Rising star Bafta nod for Murphy
The star of The Wind that Shakes the Barley and Breakfast on Pluto is nominated in the Rising Star award category — although he has appeared in 24 productions, including Hollywood blockbuster Batman Begins.
He is up against Casino Royale star Eva Green, Perfume star Ben Whishaw, Pirates of the Caribbean’s feisty deckhand Naomie Harris and the snooty secretary from hell played by Emily Blunt in the hit film The Devil Wears Prada.
The Rising Star award is voted on by the public via the Orange website or via text message.
The nominees for this year’s award were announced by last year’s winner, Shameless star James McAvoy.
It is not the first high-profile awards nomination for the 30-year-old Douglas native who now lives in London.
Last year he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as ‘Kitten’ Brady in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast On Pluto.
While he did not win that award, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, in which he starred, won the prestigious Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2007 he is to hit cinema screens in the comedy Watching the Detectives with Lucy Liu and the Danny Boyle-directed Sunshine.
According to the IMDB movie website, the Cork actor is fluent in French and Irish, had planned a career in law until he discovered acting and, although a vegetarian, he learned to chop up meat in an abattoir for his role as a butcher in Girl with a Pearl Earring. He is married with one child.
His movie career began in the 1997 short film Quando in which he starred as Pat.
This year’s BAFTA awards take place on February 11.
