Finbar Lynch

Actor

Finbar Lynch was born in Dublin and worked first as a stage hand at the Gate Theatre in Dublin before taking a small part in A Streetcar Named Desire. The roles of Jack Absolute in The Rivals, Charles Surface in The School for Scandal and Bazarov in a dramatisation of Fathers and Sons followed, and a two-man play with Neil Toibin called Mass Appeal, directed by Geraldine Fitzgerald, all for the Dublin Gate. He also played Christy Mahon in The Playboy of the Western World at the Abbey.

In England he has taken many leading roles. These include Enobarbus in Antony and Cleopatra, Edmund in King Lear, Canary Jim in Not about Nightingales with the National Theatre, Tuzenback in Three Sisters at the Royal Court, Eddie in Fool for Love and Manus in Translations at the Donmar Warehouse. For the RSC he has appeared in many leading roles including Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) Lucio (Measure for Measure) Tullus Aufidius (Coriolanus) and Surly (The Alchemist), Bruce (The Virtuoso), Wendoll (A Woman Killed with Kindness), Proteus (The Two Gentlemen of Verona) and Mark Antony (Julius Caesar).

His portrayal of Edmund has been repeated in a BBC film of King Lear directed by Richard Eyre, and other films include Scold’s Bridle, The Schooner and Wild Ponies. Among his television parts has been Persse McGarrigal in the dramatisation of David Lodge’s Small World and roles in Between the Lines, Holby City (BBC) Miller Shorts (BBC) and Riddler’s Moon for American Television.

On Broadway, Finbar has won a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor playing Canary Jim in Not About Nightingales by Tennessee Williams.