During the holiday season, there was one topic that everyone was talking about on Twitter: Saltburn. A disturbingly dark comedy, it has captivated audiences in more than 100 countries. In fact, its main theme, Murder on the Dancefloor, has topped the UK charts, and its main character, a Golden Globe nominee, has become a new sex symbol. We are talking about Barry Keoghan (31), an unconventional Irish heartthrob with a purely cinematic story.
Keoghan was born in October 1992 in the Dublin suburb of Summerhill, where he endured a "complicated childhood". The actor's mother, Debbie, was a heroin addict and, for years, she struggled with her addiction and the illnesses she suffered as a result. She tragically passed away when the budding artist was just 12 years old.Still, he has fond memories of his mother. "I remember her laughter. I always managed to make her smile," he commented in 2018 to the Irish Times.
"I remember her as a beautiful woman, and I pray for her every day. I have fond memories of us together. For example, I used to dance for her to Elvis's A Little Less Conversation," he revealed to the Sunday Times in 2023. However, the actor also often refers to the darkness that surrounded him during that time. "Of course, it was difficult; having your mother die from drugs isn't easy for any child. But everything that happened helped me become who I am today. That's why I tell the story. I'm proud of my story and my mother," he told The Guardian.
After his mother's passing, Barry and his brother Eric spent seven years in the care of 13 foster families, an experience that undoubtedly left a lasting impact. "For me, the most important thing was that my brother and I managed to stay together. But it's also important to highlight that all those families were good to us," he mentioned some time ago. Later, when Barry reached came of age, his maternal grandmother and aunt managed to bring him home. They shared a small apartment and, with great effort, managed to put a roof over the young man and his brother's head.
"So that we could all fit in, my cousin, who I call my 'sister,' gave us her room, and she went to sleep with my aunt. They did a lot for us, and I owe them a lot. Even today, they still care about my wellbeing. The whole being famous thing doesn't matter to them... although they love getting free beers in pubs for being related to me!" he explained some months ago. And what about his brother? According to Keoghan himself, it was Eric who pushed him to become an actor.
"Where I come from, people don't do what I do. You don't go and tell people, 'Look, I want to be an actor.' And if you do, they laugh at you, joke about it. Not in a cruel way, but they do laugh. But my brother never laughed at me... And when you get your brother's seal of approval, you know that's what you're supposed to do," he told The Guardian. Keoghan has mentioned that, despite his interest in acting, he was never obsessed with becoming a performer. In fact, he stated he just wanted "a job that would let him fool around and earn a living."
According to various reports, before becoming an actor, Barry contemplated pursuing two other professions: football —a field he became interested in due to his second cousin Frank Stapleton, a Manchester United player — and boxing, a sport he used to play as an amateur. However, in 2010, he started distancing himself from the ring after spotting a casting call in a shop window. Keoghan stumbled upon an audition for the drama Between the Canals, which soon became his debut project.
When the film's production gave him the green light, Barry decided to train at a local drama school. Initially strapped for cash and unable to afford even the bus fare, his efforts gradually bore fruit: in 13 years, Keoghan has been involved in 30 movies — among them, Dunkirk, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and Marvel's Eternals — six series (such as Chernobyl and Love/Hate), and in 2023, he was nominated for the Oscar, BAFTA, and SAG Awards for Calvary in Inisherin.
Keoghan has also been lucky in love: between 2017 and 2020, he had a stable relationship with an Irish woman named Shona Guerin, and in 2021, he met the mother of his child, Alyson Sandro, an orthodontist, whom he tried to impress in a bar. "He told me he played a superhero in a blockbuster movie, and I, not believing him, asked if he was Spider-Man," the woman recounted in 2022 to GQ, in an interview where she also talked about their son Brando, born in August of that year.
"The love we feel for him is indescribable. It's a love I've never felt for anyone else. We've built a great family. I lean on Alyson for everything, and she does a lot for me," the celeb explained emotionally. However, in July 2023, the relationship between Keoghan and Sandro ended, and today, the star might have a new love interest: singer Sabrina Carpenter. Only time will tell if they pair end up together.