John Lynch

A handsome, naturalistic British player of film, stage and TV, Lynch first gained notice with his heartfelt portrayal of a confused IRA terrorist who falls for an older woman (Helen Mirren), his victim's widow, in Pat O'Connor's "Cal" (1984). Prior to that success, he had studied at England's famed Central School of Speech and Drama. Lynch's subsequent film work generally has consisted of supporting roles. In Ken McMullen's "1871" (1990), he was an Irish expatriate in Paris caught between his love for an actress and his revolutionary causes. As Spencer in Derek Jarman's "Edward II" (1991), he was caught in the intrigue of 14th Century England. Lynch was Lord Craven, owner of the Gothic home Misselthwaite in "The Secret Garden" and was Paul Hill, an Irishman accused of a terrorist bombing in Jim Sheridan's "In the Name of the Father" (both 1993). He was featured in "Princess Cariboo" and portrayed the relative who explains the legend of the Selkie, a half-woman, half-seal (portrayed by his sister, actress Susan Lynch) in John Sayles' whimsical "The Secret of Roan Inish" (both 1994). Lynch co-starred in the award-winning Australian film "Angel Baby" (1995), and starred opposite Robin Wright in Pen Desham's "Moll Flanders" and as the real-life Irish Republican Army prisoner Bobby Sands whose story is the centerpiece of the fictional "Some Mother's Son" (both 1996).