Adrian Dunbar

Adrian Dunbar
Dunbar in 2014
Born	(1958-08-01) 1 August 1958 Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland
Occupation(s)	Actor, Screenwriter, Director
Years active	1984–present
Spouse	Anna Nygh (1986–present)

Adrian Dunbar (born 1 August 1958) is an Irish actor and director from Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, best known for his television and theatre work. Dunbar co-wrote and starred in the 1991 film, Hear My Song, nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the BAFTA awards.

He has played Superintendent Ted Hastings in the BBC One thriller Line of Duty since 2012. He has also appeared as Alan Cox in The Jump, Martin Summers in Ashes to Ashes, Richard Plantagenet in The Hollow Crown, and as Father Flaherty in Broken.

Early life

Dunbar was born and brought up in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, in Northern Ireland, the eldest of seven siblings. He was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers before attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Career

Dunbar has appeared in such notable films as My Left Foot, The Crying Game, and The General. He has also had leading roles in the films Triggermen, Shooters, How Harry Became A Tree (with Colm Meaney), Richard III, and Widows' Peak.

On television, he starred in the first episode of Cracker, giving a performance as an innocent murder suspect with amnesia, and also the last episode of A Touch of Frost, and has been in many British productions, including Tough Love, Inspector Morse, Kidnapped, Murphy's Law, Murder in Mind, Ashes to Ashes and the 2005 re-staging of The Quatermass Experiment.

Dunbar's theatre credits include: The Shaughraun and Exiles at Dublin's Abbey Theatre; Real Dreams and The Danton Affair at the Royal Shakespeare Company; King Lear, Pope's Wedding, Saved and Up To The Sun And Down To The Centre at Royal Court Theatre, Conversations on a homecoming at the Lyric Theatre (Belfast); A Trinity of Two (as Oscar Wilde) at Dublin's Liberty Hall Theatre; Boeing Boeing (London, 2007). He directed a critically acclaimed production of Philadelphia Here I Come!.

In 2008 he starred in and co-directed Brendan at the Chelsea by Janet Behan, playing Brendan Behan. The play was the first to be staged in the Naughton Studio in the new Lyric Theatre (Belfast) after it reopened in 2011 and is being revived for a tour to Theatre Row in New York in September 2013.

He played the role of Aufidius in the BBC Radio production of Coriolanus. He also made a guest appearance in the BBC Radio 4 series Baldi, and appeared on stage as Vermeer in an adaptation of Girl with a Pearl Earring.

In 2008, Dunbar played the role of Philip Conolly in the critically acclaimed The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce. Dunbar starred alongside fellow Northern Irish actor Ciarán McMenamin in the remote rain-forests of north west Tasmania. He has also joined the cast of the British police procedural television series, Line of Duty in 2012, portraying the role of Superintendent Ted Hastings continuing on in this role for Series 2 (2014), Series 3 (2016), Series 4 (2017) and Series 5 (2019).

Dunbar is also a theatre director who staged productions for the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival.

He played the mysterious character Martin Summers in the second series of Ashes to Ashes. In 2014 he played the title character in a BBC comedy drama Walter.

Dunbar also starred as Jim Hogan on the Virgin Media Television original drama, Blood.

Other media

• He was cast as Bail Organa for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and appeared in costume in publicity stills, but his scene was cut, and the character was re-cast with Jimmy Smits for later films. Dunbar's likeness was retconned into the appearance of the character Bail Antilles.
• He fronts his own band, which has played in such American venues as Nashville, Tennessee and Austin, Texas.
• He sings "The Curragh of Kildare" with Brian Kennedy on Kennedy's On Song, and fronts this song with his own band.
• He narrates the popular TV series The Estate as well as an audiobook production of Eoin Colfer's novel Artemis Fowl.
• He played a minor role in The Dawning (1988), alongside Anthony Hopkins and Hugh Grant, which led to further early roles in his acting career.

Awards

BAFTA Awards

BAFTA Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2018	Line of Duty	Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
1993	Hear My Song	Best Screenplay	Nominated

Irish Film & Television Academy Awards

IFTA Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2018	Line of Duty	Actor in a Lead Role in Drama	Nominated

