Patrick George "Paddy" Considine (born 5 September 1973) is an English actor, film director, screenwriter, and musician. He has played a number of dark, troubled, and morally or mentally ambiguous characters. Considine frequently collaborates with Shane Meadows. He has starred in films such as In America, Dead Man's Shoes, The Cry of the Owl, Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End.Considine came to prominence in the early 2000s with a string of performances in independent films that prompted the Observer to describe him as "the best-kept secret in British movies". In addition to leading and supporting roles in Hollywood films, he has acted in independent British films and television shows. He wrote and directed Tyrannosaur, a 2011 film based on his directorial debut, the 2007 short film Dog Altogether. He had acted in and written several music videos, most notably the Arctic Monkeys video for "Leave Before the Lights Come On".Considine has received an Evening Standard British Film Award, Empire Award, and Thessaloniki Film Festival Awards, as well as eight other award nominations for his acting. He has also won a BAFTA Award, British Independent Film Award, Silver Lion at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, and the Seattle International Film Festival Short Film Jury Award (Narrative Special Jury Prize) for his short film Dog Altogether. He won a second BAFTA Award, British Independent Film Award, and a World Cinema Directing Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for Tyrannosaur.
I just started working with a guy called Martin Ledwith who's an acting coach and we just started breaking it down and looking at why I thought some parts of my performances didn't work and then we looked at other great performances by other actors and just started to build it up from there.
2
It is a craft. We laugh at actors but it is a craft.
3
I talked to kids that had come out of acting schools and they would say to me that they learned nothing, and then I'd watch them doing their stuff and go: "No, I don't believe you, I believe that there is something that you did learn." It's quite rock'n'roll to say "I went to college and didn't learn anything" but they had some experience that I didn't have.
4
[about why he switched from acting to directing] I was just fed up with the low-budget British film - getting a hand-held camera, swinging it around, improvising..That whole technique got bastardized to death. I'm sick of seeing it. I wanted to make a movie.
5
[on Rocky (1976)] We have a story of an underdog told in a cinematic way. People see this movie now and they think he wins because his personal victory is so large. But you have to remember that in that first 'Rocky', Rocky lost. And that's why I love it. It's a movie about a loser, but one who is redeemed all the same.
6
I worry. I worry we're losing our humanity. That's why I feel a need to explore these people. There has to be some sort of redemption, some resolution. I have to believe that. Otherwise life is just a series of bad events.
7
We have to accept the hurt and the misery as real. It's all around us, and you can be watching the evening news one night, telling you about a lady who was beaten to death, and then they try to cheer you up at the end with the shot of a dog on a surfboard. I find this offensive.
8
[on Tyrannosaur (2011)] People put on different masks. They put on a different face to the world in order to cope. It's a strange manipulation. They are out there and they are ignored because the circumstances that created them are ignored.
9
Actors are all different, we've all got different motors.
10
It's all about cutting your teeth. I would hate to be thrust into the middle of a big film and not deliver. There's young actors and they're put into these central roles and they're commanding armies - but they can't quite pull it off. I'd much rather do it in small steps and build it from there. But at least now, for me, when they're casting movies in America, the big question is, "Can he do an American accent?" Well, that's answered now. He can do one, he can do a Thirties New Yorker.
#
Fact
1
Has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.
2
His Bafta victories and nominations came only from films he directed rather than for his acting roles. He won the award as Best Film Debut for Tyrannosaur (2011) and Best Short Film for Dog Altogether (2007).
3
Comes from a family with 6 children.
4
First son with wife Shelley is Joseph.
5
Grew up in Winshill, just outside Burton-on-Trent.
6
His father died from cancer one week before filming began for 'In America.'
7
Worked as a photographer before turning to acting full-time
$100,000
