He is best known for his roles in the films A Little Princess (1995), Jude, Dog Soldiers, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Hunger, Centurion, Clash of the Titans, The Escapist, Black Butterflies and The Guard. He portrayed Davos Seaworth in the HBO epic-fantasy series Game of Thrones. He has been nominated for the London Film Critics' Circle Award, the British Independent Film Award, has won two Irish Film & Television Awards, and shared a BAFTA with Michael Fassbender, for their crime-drama short film Pitch Black Heist.
Film Roles
- 1995 A Little Princess (1995) as Capt. Crewe / Prince Rama
- 1995 First Knight as Sir Agravain
- 1996 Jude as Phillotson
- 2002 Dog Soldiers as Capt. Ryan
- 2002 Stranded (2002) as David Robinson
- 2003 The Crooked Man as Hamilton
- 2006 The Wind That Shakes the Barley as Dan
- 2008 The Escapist as Brodie
- 2008 Hunger as Father Dominic Moran
- 2008 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor as Mad Dog Maguire
- 2009 Blood: The Last Vampire as Michael Harrison
- 2009 The Tournament as Powers
- 2009 Perrier's Bounty as The Mutt
- 2009 Harry Brown as Sid Rourke
- 2010 Centurion as Brick
- 2010 Clash of the Titans as Solon
- 2011 The Guard as Francis Sheehy-Skelfington
- 2011 War Horse as The Army Doctor
- 2012 Safe House as Alec Wade
- 2014 Let Us Prey as Six
- 2023 The Last Voyage of the Demeter as the Captain
Television Roles
- 1994–1995 Roughnecks as Chris
- 2001 Attila as King Theodoric
- 2011 Outcasts as President Richard Tate
- 2012 Merlin as Ruadan
- 2012–2019 Game of Thrones as Ser Davos Seaworth
- 2013 Doctor Who as Captain Zhukov
- 2024 3 Body Problem
Tropes applying to his work:
- Fake American: He voices one in the video game Star Citizen.
- Fake Brit: Most of his roles. He rarely plays Irish characters outside of Irish media.
- Playing Against Type:
- His debut role in A Little Princess (1995), playing the kind and doting Captain Crewe.
- Game of Thrones sees him playing one of the unambiguously good people in a Crapsack World.
- Production Posse: He's worked with Neil Marshall in Dog Soldiers, Centurion and Game of Thrones.
- Those Two Actors: He's done four films with Brendan Gleeson.
- Typecasting:
- He's often villains, military men or Deadpan Snarkers.
- In three fantasy, works he's played a man of action who has a close bond with his daughter (or surrogate daughter in Shireen's case).
- What Could Have Been:
- He was the runner-up for the role of the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who before Paul McGann was cast.
- He was reluctant to star in The Wind That Shakes the Barley but Ken Loach eventually convinced him to do so.
