Biography
Best known for his award-winning portrayal of a recovering alcoholic in
Ken Loach's
My Name Is Joe (1998), Scottish actor Peter Mullan has been appearing in films since 1990. He first worked with director Loach in 1991's
Riff Raff, and he has appeared in a number of popular Scottish films, including
Danny Boyle's
Shallow Grave (1994) and
Trainspotting (1996), and
Mel Gibson's
Braveheart (1995). In 1998, the same year that he won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actor prize for
My Name Is Joe, Mullan made his feature directorial and screenwriting debut with
Orphans. The story of four siblings gathered in Glasgow for their mother's funeral, it earned fairly positive reviews and comparisons to Gillies MacKinnon's
Small Faces (1995). The following year, Mullan starred opposite
Saffron Burrows in
Miss Julie,
Mike Figgis' adaptation of August Strindberg's tale about the disastrous affair between a wealthy young woman and her servant. He then went on to act in prominent roles for
Ordinary Decent Criminal (1999),
The Claim (2000), and
Session 9 (2001). In 2002, he returned to directing and screenwriting with the controversial film
The Magdalene Sisters, which managed to both win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and be condemned by the Vatican. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide