The Rabbit & The Wolf: Presenting Barry Keoghan, A New Breed of Actor

It’s Gaelic, originally. Or an anglicized version of a Gaelic name, if you’re being fussy. Most people — our current cover star included — believe it to derive from the ancient “cano,” meaning wolf cub. But others argue that Keoghan stems from “coinin,” the Irish word for rabbit. Whichever it is, both could apply to the actor.

Because this is a man with both animals inside of him. He’s got the teeth, sure, but he can also be incredibly timid at times. His career may be bounding along nicely, but he’s missed out on his fair share of plum parts, too. In Hollywood, he represents that rarest of beasts: both predator and prey; a moon-howling, spectacle-making maverick in an industry otherwise hopping with adequacy and algorithms. And yet still he bays for more. He’s bright. He’s bold. He’s big bad Barry Keoghan, and his name is here to stay — so yes, you’d better learn how to pronounce it.

“When I first started out, I had to learn to love myself,” says Keoghan (which is pronounced KYOH-gan, by the way). “I had to start to love my imperfections, that I’m not your typical pretty boy. But I kind of love that now — and I’ve owned it.”

This is wolf Keoghan. Steely and confident, he’s dialling in from Britain; this, one of his final phone calls before a digital detox in preparation for the new Peaky Blinders movie. But more on that later. For now, the bared teeth are gnashing, the Irish actor railing against the implication that he might suffer — or might have ever suffered — from imposter syndrome.

“Never,” he says frankly, assuredly. “But people really do suffer with that. And it can be so detrimental, because it doesn’t let you go for your full potential. There’s no risk. There are no bold choices.”

“Imposter syndrome? No, I’ve never suffered with that in acting. I’ve always felt in place.”

Barry Keoghan

And Keoghan values choice. He holds dear every decision there is to make and appreciates that he gets to make it. This isn’t something most of us would think about. But, as a child, Keoghan had much of his agency stripped from him. Born in Dublin in 1992, the actor was raised largely within the foster system after his mother died from a heroin overdose when he was 12 years old. His became a patchwork upbringing, one that created someone quite unique among modern celebrities. One moment, Keoghan appears fearless; unassailable. But turn a corner of conversation and his sensibilities shift. Suddenly the guard is down — the wolf gone. “You know,” he says, more softly now, “growing up how I did, I was always going to new homes and new schools and new places. So, I never really did feel in place…or a part of something…or wanted.”

A pause.

“I always felt like an outsider. But that built me up, in a sense, to prepare for this work. And this is all a bonus compared to what I’ve journeyed through. So, imposter syndrome? No, I’ve never suffered with that in acting. I’ve always felt in place.”

That feeling is impressive, because Keoghan’s roles run the gamut. Those places he’s been range from fantastical Camelot to cosmic starships to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. But, like his own life, they began in Ireland. In 2011, he appeared in a low-budget Irish crime film, Between the Canals, after noticing a casting call in a local shop window and lobbying the director for a part. A fleet-footed five years later, he was on a Christopher Nolan set, filming Dunkirk. Shortly after that, he was prowling after Colin Farrell in Yorgos Lanthimos’s disturbing psycho-drama, The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Since then, he’s joined the Marvel machine with Eternals, landed his first big screen lead with Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, and appeared in the final season of gangland thriller series, Top Boy. This fall, he stars in Bird, a small British-set drama written and directed by Big Little Lies’ Andrea Arnold — a film for which Keoghan left a leading role in Gladiator II — as Bug, an impoverished young father to two adolescent children. But these decisions — of prioritizing one particular project over another — are never about the paydays, says the actor.

“It’s not the scale of the movie, or how many trailers are on the set,” Keoghan reasons. “For me, it comes down to the filmmaker. It comes down to what role I played last. Will it challenge me? Will it elevate me? Will it help me mature as an actor, as a person? You can look at it as going to work for eight weeks, but I don’t like looking at it that way. It’s a moment in your life that you’re stepping away for. And it can drain you, and scare you, and really affect you. So, I pick my movies, and I’m very cautious selecting what I want to step into.”

This is the more apprehensive side of Keoghan: the rabbit. He may say that he’s “always up for a challenge,” and never wants to play “the obvious part,” but he’s still occasionally been caught in the creative headlights. And this may not be imposter syndrome, but the actor certainly doesn’t take on work lightly. Rather, he weighs it up, anticipates the outcomes, and defers to direction when on set. “Some people take offence to directors giving them direction,” he says. “They take it as an insult. But I love it.”

And it’s not just the directors. Keoghan takes notes from his fellow actors, too. On Bird, for example, he looked to his on-screen offspring, mostly played by newcomers, for creative inspiration. “I love watching actors who haven’t been trained,” he says, “or who are new to it all, because they don’t have that structure. They’re going off pure instinct and spontaneity. Having the two kids on set, I loved seeing the choices they were making.”

“All the cameras, all the red carpets, it can be intimidating for anyone. Colin [Farrell] never gave me any specific advice, though, it was more of just a watch and learn. You take in how they’re moving, and just the stamina, that constant stamina.”

