jd

Born in Cork City, Ireland, I grew up in a small town called Millstreet in a happy (for the most part) family. My mother gave birth to half a football team and I am the second of her seven boys. I enjoyed my education and took it to degree level, graduating in English from University College Cork in 1987. Always keen on a bit of drama, I began acting at University at the age of seventeen. After graduating, I worked in theatre-in education and became a freelance roaming actor with stints in most of the major theatre companies in Ireland including Druid (Galway) and The Abbey (Dublin.) I moved to London in the early nineties to perform on the West End in a play called Same Old Moon at what is now the Gielgud Theatre (then the Globe). This was followed by a repertory season at the national theatre in an Indian dance drama called The Little Clay Cart and so began a diverse career with the usual highs and lows of a jobbing actor. Somehow I have managed to stay in the game and I work consistently. More recently I have branced out and directed my first short film which won Best Short Film at the Stratford Upon Avon Film Festival and 2nd place in the Best Screenplay category at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. ( Watch it on http://www.cinequestonline.org/2007/theater/detail_view.php? m=1152 ) and am currently developing my next, more ambitious, project. I enjoy the highly collaborative nature of film and making a short has helped me to spread my creative wings and broaden my horizons. I can soon be seen in two episodes of a new Channel 4 drama, called City of Vice, playing a villain to Ian McDiarmuid and Iain Glen. My hobbies are staying fit, films, theatre, photography, reading and catching up with friends. I enjoy travelling and I enjoy coming home. Find out more about me and my work on my website: www.jdkelleher.co.uk