Cork actor Éanna Hardwicke wins prestigious award at the Berlin International Film Festival
Éanna Hardwicke poses for a portrait shoot at the European Shooting Stars 2024 presentation during the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
Cork actor Éanna Hardwicke is following in the footsteps of Irish stars Ruth Negga, Andrew Scott and Domhnall Gleeson after being awarded with a prestigious award for rising acting stars.
Perhaps best known for playing Rob Hegarty in , Lenny Abrahamson’s TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s bestselling novel, Hardwicke was chosen as one of the European Shootings Stars of 2024.
The European Film Promotion, made up the jury panel for this year's Berlin film festival, said that Hardwicke's role "as a Gaelic footballer in the nominated film directed by Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney, the jury recognises Hardwicke's star quality and lauds his performance, which is nothing short of gripping, skillfully revealing layers of sensitivity beneath a seemingly tough exterior."
Hardwicke has also received high praise for his recent performance in the BBC true-crime miniseries The Sixth Commandment.
Born in St Luke’s with his family later moving to Glanmire, Hardwicke caught the acting bug early.
In a previous interview with the the actor described how he first got involved in drama.
“At the age of 15, I went to the youth theatre in the School of Music with Regina Crowley," he explained. "That was a big awakening really, for me, because we were doing plays, we were doing classes, and we were working with teachers who were actors. It was fun, and it was playful as it should be. But there was a kind of a rigour to it as well.”
Hardwicke then went on to study in Trinity College Dublin’s Lir Academy.
Just a week before finishing his final drama school play, he landed a role in , an Irish/Belgian movie playing opposite Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots.
“I finished the play on the Friday and was over in Belgium filming on the Monday, and so you’ve got to make quick strong choices,” he explained, pointing out how gracious his co-stars were about his nervousness.
“I remember my first scene on the shoot was with Jesse [Eisenberg], who said: “Ninety per cent of our job is to forget the camera’s there. You’ve done all your work about character and story and then on the day, you’re just trying to get into a plce where we forget that it’s there. It’s like a ray of light when someone gives you advice – you kind of know it, but it’s advice that comes to you at the right time”.
Then came Hardwicke's role in Element Picture’s adaptation of where he played Rob Hegarty, one of Connell’s (Paul Mescal) best friends from school.
“To play something that you feel is unfolding as we speak, or is telling your story, is lovely. It’s a story of anyone who’s moved to Dublin to study as well, you know, and it was the same for me in Cork.
"I remember moving up here and just feeling like I entered into a different world, and that can be so lonely. Hopefully people will look at that experience, the characters moving far from home and feel all the same things - the homesickness, the excitement, the mystery of it.”
The rising star's next role will be in the upcoming three-part series from Amazon Studios which dramatises the controversial 2019 BBC 'Newsnight' interview Prince Andrew did with journalist Emily Maitlis.
Michael Sheen stars as the disgraced Duke of York, Ruth Wilson plays Maitlis, while Hardwicke will play BBC TV producer, Stewart Maclean.
Following Cillian Murphy's Bafta win, the critical acclaim for , and now Hardwicke's 'shooting star', this year's award's season has shone a spotlight on Ireland's current creative energy in the film and television industry.
Other recipients of the shooting star award include Daniel Craig, Carey Mulligan, Rachel Weisz, as well as fellow Irish stars, Clare Dunne and Elaine Cassidy.
