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Irish Americans have a long, proud history of performing on the stage and screen. Many of the greatest films and TV shows of all time feature Irish Americans in principal roles, and many Irish American movies have been produced since the early days of cinema. Yet you may be surprised to discover some of the actors who come from an Irish American heritage.
The following is a detailed list of Irish American film and television actors, listed in order by year of birth. You may associate some of these movie stars with being Jewish, Italian, or another ethnicity or nationality. But all the actors on this list share one thing in common: they all have at least one parent or grandparent of Irish descent. And in some cases, the actor was born in Ireland and later became a U.S. citizen.
Irish American Actors Born before 1920
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| James Cagney |
George M. Cohan (1878–1942)
Sara Allgood (1879–1950)
Lon Chaney Sr. (1883–1930)
Walter Brennan (1884–1974)
Gracie Allen (1895–1964)
Buster Keaton (1895–1966)
Pat O'Brien (1899–1983)
James Cagney (1899–1986)
Spencer Tracy (1900–1967)
Helen Hayes (1900–1993)
Bing Crosby (1903–1977)
Joan Crawford (1903–1977)
James Dunn (1905–1967)
Eddie Foy Jr. (1905–1983)
Lon Chaney Jr. (1906–1973)
John Huston (1906–1987)
John Wayne (1907–1979)
Barbara Stanwyck (1907–1990)
Errol Flynn (1909–1959)
Lucille Ball (1911–1989)
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004)
Gene Kelly (1912–1996)
Burt Lancaster (1913–1994)
Geraldine Fitzgerald (1913–2005)
Tyrone Power (1914–1958)
Arthur Kennedy (1914–1990)
Dorothy Lamour (1914–1996)
Edmond O'Brien (1915–1985)
Anthony Quinn (1915–2001)
Jackie Gleason (1916–1987)
Gregory Peck (1916–2003)
Rita Hayworth (1918–1987)
Art Carney (1918–2003)
Virginia O'Brien (1919–2001)
Irish American Actors Born in the 1920s
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| Gene Tierney |
Jack Lord (1920–1998)
Maureen O'Hara (1920–)
Steve Allen (1921–2000)
Judy Garland (1922–1969)
Cleo Moore (1924–1973)
Carroll O'Connor (1924–2001)
Marlon Brando (1924–2004)
Donald O'Connor (1925–2003)
Maureen Stapleton (1925–2006)
Jack Cassidy (1927–1976)
Eileen Ryan (1927–)
Rosemary Clooney (1928–2002)
Patrick McGoohan (1928–2009)
Grace Kelly (1929–1982)
Anne Meara (1929–)
Irish American Actors Born in the 1930s
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| Clint Eastwood |
Stephen Boyd (1931–1977)
Bryan O'Byrne (1931–2009)
James Earl Jones (1931–)
Malachy McCourt (1931–)
Roy Scheider (1932–2008)
Eileen Brennan (1932–)
Peter Boyle (1935–2006)
Bernie McInerney (1936–)
Robert Redford (1936–)
George Carlin (1937–2008)
Jack Nicholson (1937–)
Brian Dennehy (1938–)
Mike Farrell (1939–)
Irish American Actors Born in the 1940s
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| Martin Sheen |
Michael Moriarty (1941–)
Ryan O'Neal (1941–)
Dennis Holahan (1942–)
Harrison Ford (1942–)
Robert De Niro (1943–)
Teri Garr (1944–)
Mia Farrow (1945–)
Bud Cort (1946–)
Diane Keaton (1946–)
Joe Estevez (1946–)
Liza Minnelli (1946–)
Patty Duke (1946–)
Susan Sarandon (1946–)
Suzanne Somers (1946–)
Kevin Kline (1947–)
Armand Assante (1949–)
Irish American Actors Born in the 1950s
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| Mickey Rourke |
John Sayles (1950–)
Annette O'Toole (1952–)
Jeff Fahey (1952–)
Mickey Rourke (1952–)
Terry O'Quinn (1952–)
Lenny Clarke (1953–)
