Fassbender’s rocky road from Fossa to Hollywood

The long and sometimes rocky road to Hollywood began in simple schoolboy settings for actor Michael Fassbender, 36, nominated for an Oscar tomorrow night for his role in 12 Years a Slave.

First, there were productions in his primary school at Fossa, outside Killarney, Co Kerry, but the thespian seed was truly planted in his teenage years at St Brendan’s College, also in Killarney.

It was in St Brendan’s that he first encountered theatre guru Donie Courtney, now a teacher in the Gaiety School of Acting, who came back to run comedy and drama workshops.