Scotland At The Movies

23 March 2009, 17:38

Place Of Birth: Peterhead
Date Of Birth: November 2 1959
Lives: London
Status: Mullan's partner is human rights campaigner Robina Qureshi. The couple had their first baby in May 2008

Mullan, the fifth of eight children, was born in Peterhead, before his family moved to Mosspark on the south side of Glasgow. 

An alcoholic and latterly a sufferer from lung cancer, Mullan's father became increasingly tyrannical and abusive. When he was fourteen, Peter tried to poison him with sleeping pills. 

For a brief period, Mullan was a member of a street gang while at high school, and worked as a bouncer in a number of rough south-side pubs. His father died on the day Peter started his studies in economic history and drama at the Glasgow University.

At University, Mullan began acting, and continued stage acting after graduation. He had roles in several Scottish films, including Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Braveheart, and a supporting role in Ken Loach's Riff-Raff. 

He also began to work as a writer and director, producing the short films Close, Good Day for the Bad Guys, and Fridge. His first full-length film Orphans won an award at the Venice Film Festival.

Mullan's appearance in Loach's 1998 film My Name Is Joe, portraying a recovering alcoholic wrestling with his demons, won him the best actor prize at celtic awards the Cannes Film Festival. 

In 2002 he returned to directing and screenwriting with the controversial film The Magdalene Sisters, based on life in an Irish Magdalene Asylum. For that movie Mullan won a Golden Lion award from the Venice Film Festival. 

In 2004, he starred in On a Clear Day and Criminal. In 2006 he featured in Children of Men, a thriller directed by Alfonso Cuarón. In 2007, he played a prominent role in the Channel 4 adaptation of Boy A, and will star as the Irish freedom fighter James Connolly in the upcoming movie Connolly. 

He currently co-stars in the ITV crime drama The Fixer. Mullan also had a short stint in a bbc childrens program called Shoebox Zoo in which he played a wizard.

Last updated: 23 March 2009, 17:59