36 Facts About Paul Mescal

Paul Mescal rose to fame with his role in the miniseries Normal People, earning a BAFTA TV Award and a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.

Paul Mescal's starring roles as a troubled father in Aftersun and a mysterious neighbour in All of Us Strangers earned him nominations for BAFTA Film Awards in addition to a nomination for an Academy Award for the former.

Paul Mescal received a Laurence Olivier Award for his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in a 2022 revival of the play A Streetcar Named Desire.

Paul Mescal expanded to big-budget films with a leading role in the historical action film Gladiator II.

Paul Colm Michael Mescal was born on 2 February 1996 in Maynooth, County Kildare, to Dearbhla, a Garda, and Paul, a schoolteacher who acted semi-professionally.

Paul Mescal performed on stage for the first time at age 16, portraying the eponymous Phantom in the musical The Phantom of the Opera, after which he auditioned and gained admission to The Lir Academy at Trinity College Dublin.

Paul Mescal graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in acting in 2017.

Paul Mescal secured agents for his acting career prior to his graduation.

Paul Mescal portrayed the Prince in a contemporary retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes at the same theatre that year.

Paul Mescal appeared in the world premiere of the 2018 play Asking for It by Louise O'Neill, co-produced by Landmark Productions and The Everyman in Cork.

Paul Mescal starred in his first television role in the drama miniseries Normal People, an adaptation of the 2018 novel of the same name by Sally Rooney.

Paul Mescal played student Connell Waldron; he viewed the role as different from himself in the way Waldron's traits include hesitance and emotional unavailability.

Paul Mescal earned acclaim as well as the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for his performance.

Paul Mescal starred in Drifting, a short film, which was screened at the 2020 Galway Film Fleadh.

Paul Mescal made his feature film debut with a supporting role in The Lost Daughter, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal in her directorial debut.

Paul Mescal received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the latter.

Paul Mescal starred in Carmen, which premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and was theatrically released in 2023.

IndieWire's David Ehrlich said that Paul Mescal asserts his "gravitas" and "poise" playing a veteran of the US military.

Paul Mescal portrayed Stanley Kowalski in a revival of the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams at the Almeida Theatre beginning in December 2022.

Paul Mescal won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for the role.

In 2023, Paul Mescal starred alongside Andrew Scott in All of Us Strangers, a loose adaptation of the novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada.

Paul Mescal pursued the project as he was keen to play a "vivacious" and "front-footed" character for the first time in his career.

Paul Mescal starred opposite Saoirse Ronan in Foe, an adaptation of Iain Reid's science fiction novel of the same name; the film was not well received by critics.

In 2024, Paul Mescal was honoured by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with the Vantage Award, for emerging artists.

Paul Mescal expanded to big-budget films with his starring role in Gladiator II, Ridley Scott's sequel to the 2000 historical drama, taking over the role played in childhood by Spencer Treat Clark.

In preparation, Paul Mescal practiced strength training, fight choreography, horse training, and sword fighting for six months.

Slant Magazines Jake Cole wrote, "Paul Mescal gives a performance that recalls Russell Crowe's no-nonsense Maximus from Gladiator, right down to speaking in some of the same cadences and inflections".

Paul Mescal replaced Blake Jenner in the lead role of composer Franklin Shepard in Richard Linklater's Merrily We Roll Along, a film adaptation of the 1981 musical of the same name, which is set to be filmed over 20 years.

Paul Mescal moved from his native Ireland to London in 2020.

Paul Mescal was in a relationship with American singer Phoebe Bridgers for approximately two years, until December 2022.

Paul Mescal appeared in Bridgers' music video for the song "Savior Complex", directed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and provided backing vocals for Bridgers' cover of "So Much Wine", originally by The Handsome Family.

Paul Mescal is open about seeing a therapist, which he says is "to keep sane".

Paul Mescal has said that fans should not feel entitled to know about his personal life and that he is not comfortable inviting any access into that part of his life.

Since 2024, Paul Mescal has been in a relationship with American singer and songwriter Gracie Abrams.

Paul Mescal plays the piano and has performed covers of songs with his sister, singer Nell Paul Mescal.

Paul Mescal participated in a virtual stage reading of the play This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan as part of a series benefiting the Actors Fund of America charity in October 2020.