Paul Mescal

• 1. Introduction

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  Paul Mescal was born in Dublin on the 2nd of February 1996. As a teenager, he was a defender for Kildare, first at minor level and then at under-21 level. A physical trainer named Cian O'Neill once described the young player as "mature beyond his years... very developed and very strong". Then a jaw injury ended his playing days. That setback closed one road and left him free to take another. How does a county defender from Maynooth end up on the stages of London and in front of international film crews? What changed when a single television role made strangers recognise his face? And what does an actor do once a director hands him a sword?

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• 2. Maynooth And The Lir

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  Dearbhla Mescal Ni Molloy, a Garda, and Paul Mescal, a teacher, raised their children in Maynooth, County Kildare. The father also acted semi-professionally, so performing was already part of the family's world. Two younger siblings followed, the singer-songwriter Nell Mescal and a brother named Donnacha. Paul went to Maynooth Post Primary School.

  At the age of 16, he took the title role in a school production of the musical The Phantom of the Opera. That performance led to an audition and a place at The Lir Academy at Trinity College Dublin. He graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in acting. He had already signed with agents before the graduation ceremony.

  Straight after the degree, he was offered parts in two different theatre productions, Angela's Ashes and The Great Gatsby, and could only accept one.

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• 3. Dublin Stages

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  At the Gate Theatre in Dublin, Mescal took the title role of Jay Gatsby. Peter Crawley of The Irish Times singled out his work, calling him a "butterfly of self-creation among an ensemble in constant motion and fluttering improvisation".

  That year he also played the Prince in a contemporary retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes, at the same theatre.

  Louise O'Neill's play Asking for It had its world premiere in 2018, co-produced by Landmark Productions and The Everyman in Cork. It later transferred to the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Steve Cummins of The Times praised Mescal's distinctive performance as Bryan.

  The same year, he made his London stage debut as Lieutenant Langon in The Plough and the Stars at the Lyric Hammersmith. For Rough Magic, he played Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Kilkenny Arts Festival. He also played Stephen Dedalus in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for the Dublin Theatre Festival.

  In 2020, he played Mad Padraic in The Lieutenant of Inishmore at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. That same year, a novel by Sally Rooney would bring him an audience far larger than any theatre could hold.

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• 4. Connell

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  Sally Rooney's novel Normal People appeared in 2018, and the miniseries adaptation followed in 2020. It premiered on BBC Three in the UK and on Hulu in the US. Mescal played the student Connell Waldron. He saw the role as different from himself, since Connell is hesitant and emotionally unavailable. Like the actor, the character attends Trinity College.

  The role propelled Mescal to fame. Caroline Framke of Variety called his handling of the character's emotional collapse "breathtaking". Willa Paskin of Slate noted that he embodied "intelligence, insecurity and quiet confidence" at the same moment. He won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. A nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries followed.

  The same year brought smaller screen work. The short film Drifting, in which he starred, screened at the 2020 Galway Film Fleadh. He played a firefighter, Seán McKeogh, in the Channel 5 miniseries The Deceived. Ed Power of The Independent praised his "sleepy-eyed charm" and a "flawless" Donegal accent. In August, he also appeared in the music video for "Scarlet" by The Rolling Stones.

  Within a year, he would step onto his first feature film set.

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• 5. Festival Premieres

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  The Lost Daughter, released in 2021, gave Mescal a supporting role as Will in his first feature film. Maggie Gyllenhaal directed it, making her own debut behind the camera. Reviews were favourable.

  In 2022, two of his films premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. In God's Creatures, he played Brian O'Hara, a man accused of sexual assault. Kate Erbland of IndieWire found the work "powerful" and "quietly chilling". In Aftersun, he played Calum Patterson, a troubled young father. Peter Travers of ABC News praised the "disarming charm and elemental power" of a "complex role". For Aftersun, Mescal was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

  Carmen premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and reached theatres in 2023. David Ehrlich of IndieWire said Mescal asserted "gravitas" and "poise" as Aidan, a veteran of the US military.

  Also in 2023, he starred opposite Andrew Scott as Harry in All of Us Strangers, a loose adaptation of Taichi Yamada's novel Strangers. It premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival. Mescal chased the project because he wanted to play a "vivacious" and "front-footed" character for the first time. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter admired the "warm, sexy chemistry" between the two men. Mescal was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

  He also appeared opposite Saoirse Ronan in Foe, an adaptation of Iain Reid's science fiction novel. Critics did not receive that film well.

  Running alongside these films was a stage role that would earn him a major award.

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• 6. Stanley Kowalski

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  In December 2022, the Almeida Theatre opened its revival of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, with Mescal as Stanley Kowalski. The production was acclaimed and transferred to the West End in March 2023.

  Dominic Maxwell of The Times called him "tremendous". Maxwell argued that Mescal "makes the latent violence of Stanley Kowalski into something easy, tangible, vibrant yet unactorly". The performance won Mescal the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.

  In 2024, a film museum would honour him as well.

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• 7. Gladiator And After

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  In 2024, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures gave Mescal its Vantage Award, which recognises emerging artists.

  Gladiator II was his move into big-budget filmmaking. Ridley Scott directed it as a sequel to his 2000 historical drama. Mescal took over the role of Lucius, played in childhood by Spencer Treat Clark. Scott cast him after watching his performance in Normal People. To prepare, Mescal spent six months on strength training, fight choreography, horse training and sword fighting. Jake Cole of Slant Magazine wrote, "Mescal gives a performance that recalls Russell Crowe's no-nonsense Maximus from Gladiator, right down to speaking in some of the same cadences and inflections". The film earned $460 million worldwide.

  In 2025, he starred opposite Josh O'Connor in the romantic drama The History of Sound, playing Lionel Worthing and also serving as executive producer. He played William Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao's period drama Hamnet, based on the novel of the same name.

  Richard Linklater's Merrily We Roll Along is a film adaptation of the 1981 musical, set to be filmed over 20 years. Mescal replaced Blake Jenner in the lead role of the composer Franklin Shepard.

  In 2027, he returns to the stage in A Whistle in the Dark at the Abbey Theatre and the National Theatre. He will also appear in Death of a Salesman at the National Theatre.

  Sam Mendes is making a four-part biopic on the Beatles, with Mescal cast as Paul McCartney. The first film is scheduled for release in April 2028.

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• 8. Life Offstage

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  Mescal speaks both English and Irish. He moved from Ireland to London in 2020. In 2022, he said he had bought a property in Ireland, to spend time there between jobs.

  For about two years, until December 2022, he was in a relationship with the American singer Phoebe Bridgers. He appeared in her music video for "Savior Complex". He also sang backing vocals on her cover of "So Much Wine", a song originally by The Handsome Family. Proceeds went to the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Since 2024, he has been in a relationship with the American singer and songwriter Gracie Abrams.

  He is open about seeing a therapist, which he says is "to keep sane". He has said fans should not feel entitled to know about his personal life. He is not comfortable inviting any access into that part of his life.

  Mescal plays the piano and has performed song covers with his sister Nell. In July 2020, he performed spoken word and sang with the singer Dermot Kennedy at the Natural History Museum in London. In October 2020, he joined a virtual stage reading of Kenneth Lonergan's play This Is Our Youth, raising money for the Actors Fund of America.

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