’s not the case anymore because they’ve moved into their own spaces…” he said in the interview. “It’s fascinating. So far, touch wood, we’re still talking.” However, he credited his wife, Mary, with leading her family to talk and said she often forbade the family from talking about work. For example, “The Psychic” was “banned on Christmas” for a year. “I was hoping that she would be involved with the short, organizational things, but she said, ‘I’m out of here,'” Brendan said. Still, that didn’t stop him from greeting her. “I actually gave her a title in the credits,” he added, reported The Irish Sun. “I called her ‘referee,’ and I put ‘Mary Weldon absent.'”
Preview photos of Brendan with his talented family.
