Fair City's Matthew O'Brien: I have nightmares about not getting to set on time

Matthew O'Brien plays James Rafferty in Fair City

After just a couple of seconds on the phone with actor Matthew O’Brien, it’s clear that he is very different to his Fair City character, James Rafferty.

O’Brien’s character is back in Carrigstown and as he says himself, anybody who comes in orbit of James Rafferty “becomes worse for wear". 

The Meath man speaks to me with great honesty about how his kids can make him cry by just drawing a picture — and his fear of being late to set.

“I get up very early. Our call time usually is seven o’clock. I set out around four o’clock in the morning," O'Brien explains. 

"I drive from Slane to Dublin which is about an hour away but the reason I do that is because from the very beginning of being an actor, the biggest thing I always [worried] about is breaking down or not getting to set on time. I literally have nightmares about it.” 

However, despite the early mornings, he is glad to be back in Carrigstown.

“It’s fantastic to be back. I suppose as an actor it’s great to be working full stop,” laughs the father-of-two. 

“But it’s been a lot of fun and they seem to be having fun with James in terms of he’s interacting with a lot of different people.” 

• Fair City continues on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays on RTÉ One.

What shape are you currently in?

Physically, I’ve been very good. I’m working with a personal trainer called Shane Quigley, he’s a friend of mine and he has put me through my paces the last few months and it’s been great. It affects every aspect of your life really —physical, mental — everything.

Covid had its effect on all of us. Motivation-wise, it was kind of lost during Covid. But it's great now at the moment – well, better anyway.

What would keep you awake at night?

I have two children so when they were much younger, they kept me awake at night. My kids are two and four, Luna and Lucas. Surprisingly now that they have their own sleep routine, they still keep me up at night. You always think about these things at night and you worry about your children and the world and all that kind of stuff.

When was the last time you cried?

I cry a lot. And at very obscure things. I cried at the end of Top Gun: Maverick. But it was one of those reserved manly cries, you know the one where we hold it back and one single solitary tear falls down my cheek. And when the kids draw me pictures. All my daughter has to do is show me and as soon as she starts explaining what’s in the picture, I’m in floods.

What are your guiltiest pleasures?

There’s a very famous Chinese in Navan called the China Garden and I’ve been known to go in there regularly in the past. Now, once in a blue moon. If I do good in my scenes, I’ll treat myself to a China Garden. I highly recommend it if you’re ever in Navan.

How do you relax?

When I’m on my way home, the usual kind of podcast in the car or an audiobook. I love playing video games and reading. It depends on the mood that I’m in. I play the drums as well so if I’m feeling particularly stressed, I’ll go home and batter the head at them for half an hour.

What is your favourite smell?

I had to look this up. Petrichor. It’s the smell of rain after it's fallen. I was trying to describe it to someone because it only happened about two weeks ago. Another smell I love is the smell of my kids' hair which sounds weird when you say it out loud.

What is the best health advice you've ever been given?

Consistency. I always thought you had to go to the gym and if you didn’t come out busting and sweating, you didn’t do anything. Now obviously, it's good to push yourself as far as possible but there are some days when you’re just not in the mood for it at all. But as long as you do something every day, it’s enough.

What traits do you least like about yourself?

I’m very self-deprecating and it’s a defence mechanism so I kind of do it before someone can get to me. For example, one of the things as a young man growing up — I’m very slim and people would go: ‘you’re very skinny, eat a sandwich’ and I’d always have the repertoire of responses and they would be ‘sure you can’t fatten a thoroughbred’ and ‘this is the way God made me’ and all the rest.

I recently trained to be a teacher during lockdown and on my final report, it gave you all of the positives and one of the negatives was, ‘he’s too polite'. So I said, I’ll take that.

What would cheer your day up?

Seeing my kids really. That’s it. As soon as I see them, everything else goes out the window.