Meet the Dublin actor taking Hollywood by storm who candidly describes starring opposite Megan Fox as a “pinch me” moment.
Despite his rise Stateside, humble Dubliner Eoin Macken has set his sights on a role in the second season of Kin with his best mate and acting buddy Emmett J Scanlan.
The 39-year-old is probably best known for playing Gavin Cluxton in Fair City then starring as Sir Gwaine in Merlin from 2010 to 2012.
Read More: Eoin Macken’s deadly new role opposite Megan Fox gets thumbs up from critics
He also starred in Night Shift and landed movie roles in Centurion, The Forest and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.
In the 2021 film Til Death, the Howth native plays criminal lawyer Mark, a controlling husband who makes life for his wife Emma (Megan Fox) miserable.
Eoin told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I shot the film in Bulgaria with Megan during Covid.
“It was one of the first movies to be shot during the pandemic.
“She’s awesome to work with and has a great sense of humour, I had a blast working with her.
“We had a really good time... it was a pinch me moment.”
Multi-talented Eoin has created, produced and acted in films since finishing his psychology degree at UCD almost two decades ago.
His graft is paying off – he landed the lead role in the NBC series La Brea in its second season, shooting in Australia.
He revealed: “Melbourne has the same weather as Dublin. I’ve gone from Dublin winter to the winter here, so I’m kind of in the outback with rain.
“The rest of Australia is like sunshine and crocodiles and Melbourne is like here’s some rain.”
Psychological horror The Cellar premiered in Dublin last month, and Eoin said he was thrilled to have worked again with its director Brendan Muldowney.
He said: “I just keep making stuff, and it’s like the more you do stuff the people who you grew up with are getting better and so are you, so it works out.
“Richard Bulger who produced Here are the Young Men with me also produced The Cellar.
“I met Richard when I was making Cold for no money and Richard came on board, and 10 years later we’re making movies together and earning.”
Working for free and following his dream has proved fruitful for Eoin and his talent won out.
He said: “I think I’ve just been lucky that way, you just keep banging away and keep making stuff and some stuff sticks and you keep trying.
“The key is to keep going.
“I made a film called ‘Grey Elephant’ which we made for nothing. It will come out this autumn.
“We made it for peanuts.
“What was great about shooting the Cellar was I hadn’t worked in Ireland in so long, I hadn’t worked in Ireland since Nightflyers.”
The Cellar was written by Brendan Muldowney as a 10-minute short but he adapted the script and turned it into a feature length narrative.
Eoin said: “Working with Brendan was a dream come true.
“I had worked with Brendan on Savage with Emmet J Scanlan. He is so talented.
“The Cellar is like a family psychological horror, not a messed up horror, it’s accessible, but he made something that’s got a wider audience to connect with it.”
Eoin was a top model before the film industry seduced him and as the face of Ralph Lauren and Abercrombie and Fitch, he has fond memories of his posing days.
He said: “Myself and Carl Shaaban started modelling together.
“We made a documentary about modelling that we sold to RTE.
“I got a great buzz out of it, it’s all part of the same creative process.”
In 2005 Eoin starred alongside Emmet J Scanlon and Brendan Gleeson in Studs and to this day Emmet and Eoin remain best pals.
Eoin said: “I loved Emmet in Kin, he was brilliant, I thought himself and Sam Keeley were outstanding.”
“I loved the show, it’s coming back and I’d love to be in Kin, absolutely.”
On befriending Hollyoaks and Peaky Blinders star Emmet he explains: “I did psychology before I did filmmaking and acting.
“When I was in college I met Emmet and graduated towards making films.
“I was still doing my thesis in psychology when I did my first proper film with Brendan Gleeson and Donal Gleeson and David Wilmot and Emmet.
“I was shooting that movie when I was doing that film so I had almost decided I wanted to be a filmmaker.”
Reminiscing about his time in Fair City where he played drug dealer Gavin Cluxton in 2008 he shrugged: “I’m not morto at all. “It’s not embarrassing stuff.
“I was talking to one of the actors on La Brea about this as he did a New Zealand soap opera too.
“The thing about Fair City, I had taken time off acting for family reasons and then I got back into acting with the character of Gavin and it was a really good training ground.
“I honestly feel every job you learn something from.”
It’s more than 15 years since Eoin played Gwaine in the series Merlin but he still gets asked about the popular show.
He revealed: “I look fondly back on Merlin, I get people coming up to me in Australia still asking me about Merlin as it’s still playing on Netflix now.
“I think people still love this show.”
The actor, who dated Healy for two years from 2006 and more recently The Queen’s Gambit actress Anya Taylor Joy who he split from in 2018, is now single.
He said: “In Australia the closest thing I’ve gotten to anything romantic is taking a picture of a kangaroo.”
He said he is still “great pals” with former Saturdays singer Una, adding: “She’s super talented at creating music.
“Una did a lot of the soundtrack for one of the first movies I ever made and for the documentary I made on modelling.
“It was back in the day when we were just working to get stuff made for our mates.
“It was before Una did the Saturdays and before I did Fair City.
“I love Una to bits.”
And Eoin admits that when it comes to being Irish in the film game it gives you an advantage.
He joked: “Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan are filming over in Australia at the moment.
“The crews love them so when they met me they immediately assumed I’d be sound too as I’m Irish!”
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