Personal life

Dunbar has a daughter and stepson from his 1986 marriage to the Australian actress Anna Nygh. He lives in Crouch End, North London. Dunbar received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Ulster in June 2009 in recognition of his services to acting.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Sky Bandits	Mechanic
1988	A World Apart	Le Roux
	The Dawning	Capt. Rankin
1989	Unusual Ground Floor Conversion	Alan Simpson	Short film
	My Left Foot	Peter
	Dealers	Lennon Mayhew
1991	Hear My Song	Micky O'Neill
1992	The Playboys	Mick
	The Crying Game	Maguire
1994	Widows' Peak	Godfrey Doyle-Counihan
1995	Innocent Lies	Alan Cross
	The Near Room	Charlie Colquhoun
	Richard III	James Tyrell
1998	The General	Noel Curley
1999	Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace	Senator Bail Organa	Deleted scene
2000	Last Orders		Short film
	Wild About Harry	J.J. McMahon
	The Wedding Tackle	Mr. Mac
2001	How Harry Became a Tree	George
2002	Triggermen	Andy Jarrett
	Shooters	Max Bell
2003	The Measure of My Days	Priest	Short film
2004	Mickybo and Me	Mickybo's Da
2005	Against Nature	The Tramp	Short film
2006	Eye of the Dolphin	Hawk
2008	The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce	Philip Conolly
2009	Act of God	Frank O'Connor
2011	Hideaways	Dr. Russell
	Mother's Milk	Seamus Dorke
2012	Good Vibrations	Andy
2016	The Secret Scripture	Dr. Hart
2017	The Snowman	Frederick Aasen

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	The Long March	Colm	TV Movie
1984	Play for Today	Peter Douglas	Episode: "The Cry"
	After You've Gone	Chris	TV Movie
	The Hidden Curriculum	Boyd
1985	The Price	Willy	4 episodes
1988	The Fear	Con
	The Four Minute Mile	Norris McWhirter	TV Movie
	Screen Two	Robbie MacIntyre	Episode: "Reasonable Force"
1990		John	Episode: "Drowning in the Shallow End"
	Theatre Night	Lenny	Episode: "Pentecost"
	Debut on Two	John / Lucien	Episodes: "The Wake" and "A Box of Swan"
	Centrepoint	Brown	2 episodes
	Screenplay	Andy	Episode: "The Englishman's Wife"
1991	Children of the North	Martin Deeley	3 episodes
1992	Screenplay	DS Billy McCourbrey	Episode: "Force of Duty"
	Inspector Morse	John Marriat	Episode: "Dead on Time"
1993	A Statement of Affairs	Adrian	3 episodes
	Cracker	Kelly	Episodes: "The Mad Woman in the Attic", Parts 1 & 2
	A Woman's Guide to Adultery	Michael	3 episodes
1994	The Blue Boy	Joe Bonnar	TV Movie
	Pleasure	Gustave Coudray
1995	Cruel Train	Jack Dando
1997	Melissa	Graeme Hepburn	5 episodes
1998	The Jump	Alan Cox	4 episodes
	The Officer from France	Wolfe Tone	TV Movie
1999	Relative Strangers	Michael Docherty	2 episodes
2000	Tough Love	DCI Mike Love
2003	Murphy's Law	Mickey Munday	Episode: "Manic Munday"
	Murder in Mind	Tom Robbins	Episode: "Justice"
	Suspicion	Mark Finnegan	2 episodes
2005	Kidnapped	Alexander Balfour / Ebenezer Balfour	TV Movie
	The Quatermass Experiment	Detective Lomax
	Child of Mine	Alfie Palmer
2007	The Whistleblowers	Chris Clayton	Episode: "Starters"
2008	Whistleblower	Florence Wycherley	2 episodes
2009	Ashes to Ashes	Martin Summers	8 episodes
2010	A Touch of Frost	Gerry Berland	Episodes: "If Dogs Run Free", Parts 1 & 2
	Mo	David Trimble	TV Movie
2011	Silk	Joe Gillespie QC	Episode: "Three Sheets to the Wind"
	Death in Paradise	Aidan Miles	Episodes: "Music of Murder" and "Amongst Us"
2011—2013	World's Most Dangerous Roads	Narrator	9 episodes
2012	Scott & Bailey	Det. Supt. Rick Wallis	Episode: "Pipe Dreams"
	Silent Witness	Sean Delaney	Episodes: "Fear", Parts 1 & 2
	The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby	Ralph Nickleby	5 episodes
2012—present	Line of Duty	Supt. Ted Hastings	29 episodes
2013	Jo	Olivier Cattan	Episode: "Place Vendôme"
2014	Walter	DI Walter Gambon	TV Movie
	A Touch of Cloth	Damien Vull	Episodes: "Too Cloth for Comfort", Parts 1 & 2
2016	The Hollow Crown	Plantagenet	Episodes: "Henry VI", Parts 1 & 2
2017	Broken	Father Peter Flaherty	6 episodes
2018	Blood	Jim Hogan
2019	Red Nose Bodyguard	Policeman / Supt. Ted Hastings	Red Nose Day 2019 special

External links

• Adrian Dunbar at IMDb
• Adrian Dunbar attacked for describing RUC as sectarian by murdered officer's daughter, belfasttelegraph.co.uk; accessed 4 June 2017.