Legendary actor Aidan Quinn is well-known for his onscreen presence, but many people may not realise the esteemed actor has an Irish connection.
Aidan is best known for his roles in Practical Magic, Desperately Seeking Susan and All My Sons, as well as the TV show Elementary.
Aidan was born in Chicago to Irish parents, but the family often came home to Ireland while Aidan was growing up. His mother was a bookkeeper and worked in the travel industry, while his father was an English professor. The family spent time in Dublin as well as in Birr, Co Offaly.
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Family
His siblings also followed him into the showbiz industry. His sister Marian is a director, his brother Declan is a cinematographer, and his later brother Paul was a screenwriter and director.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, he said his Irish heritage is part of the reason why he became an actor. “It all comes from the storytelling thing that you just are so imbued with in Irish families. My father was an English professor, so you’d be stumbling over Yeats and Beckett books, Frank O’Connor’s short stories. It was always in the house. Literature, storytelling. And so I think that’s where it stems from.”
Acting career
After school, the young Aidan was working as a roofer aged 19 when he realised he wanted to pursue acting. However, it took him a while to establish himself.
After being cast in the play The Man in 605, Aidan thought further success would quickly follow. “They had an acting school and I just started doing a thing there. I got to [star in a] new play, where I was the narrator, and one of the lead roles. That was a heady, heady start.
“And then I thought: ‘Oh, this is a great job. All you have to do is pretend that you are the character and you say the lines and people like ya and you get paid... I didn’t work after that for two and a half years,” he recalls. “I had to get real serious and disciplined and take classes and figure out how to get an agent. So I had a glorious start and then a few years [where] I really had to kind of work it out.”
Aidan worked hard and eventually got his big break in the 1984 romantic film Reckless, and appeared in blockbusters like The Mission, Benny and Joon, and Legends of the Fall.
His acting career brought him to Ireland many times, namely for the classic film Michael Collins, with Aidan playing the part of Harry Boland.
Aidan has always been proud of his heritage, and was glad to see Irish actors getting more recognition in Hollywood, with the likes of Cillian Murphy, Paul Mescal, Colin Farrell and Barry Keoghan taking centre-stage at various award shows. "We always knew there was an incredible amount of talent on this island, you could feel it, you could go into any pub and any family gathering.
“You’d have two or three relations that seemed to be better at telling stories than most actors that were doing it professionally. That was never a question, but to see it, the confidence now that comes to the fore.
“You know, when I was a young man in and around Dublin for the years I was there, there was very little in terms of training there. But I was completely turned on back then by what was going on in The Project Arts Centre with Gabriel Byrne and Jim Sheridan and Ciarán Hinds, who has become a friend.
“All the stuff that was going on back then — it’s always been there, but I think there’s more international recognition now, which is fantastic.”
Marriage
Aidan met his future wife, actress Elizabeth Bracco, in Cafe Central back in 1984, which Aidan says was "an old actor's hangout".
"It's a terrible, terrible cliché. This is so corny but I did one of those things where I thought "I know you" and we have been together ever since that night,' Aidan said on Live With Kelly and Mark, saying he felt "there was something there" that he never felt before.
Elizabeth went on to star as Marie Spatafore in The Sopranos, alongside her sister Lorraine who starred as psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi on the show.
In 1987, the pair starred in the film Stakeout, and they got married that year too. They have two grown-up daughters, Ava and Mia.
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