Who Is Cillian Murphy’s Wife, Yvonne McGuinness?

CILLIAN MURPHY HAS starred in a rich and varied range of projects in his career, from the taut thriller Red Eye and horror cult classic 28 Days Later to his epic collaborations with director Christopher Nolan, which include Inception, Dunkirk, and of course Oppenheimer. On the small screen, he has also become synonymous with the role of Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders.

Following his magnetic central performance in Oppenheimer, for which he is nominated in the Best Actor category, Murphy’s career looks set to blow up even further, and will undoubtedly have his pick of Hollywood projects. Despite his success, however, the Irish actor has not let any of it go to his head—and he credits his wife, visual artist Yvonne McGuinness, with keeping him grounded.

They’ve been together nearly 30 years

Murphy first met McGuinness in 1996 when he and his brother Páidi were playing in a band, and she attended one of their shows. They have been together ever since, and shortly after when Murphy went on tour in Enda Walsh’s play Disco Pigs, McGuinness tagged along. “She came on tour with us,” he told the Guardian in 2016. “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.”

McGuinness is also Irish, and also in the creative industries; she is a visual artist. She holds a Master’s degree from the Royal College of Art in London, and her work encompasses film, sculpture, sound, and textiles. She has also made several short films.

They have two children together.

Murphy and McGuinness share two sons: 18-year-old Malachy, and 16-year-old Aran, who is following his father into acting. He has just been cast in the screen adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Klara and the Sun opposite Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams.

After residing in London for a long time, Murphy and McGuinness relocated their family to Dublin when their boys were young; Murphy told an interviewer they “wanted them to be Irish.” While Murphy rarely openly discusses his private life, he has spoken on numerous occasions about the importance of prioritizing his marriage in the midst of a busy career.

“That work-life-balance thing is hard,” he told GQ. “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.”