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Paul Mescal
Mescal at the 2021 Mill Valley Film Festival
Born	(1996-02-02) 2 February 1996 (age 28) Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland
Education	The Lir Academy (BA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2017–present

Paul Mescal (/ˈmɛskəl/; born 2 February 1996) is an Irish actor. Born in Maynooth, he graduated from The Lir Academy in 2017 and subsequently performed in plays, such as The Great Gatsby, Asking for It and The Lieutenant of Inishmore, in Dublin theatres. Mescal received praise for his starring role in the miniseries Normal People (2020), earning a British Academy Television Award as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award. The following year, he made his film debut in the psychological drama The Lost Daughter.

Early life and education

Mescal was born on 2 February 1996 in Maynooth, County Kildare to Dearbhla, a Garda officer, and Paul, a schoolteacher who acted semi-professionally as well. The eldest of three children, he has a brother and a sister. He attended Maynooth Post Primary School. He was a minor and under-21 Gaelic football player for Kildare and a member of the Maynooth GAA club. Gaelic footballer Brian Lacey praised Mescal's skills as a defender, while physical trainer Cian O'Neill described him as "mature beyond his years ... very developed and very strong". He gave up the sport after a jaw injury. Mescal performed on stage for the first time at age 16, portraying the titular Phantom in the musical The Phantom of the Opera, after which he auditioned and gained admission to The Lir Academy at Trinity College Dublin. Mescal graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting in 2017. He secured agents for his acting career prior to his graduation.

Career

Theatrical and television roles (2017–2020)

Upon obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree, Mescal was offered roles in two theatrical productions, Angela's Ashes and The Great Gatsby; he took on the latter and starred as the titular Jay Gatsby at the Gate Theatre in Dublin. He also portrayed the Prince in a contemporary retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes at the same theatre that year. In 2018, he obtained a role in the play The Plough and the Stars at the Lyric Theatre in London. Mescal played Bryan in the world premiere of the 2018 play Asking for It by Louise O'Neill at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin; Steve Cummins of The Times commended his distinctive performance. That same year, Mescal starred in the Rough Magic Theatre Company's productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for the Kilkenny Arts Festival and the Dublin Theatre Festival, respectively, as well. In the meantime, he appeared in a commercial for Denny sausages. In 2020, he performed in the play The Lieutenant of Inishmore at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre.

Mescal starred in his first television role opposite Daisy Edgar-Jones in the drama series Normal People, an adaptation of the 2018 novel of the same name by Sally Rooney. It premiered in the UK on BBC Three on 26 April 2020 and in the US on Hulu three days later. He played student Connell Waldron; he viewed the role as different from himself in the way Waldron's traits include hesitance and emotional unavailability. Like the actor did in real life, the character plays Gaelic football and attends Trinity College. Mescal's performance earned him acclaim as well as the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. In their respective reviews for Variety and Slate, Caroline Framke called Mescal's navigation through the character's emotional collapse "breathtaking", while Willa Paskin praised his concurrent embodiment of "intelligence, insecurity and quiet confidence". He also received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries.

Mescal starred in Drifting, a short film, which was screened at the 2020 Galway Film Fleadh. He played a firefighter in the Channel 5 miniseries The Deceived and appeared in the music video for the song "Scarlet" by The Rolling Stones in August. Reviewing The Deceived, The Independent critic Ed Power highlighted Mescal's effortless "sleepy-eyed charm" and "flawless" Donegal accent. Later in the year, he appeared in Phoebe Bridgers' music video for the song "Savior Complex", directed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Film career (2021–present)

Mescal made his feature film debut in The Lost Daughter, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal in her directorial debut. Released in December 2021, the psychological drama film garnered favourable reviews. He is set to portray leading roles in Carmen, a contemporary film adaptation of the opera of the same name; God's Creatures, a psychological drama film; and Foe, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Iain Reid. He is attached to star in the films Bring Them Down, a thriller; The History of Sound, a romance; and The End of Getting Lost, a mystery.

Personal life

Mescal resides in London. He plays the piano. In July 2020, the actor performed spoken word and sang with Dermot Kennedy at the London Natural History Museum. He performed in a virtual stage reading of the play This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan as part of a series to benefit the Actors Fund of America charity in October of the same year.

Mescal started dating Phoebe Bridgers sometime in mid-2020 after she tweeted she was a fan of Normal People, but didn’t make it official until December 2021 via Instagram selfie. Rumors swirled in April 2022 about their engagement.

Acting credits

Film

Television

Music videos

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

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External links

• Paul Mescal at IMDb

• Living people
• 1996 births
• 21st-century Irish male actors
• Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
• Best Actor BAFTA Award (television) winners
• Gaelic football backs
• Irish male stage actors
• Irish male television actors
• Kildare Gaelic footballers
• Male actors from County Kildare
• People associated with Trinity College Dublin
• People from Maynooth