Con O'Neill

Con O'Neill, born Robert O'Neill on 15 August 1966 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, is an English actor who has worked extensively across theatre, film, and television. Born to Irish parents, he relocated with his family at age one to Parbold and grew up in the village of Up Holland, both located near Wigan in Lancashire. He attended St Peter's Roman Catholic High School in Wigan before beginning his acting career at Liverpool's Everyman Youth Theatre.

O'Neill's stage work brought him early recognition when he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1988 for his portrayal of Michael "Mickey" Johnstone in Willy Russell's Blood Brothers. When the production transferred to Broadway in 1993, he reprised the role and earned both a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for the same performance.

His screen career began in the 1980s with a walk-on role in One Summer, and expanded significantly with his lead role in Dancin' Thru the Dark, the 1990 film adaptation of Willy Russell's Stags and Hens. That same year he appeared in Amongst Barbarians, part of the BBC ScreenPlay series. In 1992, he played Cougar Glass in the world premiere of Philip Ridley's The Fastest Clock in the Universe. Subsequent television appearances included Moving Story, a comedy drama in which he played Nick, and a guest role as wheelchair user PC Ian LeFebre in a 1995 episode of Pie in the Sky. He had a supporting role in Cider with Rosie in 1998, and in 1999 starred in The Last Seduction II.

O'Neill portrayed Joe Meek in both the 2005 stage production and the 2008 film Telstar: The Joe Meek Story, and appeared in the five-part BBC drama Criminal Justice in 2008 as solicitor Ralph Stone. In 2011, he took on the role of dock worker Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, a performance that ran from 18 May to 25 June and earned him the 2011 Manchester Theatre Award for Best Actor. That same year he played Matty Snr in Bash Street, written and directed by Ed Deedigan. In 2012, he appeared as Dr. Bob Massey in an episode of Lewis.

His television work in the following years included the role of St. Paul in the 2013 miniseries The Bible, DCI Ferguson in Life of Crime, and Jim Caxton in a 2013 episode of Midsomer Murders. From 2014 to 2017, he played Val Pearson in the sitcom Uncle, and appeared as Cliff in the eight-part drama Cucumber. In 2015, he starred in the 35th-anniversary production of Willy Russell's Educating Rita at The Liverpool Playhouse. He appeared as Neil Ackroyd in the second and third series of Happy Valley, and in 2016 played Joe Brierley in the second series of Ordinary Lies and appeared in two episodes of the Doctor Who spin-off Class.

O'Neill portrayed plant director Viktor Bryukhanov in the 2019 HBO miniseries Chernobyl. In 2022 and 2023, he appeared in the HBO series Our Flag Means Death as the pirate Izzy Hands. He portrays Gotham City Police Department Chief Mackenzie Bock in The Batman (2022) and its follow-up television miniseries The Penguin (2024).