Stephen Rea Height, Weight, Age, Body Statistics

Stephen Rea is an Irish actor who has been starring in numerous theater plays in Ireland and the United Kingdom since the early 1970s, but best known for the success he achieved with The Crying Game in 1992, where he starred as Fergus alongside Forest Whitaker. That role led him to be nominated for Academy Award (Oscar) in the “Best Actor in a Leading Role” category in 1993, and continue to work with the director of the film, Neil Jordan, on various other acting projects.

Stephen’s roles in Citizen X (1995) where he starred as Lt. Viktor Burakov in the lead role, and Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) alongside well-known actors such as Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, and Kirsten Dust also significantly marked his long career. Stephen had a recurring role of a character named Inspector Bucket in the Dickensian TV series from 2015 to 2016, and notable roles in movies such as in V for Vendetta (2005), and Black ’47 and Greta, both in 2018.

Born Name

Graham Rea

Nick Name

Graham, Stephen

Sun Sign

Scorpio

Born Place

Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Residence

Dublin, Ireland

Nationality

Education

Stephen attended Belfast High School, and then went to Queen’s University Belfast, where he studied the English language and was later given an honorary degree.

Later on, he enrolled into Abbey Theatre School in Dublin, Ireland, in order to study drama.

Occupation

Actor

Family

• Father – (Bus Driver)
• Mother – (Housewife)

Manager

Stephen Rea is represented by –

• Independent Talent Group (Talent Agent), London, England, United Kingdom
• ICM Partners (Talent Agent), Los Angeles, California, United States
• Barking Dog Entertainment, New York, United States

Build

Slim

Height

5 ft 10.5 in or 179 cm

Weight

72 kg or 159 lbs

Girlfriend / Spouse

Stephen has dated –

1. Dolours Price (1983-2003) – He met Dolours Price, a former IRA (Irish Republican Army) bomber at some point before 1983, when they got married. They have 2 sons as a result of their marriage, Danny Rea, who was born in 1988, and Oscar Rea, who was born 2 years later, in 1990. The pair divorced in 2003, and Dolours passed away on January 13, 2013, but Stephen held her coffin at the funeral out of respect and love.

Race / Ethnicity

White

He is of Irish descent.

Hair Color

Black

Due to advancing age, his hair has turned ‘Salt and Pepper’.

Eye Color

Hazel

Sexual Orientation

Straight

Distinctive Features

• Long curly hair
• Unique eye color
• Thin, long nose
• Tall, slim physique

Brand Endorsements

Stephen hasn’t endorsed any brands yet, but became a UNICEF Ireland ambassador in 2005, and met children in Syria, Mozambique, and other war or disease-torn countries.

Religion

Non-religious

Best Known For

• Playing the character of Fergus in The Crying Game (1992)
• Starring as Finch in V for Vendetta (2005)
• Having a prominent role of Santiago in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
• Starring in Citizen X (1995) as Lt. Viktor Burakov
• Having a recurring role of Inspector Bucket in Dickensian TV series in 2015 and 2016

First Film

Stephen made his theatrical film debut as a villager in a movie Cry of the Banshee in 1970.

First TV Show

Stephen made his TV show debut as Pepe Costa in a drama show, Crossroads, in 1964.

Stephen Rea Favorite Things

• Piece Of Technology – Car, Robots
• Computer – Macintosh
• Song – A Man Needs a Maid by Neil Young

Source – The Guardian

Stephen Rea Facts

1. Best known for acting in Focus Company, a theatre in Dublin, Ireland, alongside Colm  Meaney and Gabriel Byrne, 2 other well-known Irish actors, during the late 1970s.
2. Stephen helped establish Field Day Theatre Company in 1980 with Brian Friel, Tom Paulin, Seamus Deane, and Seamus Heaney.
3. He became good friends with an actor Sam Shepard in early 1970s and was later seen in Sam’s directorial debut at the Royal Court Theatre in the play titled Geography of a Horse Dreamer (1974). Stephen also starred in Kicking a Dead Horse (2007) and Ages of the Moon (2009), both written by Sam.
4. His wife, Dolours Price, was a critic of Sinn Féin, a left-wing Irish republican political party. Stephen was hired to read the words of Gerry Adams, the leader of the Sinn Féin party between 1988 and 1994 when they were banned from broadcasting.
5. Stephen appeared at the RTE Radio 1 show in April 2012 in order to read a short story titled The Dead, written by James Joyce, who was an Irish novelist and short-story writer. On June 16, 2012, he narrated the audio production created by BBC Radio 4 for Ulysses, a novel also written by James.
6. Stephen starred in a thriller film Out of the Dark in 2014 alongside Scott Speedman and Julia Stiles.
7. He was nominated for the Tony Award in 1993, for his role in Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, a Broadway play by Frank McGuinness.
8. Stephen was supposed to star in Blown Away (1994) as Gaerity, alongside Jeff Bridges, but Tommy Lee Jones was cast in the role instead.
9. Rae was offered a role in Flight of the Phoenix (2004) with well-known actors such as Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Miranda Otto, Hugh Laurie, and Jared Padalecki, but ultimately passed it in favor of other projects.
10. He won the BAFTA Award for the TV series The Shadow Line (2011) where he appeared as an antagonist named Gatehouse, as well as for The Honourable Woman (2014) where he starred as Sir Hugh Hayden-Hoyle. Both series premiered on the BBC channel and were based on the idea and screenplay by Hugo Blick, a well-known television writer.
11. Stephen was credited as “idea by” in the movie The Break (1997), originally called A Further Gesture, where he had the lead role of Sean Dowd, an IRA member who escaped prison and tried to avoid the cops that were after him.
12. He received an honorary degree from the North Ireland-based Ulster University in 2004.
13. Stephen starred in a play titled Endgame at the Royal Court Theater in 1976. The play was written by Samuel Beckett, a 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, and Stephen reported listening to his instructions carefully, as he was young and nervous. In addition, he was cast in the role of Clov after Jack MacGowran, the original actor who was Samuel’s favorite, died of influenza unexpectedly.
14. He starred in a fantasy-horror film Underworld Awakening (2012) as Dr. Jacob Lane, alongside well-known Hollywood actors Kate Beckinsale, Michael Ealy, India Eisley, and Theo James.
15. He is not on social media.

Featured Image by Financial Times / YouTube