Colin Farrell

Colin James Farrell was born in Castleknock, a western suburb of Dublin on 31 May 1976, to Rita (née Monaghan) and Eamon Farrell. His father played football for Shamrock Rovers FC and ran a health food shop. Colin played for Castleknock Celtic FC, and the team was managed by his father. Colin's uncle, Tommy Farrell, also played for Shamrock Rovers. Colin has an older brother named Eamon Jr. and two sisters named Claudine (who now works as his personal assistant) and Catherine. Colin grew up Catholic and went to St. Brigid's National School, Castleknock, followed by the exclusive all-boys private school Castleknock College, and then Gormanston College in Gormanston Castle in County Meath. He unsuccessfully auditioned for the boy band Boyzone around that time.

Colin Farrell was inspired to try acting when Henry Thomas' performance in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) moved him to tears. With his brother's encouragement, he attended the Gaiety School of Acting, but dropped out when he was cast as Danny Byrne in the BBC drama Ballykissangel. While traveling in Sydney at the age of 18, Farrell became a suspect in an attempted murder case. The police sketch looked remarkably like him and he had even described blacking out during the night in question; his only alibi was that a friend journaled that the two had been taking MDMA on the other side of town that night.