Barry Keoghan

The experience reminded Keoghan of working alongside Mark Rylance on Dunkirk. “He’s such an incredible actor,” says Keoghan of the Oscar-winner, “and he’d always be watching — observing and seeing what we were bringing to it. So that’s sort of become my method, taking little bits and things from other people and seeing what works for me. Building my own rhythm.”

Keoghan grew up without a father figure but has collected several over the course of his career. Rylance is one, but he also cites Cillian Murphy, with whom he also worked on Dunkirk, and Colin Farrell as the actors who guided him onto his current professional path. At TIFF this year, Keoghan was promoting Bird. But his first trip to Toronto was with Farrell in 2017.

“Being back, with Nykiya [Adams, who plays Keoghan’s 12-year-old daughter in Bird] sort of reminded me of that time with Colin. And so, I got to kind of stand in. Not that I needed to help Nykiya — she was absolutely brilliant — but it’s such a new territory, and it can be overwhelming. All the cameras, all the red carpets, it can be intimidating for anyone. Colin never gave me any specific advice, though, it was more of just a watch and learn. You take in how they’re moving, and just the stamina, that constant stamina.”

“There’s a licence to be brave, to be silly, to find and discover and not be yourself.”

Barry Keoghan on dancing in films.

Farrell, Murphy, Rylance. Keoghan has made mentors of them all. But the list of actors he admires runs a little longer. In 2022, the actor and his now ex-girlfriend had a son, who they named Brando (yes, after that one). The actor mentions Daniel Day-Lewis twice during our conversation. But the most rapid fire of Keoghan’s acting heroes comes as he rattles off those who have played the Joker. Keoghan took up the mantle of the warped Batman villain for Matt Reeves’ 2022 Robert Pattinson-starring reboot. Initially, he was intimidated by the challenge, but not, he says, because of the character’s ubiquity. “More so because it has been played by absolutely incredible actors. Heath Ledger being my favourite. Joaquin Phoenix. You’ve got a list that goes on and on — a list that I want to be in the company of. But I don’t get frightened by that. I get excited by it. I wonder what I can bring to this that is different?”

Audiences are waiting to see if Keoghan will return as the Joker. “I definitely already have some thoughts on it,” he says of playing the part in the 2022 instalment. “On what I can bring that is different. But there is this attachment to it — this kind of thing around it. Because he’s such a dark character, and not an easy character to understand. That makes it difficult pinpointing and getting down to discovering his character and creating a backstory for him.”

Though Keoghan’s tremendous track record of playing unsettling characters makes him a natural fit for the Joker, he originally auditioned for the Riddler, a role that ultimately went to Paul Dano. It should come as no surprise, however, that Keoghan landed the bigger, more burdensome prize because the Irish actor has been turning in similarly untamed, mesmerizing performances since his animalistic breakout in 2016 melodrama Mammal. Other standout roles are a meek-but-cunning criminal in 2018 docudrama American Animals, and a beastly bully in the low-budget Calm with Horses. There’s a theme here, a wild and savage thread running through the actor’s filmography, and one which upholds either derivation of the “Keoghan” name.

There’s a similarly raw, real feel to his boxing. Keoghan has been a keen amateur fighter for years — even bringing his talents to the screen several times, most recently for Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air alongside Austin Butler. This summer, it was announced that Keoghan would star alongside Cillian Murphy in Netflix’s much anticipated Peaky Blinders movie. Boxing has played a strong role in the series to date, so might that be why he got the nod?

“I’ve been such a fan of the show,” says Keoghan, slipping the question as presumably only a boxer could, “and I always want to work with Cillian. He’s an actor that I absolutely admire, but also just a person I admire. He’s such a family man, and he’s always been there for me. He always checks in.”

“I think the body is a great way of showing emotion. You just need look at animals, they just embody it all — and all without any dialogue.”

Barry Keoghan

Murphy won his first Oscar this year, for Oppenheimer. Keoghan’s first nomination came in 2023 for his staggering supporting turn in The Banshees of Inisherin — a role for which it seems a criminal injustice that he didn’t scoop the statuette. He was even heavily tipped for Saltburn, a film which, among other eyebrow-raisers, saw the actor strip off and dance his way around the halls of a stately home. Early awards season rumblings even have him earmarked for Bird, another film that features a solo Keoghan dance scene (albeit dressed this time).

“And I don’t dance!” protests Keoghan. “I really don’t. And I don’t mean that in a professional aspect. I mean if I’m out somewhere, I don’t dance. I’m always the one sitting down, or just standing, nodding my head.”

Once again, there’s the rabbit.

“But, if it’s required of the character, I’ll do it.” (And here, the wolf.) “Because then, there’s a licence to be brave, to be silly, to find and discover and not be yourself. And I think the body is a great way of showing emotion. You just need look at animals, they just embody it all — and all without any dialogue. And, I think, if we can, we should do it that way.”

More animals. There’ve been birds, bugs, bats, calming horses, and sacred deer so far. But, throughout career ups, downs, and irrepressible ups, the wolf and the rabbit are what remain. Is there anything else to say? Only that you’ve probably heard the folk legend about the two wolves. You know the one — every man has a pair of wolves inside him, of two very different natures, and they fight each other. Which wins? Well, that depends entirely on which one you feed. But Barry Keoghan is built a little different. He has one wolf, and one rabbit. He feeds both.

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