Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan's first ever director has opened up about the "humble and kind-hearted" Oscar nominee and shared a precious photo of the pair from 13 years ago.
Barry attended Belvedere Youth Club as a teenager and landed his first ever acting role in their production of Hairspray in 2010. After "smashing" his audition, Barry landed the part of Link Larkin and went on to give an incredible performance during the live shows.
The 30-year-old has been nominated for best supporting actor at this weekend's Academy Awards for his performance as Dominic Kearney in the Banshees of Inisherin.
Read more: Stunning sand portrait of Colin Farrell installed on iconic Banshees of Inisherin beach
Jonathan Whelan was the director of Belvedere Youth Club's musicals during Barry's time there and opened up to Dublin Live about how the then teenager got into acting.
"Barry obviously got breeze of the shows and he came down one of the days and asked me if he could be in it," he said. "I gave him the script and he went off and learned it.
"When he came back to audition, he absolutely smashed it. He got the part of Link and performed it over two nights in front of 2,000 people in the O'Reilly Theatre in Belvedere College.
"It was his first acting role and that's where he got the fever from."
Jonathan described Barry as "always humble and kind-hearted" during his time at Belvedere Youth Club and also shared an adorable photo of himself and the Oscar nominee, who sported a "Zac Efron haircut" back in 2010.
"One of my mates is a hairdresser and one of the days Barry asked if he could come with me to get his hair cut because he wanted it done in a certain way.
"I asked him what way he wanted to get it done and he took out a photo of Zac Efron in High School Musical. He took the photo over to the barbers that day and got his hair cut like that.
"That photo is the final result so you can see it worked!"
Jonathan said that Barry is a clear example of the importance of youth clubs in local areas and the positive effect they can have on teenagers' lives.
"Barry was a young lad living in the north inner city, he could have easily gone down the wrong path," he said. "But thank God he came down to the youth club that day and asked to be in the show.
"Youth clubs have such a huge impact on the young people in a local area. It takes them away from the crime and some of the horrible scenes we can see on the streets in the north inner city."
Jonathan said he will "absolutely" be tuning into the Oscars on Sunday night to cheer Barry on. "I have a bottle of Moet and ice in the fridge already," he said.
"Whether or not he wins, it's a fantastic achievement. But if he wins I think I'll cry!
"You can feel the vibes in the north inner city. You can see how supportive people are and that's what I love about it.
"Whenever someone achieves something great, we saw it with Kellie Harrington as well, everyone is so supportive. He's going to get some homecoming, the community spirit is next to none."
The 95th Academy Awards will take place this Sunday, March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
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