# Con O'Neill (actor)

Con O'Neill (born Robert O'Neill on 15 August 1966) is an English actor. He started his acting career at the Everyman Theatre and became primarily known for his performances in musicals. He received critical acclaim and won a Laurence Olivier Award for playing Michael "Mickey" Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers. Subsequently, he was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for the same role. He has also appeared in many films and television series, including Chernobyl, The Batman and Our Flag Means Death.

## Early life

O'Neill was born on 15 August 1966 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. Aged one, O'Neill moved with his family to Parbold, growing up in the village of Up Holland, both near Wigan, in Lancashire.
O'Neill was discouraged from being an actor at an early age; O'Neill told Northern Soul: "My careers adviser at my school in Wigan, when I said I wanted to be an actor, told me not to be so ridiculous and why didn't I want to join the army?".

## Career

O'Neill began his acting career at Liverpool's Everyman Youth Theatre.
He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1988 for his performance in Willy Russell's Blood Brothers, and was nominated for Broadway's 1993 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Blood Brothers.
In the 1980s, he had a walk-on role in One Summer as Jackson. He starred in Dancin' Thru the Dark, the 1990 film adaptation of Willy Russell's Stags and Hens. In 1990, he played a principal role in Amongst Barbarians, part of the BBC ScreenPlay series. In 1992, he played Cougar Glass in the world premiere of Philip Ridley's The Fastest Clock in the Universe. He appeared in Moving Story, a TV comedy drama, as Nick, part of a removals team. He appeared as wheelchair user PC Ian LeFebre in "The Mild Bunch", the second season's eighth episode of Pie in the Sky (1995). He had a supporting role in Cider with Rosie (1998). In 2003, he portrayed Mickey in The Illustrated Mum. In 2006, he starred as Aston in a tour of Sheffield theatres' production of Harold Pinter's The Caretaker. In 1999, he starred in The Last Seduction II.
In 2008, he appeared in Criminal Justice, a five-part TV drama on the BBC, playing the part of Ralph Stone, a solicitor. He played the part of Joe Meek in both the 2008 film and 2005 play of Telstar: The Joe Meek Story. In 2011, he took the role of dock worker Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester (from 18 May to 25 June 2011). This portrayal won the 2011 Manchester Theatre Award for Best Actor. In 2012, he played Dr. Bob Massey in "Fearful Symmetry", S6:E3 of Lewis.
He played St. Paul in the 2013 miniseries The Bible. The same year he also appeared in Life of Crime as DCI Ferguson and in Midsomer Murders "Schooled in Murder" as Jim Caxton. He portrays Val Pearson in the sitcom Uncle (2014 to 2017). He played Cliff in Cucumber, an eight-part TV drama series. In 2015, he starred in the 35th-anniversary staging of Willy Russell's Educating Rita at The Liverpool Playhouse. He appears as Neil Ackroyd in the second and third series of Happy Valley. In 2016, O'Neill played the part of Joe Brierley in the second series of Ordinary Lies and appeared in two episodes of the Doctor Who spin-off Class. In the 2019 HBO miniseries Chernobyl he portrayed the plant director Viktor Bryukhanov. In 2022 and 2023, he appeared in the HBO series Our Flag Means Death as the pirate Izzy Hands.
O'Neill portrays Gotham City Police Department's Chief Mackenzie Bock in minor roles for both the feature film, The Batman (2022) and its follow-up TV miniseries, The Penguin (2024).

