Irish actor whose breakthrough role came when he landed a role iin Ballykissangel, a popular TV series by the BBC. He made his film debut in the Tim Roth-directed drama The War Zone in 1999, and was discovered by Hollywood when Joel Schumacher cast him in the lead role in the war drama Tigerland in 2000. He then starred in Schumacher’s psychological thriller Phone Booth (2002) where he plays a hostage in a New York city phone booth, and the American thrillers S.W.A.T. (2003) and The Recruit (2003), establishing his international box-office appeal. During that time, he also appeared in Steven Spielberg’s science fiction thriller Minority Report (2002) and as the villain Bullseye in the superhero film Daredevil (2003).
After starring in the independent films Intermission (2003) and A Home at the End of the World (2004), Farrell headed Oliver Stone’s biopic Alexander (2004) and Terrence Malick’s The New World (2005). Roles in Michael Mann’s Miami Vice (2006), the adaptation of John Fante’s Ask the Dust (2006), and Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream (2007) followed, underscoring Farrell’s popularity among Hollywood writers and directors; however, it was his role in Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges (2008) that earned him a Hollywood Foreign Press Association Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Farrell starred in the black comedy film Horrible Bosses (2011), for which he received critical praise, along with the comedy-horror film Fright Night (2011) and the sci-fi action film Total Recall (2012), both remakes, and McDonagh’s second feature, the black comedy crime film Seven Psychopaths (2012). He also starred in the Niels Arden Oplev action film Dead Man Down (2013), and as Travers Goff in the period drama Saving Mr. Banks (2013). In 2014, Farrell starred as Peter Lake in the supernatural fable Winter’s Tale, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Mark Helprin. In 2015, he starred as Detective Ray Velcoro in the second season of HBO’s True Detective, and also starred in the film The Lobster, for which he was nominated for his second Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In 2016, he portrayed Percival Graves in the Harry Potter spin-off film Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.
In December 2005, Farrell checked into a rehabilitation treatment centre for addictions to recreational drugs and painkillers. He spoke about it on the Late Show with David Letterman after coming out of rehab and continued to do so in the years following.
He made a marriage of a few months to Amelia Warner (July to November 2001). With his then-girlfriend Kim Bordenave, he had a son, James, born September 12,2003. He disclosed on October 14, 2007 that James has Angelman syndrome, a rare neurogenetic disorder.
Farrell fathered his second child (Henry Tadeusz), a son born on 9 October 2009, with Polish actress Alicja Bachleda-Curu?. His relationship with Bachleda-Curu? ended in mid-2010.
Link to Wikipedia biography