Who is Father Henry Garnet actor Peter Mullan? Star of Ozark, Sunshine on Leith and Top Of The Lake
Glaswegian firebrand is known for his amazing performances and has also made three of his own feature films. Here's the low-down...
PETER Mullan is a charismatic actor and director who has gone from a difficult youth in Glasgow to an illustrious career on the big screen.
Here's what we know about the filmmaker, who plays a Jesuit conspirator in new BBC drama Gunpowder...
Who is Peter Mullan, how old is he and what is his background?
Peter Mullan is a Glaswegian actor and filmmaker, born November 2 1959, making him 58.
He was born as the second-youngest of eight children to a nurse mother and lab technician father, who moved their family from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire to Mosspark, Glasgow.
Peter has spoken about the hell of living with his alcoholic and abusive father in interviews, and says he soon became part of a knife-wielding street gang in his teenage years.
Between 15 and 18 he was homeless for brief periods and worked as a bouncer before changing tack and studying Economic History and Drama at Glasgow University.
Identifying as a Marxist, Peter was a proponent of anti-Thatcherite, left-wing theatre after leaving university, and his political activism continues to this day through his films and his protests.
What movies and TV shows has Peter Mullan been in?
After a small role in 1990 movie The Big Man starring Liam Neeson, Peter came to prominence via Ken Loach's movie Riff Raff, playing Jake.
He then bagged roles in Shallow Grave, Braveheart and Trainspotting - before winning the Cannes prize for Best Actor in 1998 for My Name Is Joe, in which he portrayed a recovering alcoholic.
He then appeared in Miss Julie and Children Of Men, as well as the critically-acclaimed TV series Red Riding about the police investigations surrounding the Yorkshire Ripper.
But he's also directed three of his own films - Orphans in 1998, The Magdalene Sisters in 2002 which won the Golden Lion, and Golden Shell winner Neds in 2010, which is autobiographical.
One of his most memorable roles was alongside Olivia Colman in the harrowing Tyrannosaur in 2011, about a violent man who kills his own dog - before befriending a victim of domestic abuse.
You may also know him from his part in the last two Harry Potter movies, War Horse, Sunshine On Leith or Sunset Song.
Peter has also had a lot of success lately with his TV work, getting major critical recognition for his part in series one of Top Of The Lake, 2012 series The Fear and in 2017, US crime thriller Ozark - also starring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney.
Who does Peter Mullan play in Gunpowder?
In Gunpowder - the new BBC series about the 1605 plot to blow up Parliament and the king - Peter plays Father Henry Garnet.
He was a Jesuit priest, executed for his involvement in the November 5 plot after discussing the "murder of innocents" with Robert Catesby, played in the drama by Game Of Thrones' Kit Harington.
It's commonly thought Guy Fawkes was instrumental in the plot but Catesby led the conspiracy and Fawkes was the one found by the king's men, guarding the gunpowder.
Is Peter Mullan married?
Peter Mullan married Ann Swan in 1989, and they have three children.
Since then he has been linked to numerous women including New Zealand actress Robyn Malcolm and activist Robina Qureshi, with whom he had a fourth child.
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