Paul Mescal

Paul Mescal is the Irish actor whose strong run of dramatic roles led up to his 2023 Oscar nomination for the 2022 drama Aftersun. As a teen, Paul Mescal moved to Dublin to study at the Lir Academy, the drama school that's part of Trinity College. After graduating in 2017 with a bachelor of arts in acting, he plunged into the theater scene in Dublin and London, taking roles in high-profile productions of The Great Gatsby, The Plough and Stars, and The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Soon he was making a bigger splash on television, with a leading role in the BBC's 12-part miniseries Normal People (2020). Mescal starred with Daisy Edgar-Jones as a couple navigating a difficult romance over years in secondary school and college. Blue-eyed and a bit scruffy, Mescal employed what Empire magazine called his "crooked charisma" to maximum effect, earning good reviews and a legion of female fans. In 2022 he had major roles in two gloomy dramas. In God's Creatures he played a not-very-nice Irishman accused of sexual assault. In Aftersun, a coming-of-age drama, he played a depressed and struggling Scotsman, the father of an 11-year-old girl with whom he vacations in Turkey. His work in Aftersun earned him nominations as best actor in a leading role for both the BAFTAs and the Academy Awards.