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Golden boy! Barry Keoghan<\/strong> may not yet be a household name, but the Irish actor has certainly hit the big time with his Academy Award-nominated role in The Banshees of Inisherin<\/em>.<\/p>\n Keoghan stars alongside Colin Farrell<\/strong><\/a> in the critically-acclaimed film, which received nine nominations \u2014 including Best Picture \u2014 at the 2023 Oscars<\/a>. While Farrell received a best actor nod for his portrayal of P\u00e1draic, who gets inexplicably dropped by longtime friend Colm (Brendan Gleeson<\/strong>), Keoghan, who is facing off with Gleeson for the best supporting actor Academy Award, portrays Farrell\u2019s character\u2019s other, younger friend, Dominic, who falls in love with P\u00e1draic\u2019s sister (Kerry Condon<\/strong>).<\/p>\n Banshees is far from the only time the Dunkirk actor starred alongside Farrell on the big screen \u2014 Keoghan scored his breakout role in 2017\u2019s The Killing of a Sacred Deer<\/em>, alongside the Phone Booth<\/em> star and Nicole Kidman<\/strong><\/a>. He and Farrell also both had critical, villainous roles in 2022\u2019s The Batman<\/em><\/a>, with the Minority Report<\/em> star portraying The Penguin and Keoghan revealing himself to be the Joker at the end of the film.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was intimidating,\u201d Keoghan told the New York Times<\/em><\/a> in 2022 about stepping into the Joker\u2019s clown shoes for the Robert Pattinson<\/strong><\/a>-led film, while noting that the old adage, \u201cstay true to yourself,\u201d helped him feel comfortable with what he could bring to the table.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a big believer that if I\u2019m myself, whatever I do is going to be completely fresh and unique,\u201d he shared, adding that he has a \u201ctotally fresh way\u201d of portraying the infamous character.<\/p>\n As for his very different role in Banshees<\/em> \u2014 which also earned him Golden Globe and SAG Awards<\/a> nominations \u2014 the Eternals<\/em> star told Collider<\/a> in October 2022 that portraying an \u201cinnocent\u201d character was a nice change of pace that was actually more challenging.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s nice to get to play a character that has such an innocent and honest and truthful demeanor about him, rather than the sinister kind of thing that we\u2019re used to,\u201d he shared. \u201cIt\u2019s actually I think harder to play that as well, to be nice and na\u00efve and innocent.\u201d<\/p>\n Keoghan also told the outlet his method of preparing for roles used to involve his grandmother asking him every question under the sun about the character he was about to play.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to get my granny to write character questions. I\u2019d say, \u2018Look, pretend you don\u2019t know this person. I want you to list a bunch of questions, and I\u2019m going to answer them,\u2019\u201d he told Collider<\/a>. \u201cThen I\u2019d have an element of images and kind of drawings around that time and kind of an image board. Then I\u2019d have a moleskin book on experiences that related to my experiences, character experiences that are similar to mine. So I could kind of draw from that.\u201d Then, he explained, \u201cI chuck it all out the window.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up for Us Weekly’s free, daily newsletter<\/a> and never miss breaking news or exclusive stories about your favorite celebrities, TV shows and more!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Keep scrolling for everything to know about Keoghan \u2014 including his sweet family life with his girlfriend and their baby boy and his connection to Harry Styles<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n