Who Is Yvonne McGuinness, Cillian Murphy’s Wife of 20 Years?
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Cillian Murphy had a momentous 2023, thanks to his acclaimed performance as the titular nuclear physicist in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which has thus far earned him a Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award, and an Oscar nomination. But despite the Irish actor’s status as one of the biggest movie stars working in Hollywood today, not much is known about his decades-long marriage to visual artist Yvonne McGuinness.
The two have been married since 2004 and have always kept a tight lid on information about their personal family life.
“That work-life balance thing is hard,” the actor previously told GQ of his unique career demands. “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.”
Ahead, we break down everything we know about McGuinness, from her career to how she first met the Peaky Blinders star.
She is a visual artist.
The Irish-born artist has worked within various mediums across “film, performance, sculptural and textile elements, sound and writing,” according to her website. Her immersive work focuses on the “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.”
Recent exhibitions include Rehearsals (2023), a work of film that contends with her family's legacy of political and civic engagement in her hometown of Kilkenny, and The Well (2018), a live public performance inspired by the 19th-century murder of Bridget Cleary.
She met Cillian before he became famous.
McGuinness and Murphy first met when he joined the production of Disco Pigs, a 1996 play that ended up being adapted into a 2001 film.
Murphy reflected on the breakout role in a 2016 interview with the Guardian.
“It was like being in a band again. Except that people actually came to the shows,” he said. “That time, making Disco Pigs, was kind of the most important period of my life. The people I met there remain my closest friends. Enda Walsh. Pat Kiernan [its director]. Eileen Walsh [his co-star]. They shaped me in terms of my tastes, in terms of what I wanted to do with my life.”
He added, “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 share two sons.
The couple have two sons together: Malachy, 18, and Aran, 16. Aran will soon make his feature film debut, having recently been cast in Taika Waititi's adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun. The movie will also star Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams.
They live in Dublin.
Although the pair lived in London for years, they ultimately decided to move their family to Dublin, Ireland.
“I loved living in London in my 20s and 30s, but after a while you kind of go, ‘Right, is this it? Is this it for the rest of my days? Or is there some other possibility?’” Murphy explained in his interview with the Guardian. Their sons influenced their decision, he adds: “We wanted them to be Irish, I suppose. 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.”
Cillian credits Yvonne for keeping him grounded.
In a 2005 interview with People, the actor praised his wife for keeping his head on his shoulders amid the pressures of Hollywood. “It’s very important to have somebody like that,” he told the outlet. “My life hasn’t changed in any way, really. I still have the same friends and we go to the same places.”
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