John Travolta (1954–)
Kate Mulgrew (1955–)
Michael O'Keefe (1955–)
Peter Gallagher (1955–)
Bill Maher (1956–)
Bo Derek (1956–)
David Caruso (1956–)
Mel Gibson (1956–)
Nathan Lane (1956–)
Tim Daly (1956–)
Denis Leary (1957–)
Steve Buscemi (1957–)
Alec Baldwin (1958–)
Marg Helgenberger (1958–)
Julia Sweeney (1959)
Patricia Heaton (1958–)
Colin Quinn (1959--)
James McCaffrey (1959–)
John C. McGinley (1959–)
Irish American Actors Born in the 1960s
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| Sean Penn |
Kathy Griffin (1960–)
Neil Flynn (1960–)
Sean Penn (1960–)
Bonnie Hunt (1961–)
Dylan McDermott (1961)
George Clooney (1961–)
Emilio Estevez (1962–)
Karen Duffy (1962–)
Matthew Broderick (1962–)
Rosie O'Donnell (1962–)
Tom Cruise (1962–)
Conan O'Brien (1963–)
Johnny Depp (1963–)
Ramon Estevez (1963–)
Tatum O'Neal (1963–)
William Baldwin (1963–)
Chris Farley (1964–1997)
Andrew Wilson (1964–)
Janeane Garofalo (1964–)
Matt Dillon (1964–)
Molly Shannon (1964–)
Stephen Colbert (1964–)
Chris Penn (1965–2006)
Ben Stiller (1965–)
Charlie Sheen (1965–)
John C. Reilly (1965–)
Maura Tierney (1965–)
Robert Downey, Jr. (1965–)
William Mapother (1965–)
Dean Cain (1966–)
John Cusack (1966–)
Mike O'Malley (1966–)
Neal McDonough (1966–)
Patrick Dempsey (1966–)
Stephen Baldwin (1966–)
Courtney Thorne-Smith (1967–)
Kate Walsh (1967–)
Lauren Graham (1967–)
Paul Giamatti (1967–)
Renée Estevez (1967–)
Anthony Michael Hall (1968–)
Brendan Fraser (1968–)
Edward Burns (1968–)
James Caviezel (1968–)
Jorja Fox (1968–)
Lucy Lawless (1968–)
Moira Kelly (1968–)
Owen Wilson (1968–)
Donnie Wahlberg (1969–)
Ellen Pompeo (1969–)
Matthew McConaughey (1969–)
Irish American Actors Born in the 1970s
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| Jennifer Connelly |
Dominic Purcell (1970–)
Heather Graham (1970–)
Jamie Kennedy (1970–)
Jennifer Connelly (1970–)
Julie Bowen (1970–)
Lara Flynn Boyle (1970–)
Vince Vaughan (1970–)
Ana Ortiz (1971–)
Bridget Moynahan (1971–)
Carla Gugino (1971–)
Eric Mabius (1971–)
Luke Wilson (1971–)
Mark Wahlberg (1971–)
Monica Potter (1971–)
Renee O'Connor (1971–)
Sean Astin (1971–)
Shannen Doherty (1971–)
Angie Harmon (1972–)
Ben Affleck (1972–)
Dane Cook (1972–)
Jenny McCarthy (1972–)
Robin Tunney (1972–)
Mackenzie Astin (1973–)
Paul Walker (1973–)
Rose McGowan (1973–)
Alyson Hannigan (1974–)
Jerry O'Connell (1974–)
Kevin M. Connolly (1974–)
Casey Affleck (1975–)
Charlie O'Connell (1975–)
Danica McKellar (1975–)
Danny Masterson (1976–)
Drew Barrymore (1975–)
Emily Deschanel (1976–)
Brittany Murphy (1977–2009)
Zachary Quinto (1977–)
A. J. Buckley (1978–)
Ashton Kutcher (1978–)
Eddie Cahill (1978–)
Joshua Jackson (1978–)
Katherine Heigl (1978–)
Josh Hartnett (1978–)
Maggie Q (1979–)
Irish American Actors Born in the 1980s
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| Anne Hathaway |
Macaulay Culkin (1980–)
Zooey Deschanel (1980–)
Chris Evans (1981–)
Julia Stiles (1981–)
Anne Hathaway (1982–)
Jessica Sutta (1982–)
Jonathan Tucker (1982–)
Kieran Culkin (1982–)
Michelle Lombardo (1983–)
Jake T. Austin (1994–)
Mandy Moore (1984–)
Olivia Wilde (1984–)
Scarlett Keegan (1984–)
David Gallagher (1985–)
Lindsay Lohan (1986–)
Megan Fox (1986–)
Mischa Barton (1986–)
Kevin Jonas (1987–)
Vanessa Hudgens (1988–)
Joe Jonas (1989–)
Rory Culkin (1989–)
Irish American Actors Born since 1990
Demi Lovato (1992–)
Nick Jonas (1992–)
AnnaSophia Robb (1993–)
Dakota Fanning (1994–)
Abigail Breslin (1996–)
Elle Fanning (1998–)