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1990 | Dancin' Thru the Dark | Peter McGeghan | |
| 1996 | Scarborough Ahoy! | Michael | Short film |
| 1998 | Bedrooms and Hallways | Terry | |
| 1999 | The Last Seduction II | Troy Fenton | |
| 2001 | Persephone's Playground | Father | Short films |
| 2001 | Watchmen | Burglar | Short films |
| 2005 | What's Your Name 41? | Sam Clarke | |
| 2008 | Telstar: The Joe Meek Story | Joe Meek | |
| 2010 | The Kid | Dennis | |
| 2011 | Bash Street | Matty Snr. | |
| 2011 | The Send Off | John | Short film |
| 2012 | Frank | Fidel | |
| 2013 | Mark | Mark | Short film |
| 2017 | Riot | Patrick | |
| 2018 | Isabella | Michael | Short films |
| 2018 | The Pen | John | Short films |
| 2019 | Stilts | Father | Short films |
| 2021 | Vengeance Is Mine | Harry Kane | |
| 2021 | Pork Scratchings | Rob | Short film |
| 2022 | The Batman | Chief Mackenzie Bock | |
| 2022 | The Outing | Frank | Short film |
| TBA | The Way of the Wind | Enoch | Post-production |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1983 | One Summer | Jackson | Mini-series; Episodes 1 & 4 (Credited as Robert O'Neill) |
| 1984 | Travelling Man | Peter | Series 1; Episode 3: "The Watcher" |
| 1984 | Brookside | Leggers | Episode 199: "Ideal Tenant" |
| 1986 | Brookside | Joe Cleary | Episode 335: "Difference of Opinion" |
| 1989 | The Bill | Ricky Denball | Series 5; Episode 4: "The Mugging and the Gypsies" |
| 1989 | Norbert Smith: A Life | Davy Throb | Television film |
| 1990 | ScreenPlay | Ralph | Series 5; Episode 1: "Amongst Barbarians" |
| 1990 | The Lilac Bus | Tom | Television film adaptation of the Maeve Binchy book, The Lilac Bus |
| 1991 | Inspector Morse | Paul Matthews | Series 5; Episode 5: "Promised Land" |
| 1993 | Casualty | Denis Simpson | Series 7; Episode 19: "Getting Involved" |
| 1993 | The Riff Raff Element | Jed | Series 1; Episodes 1 & 3 |
| 1994–1995 | Moving Story | Nick | Main cast. Series 1 & 2; 13 episodes |
| 1995 | 3 Steps to Heaven | Angel Farnham | Television film |
| 1995 | Pie in the Sky | PC Ian Lefebvre | Series 2; Episode 8: "The Mild Bunch" |
| 1995 | The Perfect Match | Phil | Television film |
| 1996 | Soldier Soldier | C/Sgt. Robert Hicks | Series 6; Episode 9: "Asking for It" |
| 1997 | Wycliffe | Ben Walker | Series 4; Episode 4: "Lone Voyager" |
| 1997 | The History of Tom Jones: a Foundling | Captain Blifil | Mini-series; Episode 1 |
| 1997 | Heartbeat | Rex Hawkins | Series 7; Episode 16: "The Queen’s Message" |
| 1997 | Peak Practice | Nick Gillespie | Series 5; Episode 6: "Lost Feeling" |
| 1998 | Cider with Rosie | Uncle Ray | Television film |
| 1999 | Always and Everyone | Kenny Fletcher | Series 1; 4 episodes |
| 1999 | Real Women | Jo | Series 1 & 2; 5 episodes |
| 2001 | Waking the Dead | Colm Hare | Series 1; Episodes 5 & 6: "The Blind Beggar: Parts 1 & 2" |
| 2002 | Trial & Retribution | Alan Brickman | Series 6; Episodes 1 & 2: "Trial & Retribution VI: Parts One & Two" |
| 2003 | In Deep | Terry | Series 3; Episodes 3 7 4: "Queen and Country: Parts 1 & 2" |
| 2003 | Doctors | Adam Jamison | Series 5; Episode 122: "How's This My Problem?" |
| 2003 | The Illustrated Mum | Mickey | Television film |
| 2004 | Murder City | Spencer Grieves | Series 1; Episode 4: "Mr. Right" |
| 2004 | Wipe Out | Dad | Television film |
| 2005 | My Hero | Martin | Series 5; Episode 9: "Big Brother" |
| 2005 | The Stepfather | Bruce Shapiro | Television film |
| 2005 | Ultimate Force | Lavelle | Series 3; Episode 4: "Weapon of Choice" |
| 2007 | Learners | Gerry | Television film |
| 2008 | Criminal Justice | Ralph Stone | Series 1; Episodes 1–5 |
| 2009 | Margot | Tito | Television film |
| 2011 | Postcode | Clive Viper | Television short film |
| 2012 | Uncle | Gwen's Dad | Pilot episode for the series, Uncle |
| 2012 | Lewis | Dr. Bob Massey | Series 6; Episode 3: "Fearful Symmetry" |
| 2012 | Wallander | Jan Petrus | Series 3; Episode 1: "An Event in Autumn" |
| 2012 | Coming Up | Jed Sullivan | Series 10; Episode 5: "Postcode Lottery" |
| 2013 | Midsomer Murders | Jim Caxton | Series 15; Episode 6: "Schooled in Murder" |
| 2013 | The Bible | Paul | Mini-series; Episode 10: "Courage" |
| 2013 | Life of Crime | DCI Ferguson | Mini-series; Episodes 1 & 2 |
| 2014–2017 | Uncle | Val | Series 1–3; 11 episodes |
| 2015 | Banana | Cliff Costello | Mini-series; Episode 2 |
| 2015 | Cucumber | Cliff Costello | Mini-series; 5 episodes |
| 2016 | The Tunnel | Neil Grey | Series 2; Episodes 6–8 |
| 2016 | Class | Huw MacLean | Episodes 4 & 5: "Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Brave-ish Heart" |
| 2016 | Ordinary Lies | Joe Brierley | Series 2; Episodes 1–6 |
| 2016–2023 | Happy Valley | Neil Ackroyd | Series 2 & 3; 11 episodes |
| 2017 | Harlots | Nathaniel Lennox | Series 1; Episodes 2 & 3 |
| 2018 | Urban Myths | Tony | Series 2; Episode 2: "Backstage at Live Aid" |
| 2019 | Cleaning Up | Graham | Episodes 3, 4 & 6 |
| 2019 | Queens of Mystery | Len Savage | Series 1; Episodes 3 & 4: "Death by Vinyl: First & Final Chapters" |
| 2019 | Chernobyl | Viktor Bryukhanov | Mini-series; 3 episodes |
| 2019 | Wild Bill | Ray Gilchrist | Mini-series; Episode 4: "Bad Blood in the Soil" |
| 2019 | Ladhood | Mr. Stones | Series 1; Episode 3: "Down Days" |
| 2020 | COBRA | Harry Rowntree | Series 1; Episodes 3–6 |
| 2022 | Without Sin | Roman McKeller | Mini-series; Episodes 3 & 4 |
| 2022–2023 | Our Flag Means Death | Izzy Hands | Main role. Series 1 & 2; 16 episodes |
| 2023 | Nolly | Jack Barton | Mini-series; Episodes 1–3 |
| 2024 | Time Bandits | Sheriff of Nottingham | Episode 3: "Medieval" |
| 2024 | The Penguin | Chief Mackenzie Bock | Mini-series; Episodes: "Homecoming" and "A Great or Little Thing" |
| 2024 | SAS: Rogue Heroes | General Montgomery | Series 2; Episodes 5 & 6 |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2014 | Dark Souls II | Titchy Gren (voice) | |
| 2022 | Elden Ring | Mohg (voice) | |

### Accolades

| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
| 2022 | Peabody Awards | Entertainment | Our Flag Means Death | Nominated | |