John Lynch (born 26 December 1961) is an actor and novelist from Northern Ireland. He won the AACTA Awards Award for Best Actor for his performance in Angel Baby (1995). His notable screen credits include Cal, The Secret Garden, In the Name of the Father, Sliding Doors, the television series The Fall, Medici, The Head, The Banishing, and Blue Lights. Lynch is also the author of the novels Torn Water and Falling Out of Heaven.

Early life Lynch was born in England to an Irish father, Fin Lynch, and an Italian mother, Rosina Pavone, better known as Rose. His mother was from Trivento, a town in the Province of Campobasso in Molise, Southern Italy. His parents met in London, where his mother was a teacher. He is the eldest of five siblings, all of whom were raised as Catholics.

In 1968, when he was seven years old, his family moved to the townland of Corrinshego, where his father was from, in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Corrinshego, where he spent the rest of his childhood and teenage years, is on the western outskirts of Newry.Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television, vol 52 (2003), Gale, Detroit Lynch later attended St. Colman's College in Newry. He began acting in Irish language plays at school during the early years of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. His sister Susan Lynch and his nephew Thomas Finnegan are also actors.

Career Lynch has appeared in numerous films related to Northern Ireland's history and the Troubles in particular. These include Cal (1984) with Helen Mirren, for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, The Railway Station Man (1992) with Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, In the Name of the Father (1993) with Daniel Day-Lewis, Nothing Personal (1995) and Some Mother's Son (1996), also with Mirren, as well as the Irish-themed film Evelyn (2002). In Some Mother's Son, he played the role of Irish Republican hunger strike leader Bobby Sands.

He was a supporting actor in Derek Jarman's Edward II (1991), as Lord Craven in Agnieska Holland's film The Secret Garden (1993), as Tadhg in The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), and as Gerry in Sliding Doors (1998).

Lynch played the lead in the Australian feature Angel Baby, winning the Australian Film Institute award for best leading actor and the Australian Film Critics award for best actor of 1995. He was nominated for a Satellite Film Award for the film Moll Flanders in 1996. He worked with acclaimed Belgian director Marion Hänsel on her adaptation of Booker Prize-nominated author Damon Galgut's novel, The Quarry (also known as La Faille; 1998), which won Best Film at the Montreal World Film Festival. Lynch played the part of football legend George Best in the 2000 film Best. He won Best Actor for his role in Best at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival in 2000. He wrote and co-produced the film.

In 2005, Lynch was nominated for an IFTA for his role in The Baby War. He starred in Five Day Shelter as Stephen, which won a European Film Award and was in competition at the Rome Film Festival. In 2011, he played the lead in Craig Vivieros' first feature film, the prison drama Ghosted. He played the role of Wollfstan in Black Death, and appeared in the 2012 film version of Michael Morpurgo's novel, Private Peaceful.

Lynch is also a novelist. His first novel, Torn Water, was published in November 2005 by 4th Estate, a literary imprint of HarperCollins. His second, Falling Out of Heaven, was released in May 2010 by the same publisher.

Personal life Lynch married film-maker Mary McGuckian in 1997, having met her on the set of Words Upon the Window Pane a few years earlier. They separated in 2008 and later divorced.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1984 Cal Cal 1990 Hardware Shades 1871 O'Brien 1991 Edward II Spencer 1992 The Railway Station Man Damian Sweeney1993 The Secret Garden Lord Craven In the Name of the Father Paul Hill1994 The Secret of Roan Inish Tadhg Coneelly Princess Caraboo Amon McCarthy Words Upon the Window Pane John Corbet1995 Angel Baby Harry Nothing Personal Liam 1996 Some Mother's Son Bobby Sands Moll Flanders Jonathan (the Artist) Nominated Best Supporting Actor - Satellite Awards 1997 This Is the Sea Padhar McAliskey 1998 Sliding Doors Gerry The Quarry The Man 2000 Best George Best 2002 Puckoon O'Brien Re-Inventing Eddie Eddie Harris Evelyn Senior Counsel Mr. Wolfe2003 Conspiracy of Silence Father Matthew Francis Alien Hunter Dr. Michael Straub 2004 The Bridge of San Luis Rey Captain Alvarado2005 Isolation Dan Lassie Sam Carraclough 2008 In Transit Yakov2009 Holy Water Tom Gaffney Later renamed Hard Times The Tournament Gene Walker2010 Five Day Shelter Stephen Black Death Wolfstan Night Wolf McRae Also known as 13Hrs 2011 Ghosted Jack2012 The Hot Potato Bill Private Peaceful Sergeant Hanley 2013 Möbius Joshua 2014 The Hybrid Powell2016 Detour Frank Alleycats Redman Upstream Sean2017 Pilgrimage Brother Ciarán Kissing Candice Donal Number One Gary Adams 2018 Paul, Apostle of Christ Aquila 2020 Boys from County Hell George Bogue 2021 The Banishing Malachi2024 Sew Torn Hudson Armitage The Watchers Professor Rory Kilmartin

Television Year Title Role Notes 1988 The Modern World: Ten Great Writers Stephen Dedalus Documentary 1990 Who Bombed Birmingham? IRA man in cottage Television film 1990–1991 Making Out Gavin 6 episodes1991 Shrinks Kevin Saunders Episode #1.2 All Good Things Vincent Gibney 6 episodes Chimera Peter Carson 4 episodes The Play on One Rudy Episode: "Out of the Blue"1993 Peak Practice Father Davey Episode: "Impulsive Behavior" The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Sean O'Casey Episode: "Ireland, April 1916" 2001 The Seventh Stream Tomas Dunhill Television film 2002 Boston Public Jerry Episode: "Chapter Thirty-One"2005 The Baby War Pierce O'Carroll Television film Bleak House Nemo 2 episodes2007 The Yellow House Paul Gauguin Television film Spooks Davie King Episode: "Isolated"2008 Trial & Retribution Gary Webster Episode: "Kill the King: Part 1" The Passion Sagan 4 episodes 2009, 2012 Merlin Balinor 2 episodes2010 Silent Witness Tom Flannery 2 episodes Mo Gerry Adams Television film The Nativity Gabriel 3 episodesThe Nativity, BBC, November 2010; retrieved 21 December 2010.2011 Vera Edmund Fulwell Episode: "The Crow Trap" The Jury Alan Lane 5 episodes 2012 Labyrinth Simon de Montfort Miniseries; 2 episodes 2013 Crossing Lines Frankie Episode: "The Terminator" 2013–2016 The Fall Assistant Chief Constable Jim Burns 17 episodes2014 The Musketeers Luca Sestini Episode: "A Rebellious Woman" Shetland Frank Blake 2 episodes S2 E5; E6 The Assets Vitaly Yurchenko 4 episodes 2015 The Trials of Jimmy Rose DI Steve McIntyre 3 episodes 2016 One of Us Bill Douglas 4 episodes 2018 The Terror John Bridgens 5 episodes2019 Tin Star Pastor Johan Nickel 7 episodes Harlots Jonas Young Episode #3.1 Medici Pope Sixtus IV 3 episodes 2020–2022 The Head Arthur Wilde Main role 2023 Blue Lights James McIntyre 6 episodes

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result British Academy Film Awards BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer To Film Cal Australian Film Institute Awards AFI Best Actor in a Lead RoleAngel Baby Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Actor - Male Satellite Awards Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Moll Flanders Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Jury Award for Best Actor Best IFTA Film & Drama Awards Best Supporting Actor in Television The Baby War

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