John Kavanagh is one of Ireland's underrated character actors, with a career spanning multiple decades and numerous film and television appearances alongside a diverse range of actors.
Kavanagh began his career in the 1970s, starting with a small role in the Irish comedy Paddy (1970),followed by a minor part in the World War II film The McKenzie Break (1970).
The next twelve years were quiet for Kavanagh, during which he continued to act on stage, before returning to screen acting with the theatrical film The Ballroom of Romance (1982),opposite actress Brenda Fricker.
This was followed by the small film Attracta (1983),and the made-for-television movie The Country Girls (1983),starring Sam Neill.
Kavanagh's next significant role was in the Irish film Cal (1984),starring Helen Mirren and John Lynch, which tells the story of a young IRA member who seeks to leave the organization and begins a love affair with the widow of one of its victims.
In the following years, Kavanagh appeared in a range of films and television series, including the action film The Joyriders (1999),the crime drama Bellman and True (1987),the independent film In the Border Country (1991),and the thriller The Fantasist (1986),among others.
Kavanagh's career experienced a resurgence in the mid-1990s, during which he acted alongside established actors such as Mia Farrow and Jim Broadbent in the John Irvin film Widows' Peak (1994).
He also guest-starred in the Sharpe series, playing the role of Father Michael Curtis, and appeared in the epic film Braveheart (1995),directed by Mel Gibson and starring Angus Macfadyen and Brendan Gleeson.
Kavanagh continued to act in films throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, including the prison drama Some Mother's Son (1996),the historical epic Alexander (2004),and the murder film The Black Dahlia (2006).
More recently, Kavanagh has appeared in the television series The Tudors (2007),starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, which tells the story of England's turmoil during the reign of Henry the Eighth.
