Birdy Sweeney

Acting

Birdy Sweeney

Born June 14, 1931

Died May 11, 1999 · aged 67

Birdy Sweeney was an Irish actor best remembered for his regular role in TV drama Ballykissangel. His name came from his uncanny ability to mimic birdsong.

Known For

Angela's AshesAngela's Ashes · 1999
Angela's Ashes
★ 7.31999
MovieDrama
An Irish Catholic family returns to 1930s Limerick after a child's death in America. The unemployed I.R.A. veteran father struggles with poverty, prejudice, and alcoholism as the family endures harsh slum conditions.
The Crying GameThe Crying Game · 1992
The Crying Game
★ 6.81992
MovieCrimeDrama
Irish Republican Army member Fergus forms an unexpected bond with Jody, a kidnapped British soldier in his custody, despite the warnings of fellow IRA members Jude and Maguire. Jody makes Fergus promise he'll visit his girlfriend, Dil, in London, and when Fergus flees to the city, he seeks her out. Hounded by his former IRA colleagues, he finds himself increasingly drawn to the enigmatic, and surprising, Dil.
Space TruckersSpace Truckers · 1996
Space Truckers
★ 5.51996
MovieComedyScience Fiction
John Canyon is one of the last independent space transport entrepreneurs. Rough times force him to carry suspicious cargo to Earth without questions being asked. During the flight the cargo turns out to be a multitude of unstoppable killer robots.
DowntimeDowntime · 1997
Downtime
★ 7.01997
MovieThriller
Ex-police psychologist Rob has plenty of problems of his own. Having retired through ill health, he is quite aware that he is not the best person to talk down suicidal single mother Chrissy when she threatens to throw herself off a Newcastle tower block. Rob is, however, the only person available, so he sets about helping Chrissy to overcome her fears, unexpectedly confronting several of his personal demons along the way.
The Butcher BoyThe Butcher Boy · 1998
The Butcher Boy
★ 6.81998
MovieComedyDrama
Francie and Joe live the usual playful, fantasy filled childhoods of normal boys. However, with a violent, alcoholic father and a manic depressive, suicidal mother the pressure on Francie to grow up are immense. When Francie's world turns to madness, he tries to counter it with further insanity, with dire consequences.
Reefer and the ModelReefer and the Model · 1988
Reefer and the Model
★ 5.41988
MovieDramaAdventure
Comerford’s signature sharp realism infuses this drama about Reefer, an ex-IRA man who picks up hitch-hiker Teresa, a pregnant woman trying to overcome a drug addiction. They head to the trawler where he lives with friends Spider and Badger, that operates between Galway and the Aran Islands. The makeshift family are forced to turn to crime to make a living.
The SnapperThe Snapper · 1993
The Snapper
★ 6.51993
MovieComedyDrama
Sharon Curley is a 20-year-old living with her parents and many brothers and sisters in Dublin. When she gets pregnant and refuses to name the father, she becomes the talk of the town.
Divorcing JackDivorcing Jack · 1998
Divorcing Jack
★ 6.01998
MovieComedyRomance
He's Irish, he's ageing, he drinks, is a touch cynical and when he has time writes a newspaper column. On the eve of the country's first election as an independent state, Dan Starkey's life is about to change after he finds the young woman he has just made love to dead and his only ally is a nun

Filmography

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The Hanging GaleThe Hanging Gale · 1995
The Hanging Gale
★ 5.81995
SeriesDrama
The Hanging Gale is a four-episode television serial which first aired on RTÉ One and BBC1 in 1995. The series was a British–Irish co-production, made by Little Bird Films for BBC Northern Ireland in association with Raidió Teilifís Éireann, with support from the Irish Film Board. The serial, set in 1846 at the beginning of Ireland's Great Famine, starred the four McGann brothers: Joe McGann, Paul McGann, Mark McGann and Stephen McGann, and was based on an original idea by Joe and Stephen McGann while researching their family's history. The title of the series comes from the term 'hanging gale', the name for a widespread practice in Ireland at the time, where a landlord would allow new tenants a six-month grace period on payment of their rent, with the expectation that the rent owed would be paid when the land's crops were harvested and sold.

Patrick Dolan