Liam Heffernan

Liam Heffernan is an Irish actor, theater director and musician best known for his lead role in the critically acclaimed film The Clash of the Ash (1987),[1][2] and later as Blackie Connors in the long running RTÉ television drama series Glenroe.

Liam Heffernan
Born
Cork
NationalityIrish
OccupationActor, musician
Years active1980-present

Career

Born in Cork city in the early 1960s, Heffernan's acting career began in 1984 with appearances in various theater parts with the Graffiti Theatre Company.[3] He moved to Dublin in 1986, and played roles in the films The Stranger Within (1990) and The Boy from Mercury (1996). He has since featured in multiple stage productions and television dramas, including full time roles in Ros na Rún and later Fair City, where he played the returned emigrant Luke Dillon.[4]

He directed the award winning 2000 play "Tillsonburg"[5] for Dublin's Focus Theatre and Cork's The Everyman Palace, and in 2003 directed "Brilliant Traces" for the Dublin Fringe Festival.[6] In 2010 he appeared in a well regarded production of Billy Roche's play "The Cavalcaders".[7]

His music career began in the early 1980s as the guitarist with Mean Features, who were active during the Cork city post-punk scene for several years, initially as part of the bands centered around the Arcadia Ballroom. The band featured Mick Lynch on vocals and were included on the seminal 1981 live compilation Kaught at the Kampus,[8] described in 2020 by journalist Mike McGrath-Bryan of the Irish Examiner as a "record has come to be regarded as a document of the Cork music scene at an important juncture, helping to set the tone for the city's subsequent musical reputation, with many of the musicians and personalities involved becoming cult figures in their own right."[9]

Heffernan continues to act, and is currently the lead singer and a guitarist with Big Boy Foolish with guitarist Ricky Dineen, formerly of Five Go Down to the Sea?.[10] In June 2020, they released their debut single "Horsey!",[11][12] described by McGrath-Bryan as continuing the band "along a grinning, black-humored trajectory".[13] A second single, "Up the Airy", was released in August 2020.

Selected roles
RoleProductionYear
Phil KellyThe Clash of the Ash1987 [14]
Uncle TommyThe Stranger within me1994 [15]
UsherThe Boy from Mercury1996 [16]
Blackie ConorsGlenroe1992 - 1999 [17]
KimbalDeich gCoisceim2000 [18]

References
  1. Cunningham, Michael. "Visions of a vibrant film industry". Irish Times, 22 July 1987. Retrieved 9 August 2020
  2. Lord, Miriam. "Budding director's Clash Of The Ash is a hit". Irish Independent, 2 June 1987. Retrieved 9 August 2020
  3. Sheridan, Colette. "The pay’s the thing". Irish Examiner, 24 November 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2020
  4. "Liam Heffernan". nolanmuldoonagency.com. Retrieved 19 July 2020
  5. Colgan, Gerry. "Tillsonburg". Irish Times, 23 October 2000. Retrieved 8 August 2020
  6. O'Kelly, Emer. "Bonding, betrayal and buddies bearing grudges". Irish Independent, 16 March 2003. Retrieved 8 August 2020
  7. Lee, Jenifer. "The Cavalcaders". Irish Theatre Magazine, 7 December 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2020
  8. Power, Ed. "B-Side the Leeside: Kaught at the Kampus". Irish Examiner, 29 July 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020
  9. McGrath-Bryan 2020.
  10. "Red on Red - Episode Sixty Eight - Big Boy Foolish". Cork's Red FM, May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  11. "Horsey!". Music.apple, June 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020
  12. O'Driscoll, Des. "Question of Taste: Cork actor and musician Liam Heffernan answers our quick-fire questions". Irish Examiner, 15 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  13. McGrath Bryan, Mike. "Big Boy Foolish - "Horsey!"". The Evening Echo, 29 July 2020
  14. "Liam Heffernan, Phil Kelly in The Clash of the Ash". Irish Examiner. Irish Examiner. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  15. "Liam Heffernan, Irish Actor, Uncle Tommy in The Stranger within me". Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  16. "Liam Heffernan, Actor, Usher in The boy from Mercury". Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  17. "Liam Heffernan, The Pay's the thing". The Irish Examiner. Irish Examiner. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  18. "Zanzibar Films Ireland - Liam Heffernan". Zanzibar Films Ireland. Retrieved 24 May 2015.

Sources
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.