Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan says he feels massive loneliness

Barry Keoghan said he thinks of his late mother when he is by himself (Yui Mok/PA)

Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan has spoken of feeling “massive loneliness” while his career continues to reach new heights.

The actor, 31, won a Bafta for The Banshees Of Inisherin last year and was nominated for an Academy Award for the same supporting role in the dark comedy.

His latest film, the psychological thriller Saltburn, sees him in the lead and earned him critical praise along with a Golden Globe nod for best actor in a motion picture – drama.

Keoghan told GQ magazine that during the premiere in “one of the noisiest, busiest cities in the world”, New York, he felt like he was alone.

He also said: “There’s a loneliness as well, that comes with this.

“A massive loneliness. It’s hard not to talk about that or to pretend that’s not there.”

Keoghan said he thinks of his mother, who struggled with drug addiction and died when he was a child, when he is by himself.

Barry Keoghan with his Bafta award last year (Ian West/PA)

He added: “My mother, always. She’s many years passed now, but I always think about her anyway.

“It’s always just in and around achievements that it’s really prominent – cause you’d like to celebrate that (with her you know)?”

Keoghan, who grew up in inner-city Dublin and was placed in a dozen foster homes along with his brother before going to live with his grandmother, said it does not feel “real” to be making Hollywood movies.

“This is not real, is it? It can’t be real. I’m gonna wake up right now. In a second, I’ll be like, ‘f***, man – that was some dream’,” he added.

His role in Saltburn, directed by Promising Young Woman director Emerald Fennell, sees him play a student named Oliver Quick who is struggling to find his place at Oxford University.

Oliver then is drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, played by Euphoria actor Jacob Elordi, and his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, Saltburn.

A scene where his character comes of age in the film has made Keoghan happy as he says he is “not just being looked at as the weird-looking guy, the unique f*****’ freaky little freak man-child, freak child-man, whatever you want to call it”, according to GQ.

He also said his “prettiness didn’t get me this far” but being seen in another way “opens up other lanes for me, it’s part of the leading man thing”.

Keoghan has also been in Dunkirk, The Killing Of The Sacred Deer, Top Boy, Love/Hate and Eternals, and is set to appear in upcoming war drama series Masters Of The Air alongside Austin Butler.