Patrick Connolly Bergin (born 4 February 1951) is an Irish actor and
singer perhaps best known for his leading role opposite Julia Roberts
in Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) and for his stint playing the
villainous Aidan Maguire in the BBC soap EastEnders from November 2017
until March 2018.Bergin was born in Dublin. His father, Patrick Bergin
snr., was a Labour Party politician, who had once studied to be a
priest with the Holy Ghost Fathers in Blackrock, Ireland. Patrick is
one of four sons and one daughter (Pearse, Emmet, Patrick, Allen and
Siobhan Bergin). Bergin left Dublin for London in 1973, and by the
time he was seventeen, was in London running a theatre group. Bergin
worked on building sites and at a library. He studied at night and
completed a degree in education from North London Polytechnic. Bergin
worked as an English teacher for several years before forming his own
theatrical company because no one else would have him.In 1980, Bergin
decided to pursue acting full-time and he found work in repertory
theatre. For much of the Nineties it seemed like no one in Hollywood
would have him. So he made his own way; he worked in diverse films
such as a trilogy of Yeats plays; Morphine and Dolly Mixtures, for
which he won a Welsh Best Actor Award and Durango, based on John B
Keane's novel; hosting TnaG's SilÃn DraÃochta; and narrating Patrick
Cassidy's Famine Concert. After Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), his
reputation grew and he was offered the lead in Robin Hood with Uma
Thurman. He describes 1996 as the lowest point in his career, a time
when he rarely received any phone calls for movie roles.
singer perhaps best known for his leading role opposite Julia Roberts
in Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) and for his stint playing the
villainous Aidan Maguire in the BBC soap EastEnders from November 2017
until March 2018.Bergin was born in Dublin. His father, Patrick Bergin
snr., was a Labour Party politician, who had once studied to be a
priest with the Holy Ghost Fathers in Blackrock, Ireland. Patrick is
one of four sons and one daughter (Pearse, Emmet, Patrick, Allen and
Siobhan Bergin). Bergin left Dublin for London in 1973, and by the
time he was seventeen, was in London running a theatre group. Bergin
worked on building sites and at a library. He studied at night and
completed a degree in education from North London Polytechnic. Bergin
worked as an English teacher for several years before forming his own
theatrical company because no one else would have him.In 1980, Bergin
decided to pursue acting full-time and he found work in repertory
theatre. For much of the Nineties it seemed like no one in Hollywood
would have him. So he made his own way; he worked in diverse films
such as a trilogy of Yeats plays; Morphine and Dolly Mixtures, for
which he won a Welsh Best Actor Award and Durango, based on John B
Keane's novel; hosting TnaG's SilÃn DraÃochta; and narrating Patrick
Cassidy's Famine Concert. After Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), his
reputation grew and he was offered the lead in Robin Hood with Uma
Thurman. He describes 1996 as the lowest point in his career, a time
when he rarely received any phone calls for movie roles.
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