CIARÁN
HINDS

Ciarán Hinds is an Irish actor born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 9 February 1953. His long career has taken him from theatre companies in Britain and Ireland to film and television productions around the world.

Hinds studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began his professional career at Glasgow Citizens Theatre. His stage work later included Peter Brook’s The Mahabharata and productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre.

Among his screen roles is Captain Wentworth in Persuasion (1995), adapted from Jane Austen’s novel. On television he played Julius Caesar in Rome and Mance Rayder in Game of Thrones, moving between literary adaptation and large historical or fantasy worlds.

He also played Aberforth Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. In Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast (2021), Hinds portrayed Pop, Buddy’s grandfather, and received an Academy Award nomination for supporting actor.

Belfast brought the actor back to a story rooted in the city where he grew up. His portrayal of Pop makes family warmth and uncertainty visible within a child’s account of a community under strain.