To be honest, I still get awestruck when I meet my heroes and the people I admire. I think that's only natural.
— Barry Keoghan
I want to get a wolf and an eagle.
I always believed that I could be one of the greatest actors of my generation.
Acting is not a thing where I'm from. Finishing school is a big thing. Not a lot of people finish school.
I thought I was going to be a footballer or a boxer or something like that - I was into sports.
Dior makes me look good, and I make Dior look good.
I grew up in Summerhill in Dublin's inner city, and I came across an open audition, and they were looking for inner city kids who had not acted. I signed up.
I want to not settle for one thing. Because I come from a place where I have nothing to lose.
Everyone wants to be Batman; I want to be Robin. I'll make Robin cool. Make him legit.
My mother passed. She passed when I was 10 or 11.
I've actually eaten in The Ivy in London. I love their shepherd's pie.
It's not often you get to sit in front of Nicole Kidman in your boxers with a big bowl of spaghetti.
I just think the more you're in front of camera, the better: my main aim is just to tell the truth, be natural, and believe in what I'm doing, and hopefully that comes across as a rawness.
Getting involved with 'Black 47' was like getting involved with 'Dunkirk' for me. I learned a lot. But 'Black 47' was my own history from my own country.
With this acting and this lifestyle, your privacy does get taken a little.
I think I would've found myself in the arts somewhere along the lines. If you're creative, you find something, eventually.
I wasn't stupid, or very smart. I didn't finish my education.
I've stayed friends with the boys I've known since I was 10.
I want a happy family.
I want stories where you either hate it or love it. I want to do movies like that, where it's not show and tell, where it's not, 'This is it, and now you reveal the ending, and that's that.'
I'm always in touch with where I'm from.
I'm good to women. I treat women with a lot of respect.
Chris O'Dowd's a legend, isn't he? I like him.
In any inner city, there's not a lot of opportunities, and you really have to dig out and chase what you want to do, 'cos it's not handed to you, so.
Boxing is something I'm very into.
I kick myself that I don't speak Irish. Ah, man, I'd love to. I am going to learn.
'Intermission' was my favourite film.
I started getting interested in the craft and watching old movies, and they're the ones that reach out to me the most - films like 'Cool Hand Luke' and 'On the Waterfront.' So I start watching all of these, and I was getting educated, and I started being interested in this acting thing, if that's what they call it.
You kind of know what kind of reaction a Yorgos Lanthimos movie is going to get.
Sometimes a camera comes out and people freeze up a little, and I'm like that with normal cameras, but with a film camera, I feel different.
I do reach out to lads that I know who are my age: people like Charlie Plummer or Timothee Chalamet.
I'm trying to keep a good record and do interesting movies with interesting filmmakers.
After everything I've been through - the foster care, the losing my parents and stuff like that, I was never one to kind of go, 'I'm gonna just not try.' I used it all as ammunition.
My nanny took me in at 12 with my brother, who is a year younger than me. We're the closest brothers you'll ever meet.
It is hard to keep your head sometimes. I just make sure I surround myself with good people.
It's very important for me to show younger kids that when opportunities are there, you have to jump on them.
I want stories that tackle things.
I was a mess-up in school, a big mess-up. I was into history and English, because there were always stories, like 'Dracula' and World War II. I've never read a book, though. Never.
It's nice coming from Summerhill, because you don't come from having everything, and what you do get, you appreciate.
People can get lost in the movie star world. They can't check in with reality, whereas I live at home with me girl, surrounded by real people.
All I would say is it doesn't matter where you come from. Like, Jim Sheridan comes from the inner city, and he's one of the top ones, a top lad.
I recently was in the same room as Leonardo DiCaprio, and one of my favorite movies is 'Basketball Diaries.' That movie hits home for me in so many ways, and in that moment, I was like, 'I have to thank this dude.' So I did.
I went to an open audition for 'Between the Canals,' and that was a big thing. I suddenly thought, 'Ah, yeah!' Then I started getting brought away to do roles. That's when I got taken seriously.
I'm a guy with simple tastes.
I can play younger. It's better to be playing younger because you've got that experience, and it's hard to play older when you're younger.
I don't think you ever really get used to it, do you? There's always another little level of shock in it and of being starstruck at the people you meet. And that's the beauty of it: you're always fascinated, because it's not a normal thing to do, is it, this acting game?
I did Christmas plays at school, but they banned me because I was messing about. And I was like, 'Ah, why?' Because I was getting attention, everyone was laughing at me and I was loving it, I thought, 'This feels good!'
All my foster homes were very good to me. But it's still not a very nice experience. It's only when you're older, you realise: we were on our own in there. As kids, you don't know what's happening. You're here. Then you're in the next house. But the families were all very good to us.
Every actor wants to show a good and deep range, so you look at all the elements here, and you make a conscious choice of where you want to go as a performer.
Where I'm from, you focus on finishing school. Even finishing college is seen as a stretch - you just get a job after school, and that's it.
