- 2009: Portrayed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the HBO movie "Into the Storm"
- 2008: Co-starred with Colin Farrell as Irish contract killers in "In Bruges"
- 2008: Nominated for the 2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy ("In Bruges")
- 2007: Reprised role of Mad-Eye Moody for "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
- 2007: Co-starred in Robert Zemeckis' "Beowulf," which was filmed using a special technique of motion capture
- 2005: Cast opposite Orlando Bloom in Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven"
- 2005: Portrayed Alastor 'MadEye' Mood in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," adapted from the fourth book in the fantasy series by J.K. Rowling and directed by Mike Newell
- 2005: Played a hard-drinking Irish emigrant opposite Cillian Murphy in Neil Jordan's "Breakfast on Pluto"
- 2004: Cast as Spartan king Menelaus in director Wolfgang Petersen's epic "Troy"
- 2004: Starred in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village"
- 2003: Cast in director Anthony Minghella's film adaptation of the novel "Cold Mountain"
- 2003: Played a corrupt police official in the Los Angeles cop drama "Dark Blue"
- 2003: Appeared in director Danny Boyle's post-modern zombie thriller "28 Days Later"
- 2002: Cast in Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York"
- 2001: Co-starred in "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," helmed by Steven Spielberg
- 2001: Re-teamed with Boorman to play a drunken revolutionary in "The Tailor of Panama"
- 2000: Co-starred with Brian Cox in "Salt Water"; adapted from McPherson's play "This Lime Tree Bower"
- 2000: Had featured role in "Mission: Impossible II" starring Tom Cruise
- 1998: Had title role of Irish criminal Martin Cahill in John Boorman's "The General"
- 1997: Portrayed a dimwitted, low-level criminal in "I Went Down"; directed by Paddy Breathnach and scripted by Conor McPherson
- 1995: Played the sidekick to Mel Gibson's William Wallace in "Braveheart"
- 1995: Acted in the TNT adaptation of "Kidnapped"
- 1990: Made feature acting debut in Jim Sheridan's "The Field"
- Worked as a schoolteacher for nearly ten years while acting in semi-professional and professional productions




