Life after Normal People: What Fionn O'Shea did next

The Irish actor stars in a new thriller by Joe and Anthony Russo, the director brothers behind The Avengers movies

Fionn O'Shea played the boyfriend we loved to hate in Normal People

He was one of our most high-profile screen stars of the past year, playing the boyfriend we loved to hate in Normal People and bringing a charm offensive in the endearing coming-of-age comedy Dating Amber.

But Fionn O’Shea is only getting going. This year he’ll star in more eagerly anticipated films including a thriller with two of the biggest movie makers in the world at the moment, Joe and Anthony Russo. The director brothers - who brought us the last two Avengers films - cast the young Irish actor opposite Tom Holland in the soon-to-be-released Cherry.

It marks an impressive run of form from O’Shea, who walked into his very first drama class at the age of eleven after his sister Alannah took it up - and found himself starring in an Oscar-nominated short just weeks later.

“She was my big sister and anything she did, I wanted to do the exact same thing. She started going to this drama class so I went and they would send all of the kids in the group to whatever open casting was happening at the time. I auditioned for New Boy, maybe the week after I'd gone to the class. I was so nervous, I had no idea what I was doing. I was painfully shy. But that was what Steph (Green) was looking for.” 

Green’s film about tolerance and acceptance, adapted from a Roddy Doyle short story and told through the eyes of schoolchildren, made it all the way to an Oscar nomination. The young O’Shea, who had never acted before, was smitten. “The kids who were involved just completely fell in love with performing.

“I knew at that time that what I was doing at that moment made me happier than anything else. And I think there was probably an acknowledgment of that feeling. Then, going from acting as a child to acting as an adult can sometimes be a tricky bridge to cross. I'd gone to university, and I was three months into a course when the audition came up for (conflict drama) Siege at Jadotville. I got cast and dropped out of university and then just didn't go back.” 

His prominence rose further when writer/director John Butler cast O’Shea as the co-lead in Handsome Devil. The comedy/drama about two opposites who become friends at a rugby-fixated boarding school was well received here and internationally.

Fionn O'Shea

O’Shea was already making waves - then Normal People happened. Hitting our screens just as we craved storytelling during the first lockdown, Lenny Abrahamson’s and Hettie MacDonald’s complicated love story between two young sweethearts became a global sensation.

The series hit peak pop culture. Kourtney Kardashian became fixated with Connell and Marianne just like the rest of us. Katy Perry was a big fan. And as the antagonist of the tale - Marianne’s obnoxious and controlling boyfriend Jamie - O’Shea became TV’s ultimate baddie.

“I remember seeing a tweet, really early on, the show was out a week or less. Someone tweeted saying that Jamie from Normal People was worse than Coronavirus. And I was like, okay, people really don't like him!” laughed the Dubliner.

“To have people feel strongly about a character, whether it's love or hate, it makes me happy that people felt so strongly about Jamie. Of course he's an antagonist. So we didn't think people would fall in love with him in the same way they fell in love with Connell.” 

Because strict restrictions were in place at the time, the public response he experienced was in the same arena as the rest of us - either online at home or on the socially distanced weekly supermarket shop.

“It was funny because all of our interactions were online, because we couldn't go anywhere. I was literally either in my home, or in Tesco. And when you're at the checkout, or you're leaving, it's quite a fleeting moment. Someone would say: ‘I love the show’. And I would have a 15-second window to try and convince them that I wasn't like my character in the show.

“I guess the moment for all of us was when it got released, it was kind of staggered, it was UK and Ireland, America, Australia, within a few days. We could just see the conversations on Twitter growing and growing. You're like: ‘Oh my God, there are a lot of people watching this’.” 

As a matter of fact, the 24-year-old was keen to play Jamie from very early on, long before casting by Irish-based producers Element Pictures had even begun.

“I had read the book, maybe a year and a half before they even started casting. I'd seen an announcement and I have been such a huge fan of Lenny's and Element for so long. I bought the book and I read it and thought: ‘Oh my god, I would love to play this character’.

Fionn O'Shea has been  cast  opposite Tom Holland in the soon-to-be-released Cherry.

“I started recording videos on my phone, of what I would do, if I was to get the chance to audition, not knowing if I would even get the chance to audition. I knew on paper I definitely wasn't the obvious choice for it. But I thought that I could maybe do something interesting with it if I got the chance to audition.

“I remember leaving the final round audition and thinking: ‘I just got the chance to audition for a director that I've idolised my whole career. If nothing comes of this, that's okay’. Of course it's a better story that I ended up doing it! I just felt so lucky to be involved in it.” 

The actor is now firmly on the industry radar and was Ireland’s selection at this week’s European Shooting Stars, a prestigious initiative to celebrate European acting talent. The honour, which is presented by European Film Promotion (EFP), referred to his work as a gay teenager struggling to come to terms with his sexuality in Dating Amber. The jury remarked that his Eddie “has an ebullience and winsome charm yet, at the same time, misery and rage are always bubbling just below the surface.” The event has a strong pedigree - previous selectees include Carey Mulligan, Ruth Negga and Alicia Vikander. He is one of ten actors selected this year.

“Obviously the format's quite different this year, but it's actually been a benefit in a lot of ways because we've gotten to know each other (online).

“It's such a huge honour to to be selected this year. Also to be mentioned in the same breath as the brilliant actors that have gotten it in previous years. To represent Ireland is something that's not lost on me how special that is. And you ]get a view into different industries all over Europe, how the industry works in different countries all over Europe.” 

Fionn O'Shea

He and his co-star Amber (Lola Petticrew) play best friends, both gay, who pretend to date to get through school in 1990s Ireland. They had to convince as best friends in David Freyne’s film - and ended up becoming just that. 

“We met at the chemistry read. There was four Eddies and four Ambers and we went in in every combination. I knew as soon as I had read with Lola, I knew that she was going to get cast, I remember thinking maybe if I stay close to her, my chances might go up a little bit,” he smiled. “As soon as we met, we just got on straight away. We just became really close.” 

We will soon see him on screen in the hotly anticipated Cherry, the new movie from Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo. It stars Tom Holland as an army veteran who resorts to crime to fund his drug addiction.

“I was definitely pinching myself when I got that call. I went out to Morocco pretty soon after that to shoot which was amazing. Watching them work, I learned so much from being on that set. They are really kind filmmakers and watching them and watching Tom was a dream come true.” 

He will also star opposite George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp in Nathalie Biancheri’s Wolf. Recently filmed in Ireland, it’s a drama about a young man who has a rare (and real) condition called species dysphoria which causes him to believe he’s a wolf. He goes to a clinic for curative therapy.

“That's where he meets all the other patients who all identify with different animals. I play Rufus, who believes that he's a German Shepherd. That's probably as much as I can say. The story really is about belonging, and loneliness, and identity among lots of other things. I think all of us just felt so lucky to be making a film, particularly one we'd been thinking about for so long.”