Yvonne McGuinness and Cillian Murphy Make a Rare Public Appearance Together at the Oscars

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Cillian Murphy, star of Oppenheimer, has at least one thing in common with one of his Barbie counterparts; like Ryan Gosling, he is very private about his relationship. Before this awards season, Murphy and his wife, Yvonne McGuinness, have only been photographed together in public once, in August 2014.

McGuinness and Murphy had a rare date night at the 2024 Oscars:

"That work-life-balance thing is hard," Murphy said in 2019. "I have an amazing wife and I couldn't do this without her and her understanding. But it is a struggle. I think it is for any dad whose work takes him away, which it generally does, and which consumes him, which my work does."

To keep life normal, he says, he's home at least six months a year. "I make sure that I try not to go from job to job to job, because that means you live in a bubble of set, hotel, set, hotel, plane, film festivals — which, to me, is not reality," he explains.

Here, get to know Murphy's wife, Yvonne McGuiness.

McGuiness is Irish.

Like Murphy, McGuiness is Irish. She's from Kilkenny, Ireland, and studied at Cork Institute of Technology and got her master's degree from the Royal College of Art in London. Her uncle, Jim McGuinness, is an Irish politician, according to the Irish Mirror. He's a Fianna Fáil politician for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency.

Murphy and McGuiness met in the 90s.

"That time, making Disco Pigs, was kind of the most important period of my life," Murphy explained. "The people I met there remain my closest friends … They shaped me in terms of my tastes, in terms of what I wanted to do with my life. And it was around the same time I met my wife. She came on tour with us. It was so exciting, 20 years ago or whatever it was—we were all just kids, trying to find our way—but such a special, special time."

They married in 2004.

Murphy and McGuiness tied the knot in 2004, reportedly at her father's vineyard, Domaine des Anges in Provence, France. "The vineyard was under-capitalised and my then partner and I, having seen the place, decided to become involved in it," McGuiness's father Gay said in 2002. "Steadily from that point on, our involvement grew more and more until, ultimately, we bought the vineyard out around 1986 or 1987. Then around 1990 I bought my partner out."

He added, "I had a general interest in wine though I hadn't and still don't have a great knowledge of wine. I like drinking wine, I know a little about it, but that's it. I was interested in the fact that it was totally different from anything I'd done before. And it's a very beautiful place." It's unclear if he still owns the vineyard.

They have two teenage sons.

Murphy and McGuiness they have two sons: Malachy, born 2005, and Aran, born 2007. They were first living in London, but then decided to raise their kids in Dublin, Ireland, to be close to their family and their grandparents. "We wanted them to be Irish, I suppose," he said. "It's amazing how quickly their accents have adapted. Even within a year of moving back, they are fading into this rakish west Brit kind of thing. Which I think, hopefully, will get them lots of girls when they're 15."

McGuiness is an artist.

Here's a description of the type of art she makes, via her website: "her work encompasses film, performance, sculptural and textile elements, sound and writing. She has an interest in embodied experience of place and belonging by staging live, public, interventions and performances which create surreal and dynamic moments of interaction and connection to place, time and communities. This is immersive work, which is collaborative and generally temporary. Her film installation work often reconstructs the documentation of these performances for gallery contexts."

She has an Instagram, @ymcprojects, but it's private.

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