Bein' Green Trivia Quiz

Answer: Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson was nominated for an Oscar in 2004 for his role as Oskar Schindler, where he portrayed the role of a German manufacturer who managed to save over a thousand of Polish Jewish people by employing them in his factories. He played Qui-Gon Jinn, a Jedi knight in the "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" (1999) a sci-fi fantasy.

In March 2009, his wife, actress Natasha Richardson, died from head injuries following a skiing accident in Canada.

Michael Gambon and Barry Fitzgerald are both Irish born actors and Jim Sheridan is an Irish film director.

Answer: Colin Farrell

In "Tigerland", Colin Farrell took on the role of Roland Bozz, a troublemaking Vietnam draftee who, despite his skills as a soldier, is planning to go AWOL and is intent on helping his friends avoid being sent overseas too. His role as the troublemaker garnered him a lot of attention and helped to launch his Hollywood film career.

Stuart Townsend and Jonathan Rhys Meyers are both young Irish actors. Glenn Quinn, an Irish born actor, appeared on television's "Angel" (1999) before his premature death in 2002.

Answer: Brendan Gleeson

Brendan Gleeson's role in "Braveheart" as Hamish saw him playing alongside Mel Gibson as William Wallace in a fight for Scotland's freedom. Though not his first movie, "Braveheart" drew attention to Gleeson's acting ability and further roles followed. He played with Colin Farrell in "In Bruges" as a criminal sent to Bruges, in Belgium, to lay low after a crime went wrong.

Gleeson's fiddle playing ability can be seen in another movie "Cold Mountain"(2003), a US Civil War drama, in which he plays a Confederate Army deserter.

Stephen Boyd and Max Adrian are both Northern Irish actors, the latter was a founding member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Neil Jordan is an Irish writer and director and has worked with Gleeson on such films as "Michael Collins" (1996) a movie about the Irish freedom fighter and "The Butcher Boy" (1997), a movie based on the book by Patrick McCabe about a disturbed young boy growing up in small town Catholic Ireland.

Answer: Gabriel Byrne

Byrne attended seminary school for five years before withdrawing and studying archaeology and linguistics. His language skills served him well as he worked as a Spanish teacher before his acting career took off and also penned an Irish language television drama titled "Draíocht" which means magic.

His film and television career has seen Byrne portraying various roles such as that of a criminal trying to reform but caught up in one last crime in "The Usual Suspects" (1995) and as a psychologist in HBO's "In Treatment" (2008).

Byrne's acting career began on stage when he worked with the Focus theatre in Dublin, where Stephen Rea, also acted. Rea is perhaps best known for his role in "The Crying Game" (1992) which was written and directed by Neil Jordan. Daniel Day Lewis is an English born actor with Irish citizenship.

Answer: Cillian Murphy

Cillian Murphy's role in "Batman Begins" (2005), which tells the story of the origins of the Batman character, came about as a result of his audition for title role. His band, The Sons of Mr. Greengenes turned down the offer of the record deal because his younger brother was still in school.

Murphy originally studied law at University College Cork, where he got involved with the drama society and began to act. Over time, acting took over from music and his professional acting career began in 1996 when he starred on stage in an Irish production "Disco Pigs" which tells the story of two teenage boys out for a night of birthday celebrations.

Domhnall Gleeson is the son of Brendan Gleeson and is also an actor. Devon Murray is a young Irish actor who has appeared in the "Harry Potter" movies as Seamus Finnegan. Jason Barry is an Irish actor who appeared briefly in "Titanic" (1997).

Answer: Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brosnan played the character of James Bond, the MI6 agent who goes by the designation '007', in the movies " Golden Eye" (1995), "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), "The World is Not Enough" (1999) and "Die Another Day" (2002), battling various villains and defending the world from their nefarious actions.

Brosnan had been offered the role of Bond years earlier, but at the time was appearing on television's "Remington Steele" (1982) as the titular private detective; his contract for this precluded him accepting the role.

Sean Connery and Timothy Dalton both played the character of James Bond. Connery for six and Dalton for two movies. Kenneth Brannagh is an Irish born actor from Belfast who has adapted many of Shakespeare's plays for movie audiences.

Answer: Richard Harris

Richard Harris was a versatile actor who played a wide variety of roles, including that of Albus Dumbledore in the first two "Harry Potter" (2001) movies. His acting career began after his athletic career faded. As a young man Harris played rugby at school level and also played for Garryowen, a rugby union team based in his hometown of Limerick.

Unfortunately, he contracted tuberculosis, which affected his lungs and cut his rugby career short. Harris originally wanted to direct but enrolled in acting school after failing to find any courses in direction.

Jim Sheridan is an Irish director who worked with Harris on "The Field" (1990) telling the story of a farmer and a power struggle over the land he has rented and worked on for years. Cyril Cusack and Peter O'Toole were both Irish actors and contemporaries of Richard Harris, and O'Toole was a close friend of Harris's who shared his love of rugby.

Answer: Colm Meaney

Colm Meaney played the role of Miles O'Brien on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), which told the tale of a crew aboard the Starship Enterprise. He reprised this role on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) which was set on a space station in a distant corner of the galaxy.

Roddy Doyle's "Barrytown Trilogy" is a series of three novels which tell the stories of the Rabbitte family and are set in the fictional area of Barrytown in Dublin, Ireland. All three novels, "The Commitments", "The Snapper" and "The Van" were adapted for the screen and Meaney played the same character, that of Jimmy Rabbitte Senior in all three.

The name of the character was changed throughout the three movies, with the name of Jimmy Rabbitte only being used in "The Commitments" (1991) which told the story of Jimmy Rabbitte Junior and his attempt to form a soul music band in Dublin.

Hugh O'Connor and Eamonn Keane are both Irish actors and Sam Neil is a New Zealand actor who was born in Ireland.

Answer: Patrick Bergin

Dublin born Bergin began acting when he was a teenager at school. He left Dublin while still a teenager and focused mainly on theatre acting in London. He has a degree in drama and education and worked for a time as a teacher in his twenties. Although Bergin has worked consistently since the early eighties, his largest role was in "Sleeping with the Enemy" (1991) a thriller about a woman who escapes from an abusive husband only to later suspect that he has tracked her down.

He also starred in "Patriot Games" (1992) which features Harrison Ford as a CIA analyst who is targeted by renegade members of the IRA for foiling a terrorist attack while on holiday in England. Bergin plays Irish terrorist Kevin O'Donnell in the movie, one of only two Irish actors to take on roles. The movie was criticised as being 'anti Irish' and portraying 'the troubles' inaccurately, with rumours that a number of actors turned down roles for this reason.

Peter Caffrey, George Brent and Ciaran Hinds are all Irish born actors.

Answer: Aiden Gillen

Aiden Gillen was born and raised in Dublin and began acting at the age of 16. Born Aiden Murphy, his role as Stuart Allen Jones in "Queer as Folk" led to a nomination for Best Actor at the British Film and Television Awards in 2000.

"Queer as Folk" (1999), was a controversial television drama, the title for which is a play on both an English expression, commenting on the strangeness of people, and a derogatory term for gay people. It depicted the life of a group of gay men in Manchester, England in a very frank and adult manner. The original show ran for a single season with a two part follow up, but was adapted for American television where it ran for five seasons.

"The Wire" (2002) is a crime drama set in Baltimore, Maryland in which Gillen plays the role of the Mayor of Baltimore. Frank Grimes and Eoin McCarthy are Irish actors, and Andrew Strong is an Irish singer who acted in role of Deco Cuffe in "The Commitments" (1991) where he played the lead singer of a soul band of the same name.