Colin Farrell, born in 1976, is an Irish, Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-nominated actor.

Inspired to try acting after watching Steven Spielberg's classic E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Farrell joined the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland.

However, he dropped out when he was cast as Danny Byrne in the BBC drama Ballykissangel in 1998. He followed this a year later with his movie debut in Tim Roth’s The War Zone.

Since then, he has become one of Ireland’s most prolific actors, appearing in comedies, action films, and dramas.

Farrell has been nominated for 106 awards during his career, including an Oscar nomination for his performance in 2022’s The Banshees of Inisherin, which he starred in alongside Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, and Barry Keoghan.

He made his first appearance as Oz Cobb in The Batman that same year, undergoing three hours of prosthetics every day to transform his face and figure into the formidable and threatening character.

In The Penguin, Farrell leads the cast as Oswald Cobblepot – more commonly known as Oz Cobb.

First appearing as the character in The Batman (2022), Oz is a businessman of Gotham City with shady underworld dealings and ambitions to be the most formidable crimelord of the entire city.

One of Batman’s most well-known villains, lore states Cobblepot was given the name The Penguin due to his distinctive physique, which includes a portly belly and beak-shaped nose, resulting in him walking with a waddle.

In other adaptations, this is accentuated further by him wearing a black and white coattail suit and squinting to wear a monocle when needed.

He covers his crimes using his nightclub, The Iceberg Lounge, as a front.

However, he proves time and again to be an intimidating force and knows how to acquire the right information to blackmail and corrupt those around him.

He’s not afraid to fight dirty and has a collection of henchmen ready to put his decisions into action by any means necessary.

Cobblepot is also incredibly clever and has a number of defense weapons at hand should he need to roll his sleeves up himself.

His main mission in life is to bring down Batman, who continues to impose a threat to his illegal operation.

As a result, he has frequently been seen teaming up with other famed Batman villains, notably The Joker and The Riddler.

The character’s first appearance was in 1941 as part of the Detective Comics series by DC.

In previous live-action adaptations of the franchise, the Penguin has been portrayed by Burgess Meredith in the 1966 movie, Danny DeVito in 1992’s Batman Returns, and Robin Lord Taylor in the TV series Gotham, which ran from 2014 to 2019.

With 69 acting credits to his name – many of which he plays key or leading roles – there are plenty of places where you’ve seen Colin Farrell before.

These are some of his most notable roles to date (some of which you can catch on NOW and Sky today!):

In his first major motion picture, Farrell stars as Confederate soldier Jesse James, who, alongside friend Frank (Gabriel Macht), returns home from war to learn powerful businessman Thaddeus Rains (Harris Yulin) is trying to drive Missouri citizens out of their homes in order to build a railroad.

When his family resists being bought out from their home, a chain of events is triggered with plans for a series of robberies designed to put a damper on Rains’ plans.

Intense thriller Phone Booth sees the actor play Stu Shepard, an arrogant New York City publicist who finds himself at the mercy of a malicious blackmailer when he answers a call in a phone booth.

Trapped in the booth in the middle of Times Square, Stu is warned he cannot leave the booth or face devastating consequences, with events unfolding beyond his control as the situation continues to spiral out of control.

Playing the titular role in this Greek historical drama, Farrell portrays Alexander the Great in the story of the warrior’s life.

The big-budget epic follows Alexander who, by age 32, had managed to create an empire, but every rise will eventually result in a fall.

Alexander features an all-star cast including Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Anthony Hopkins, Jared Leto, Rosario Dawson, and Christopher Plummer, to name a few.

Miami Vice sees Farrell team up with Jamie Foxx in this action-filled crime drama.

Starring as Miami police detectives James "Sonny" Crockett and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs, the pair go undercover to fight drug trafficking operations.

Posing as drug smugglers, the pair get more than they bargain for in their attempt to take down the racket as their personal and work lives begin to collide.

In his first collaboration with Martin McDonagh, Farrell stars as hit man Ray, who hides out in Belgium with fellow assassin Ken (Brendan Gleeson) after a job goes wrong.

While Ken embraces his new surroundings, Ray hates it, but things get more complicated when a new command is brought to Ken’s attention.

Farrell won a Golden Globe award for his portrayal of Ray, earning Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Farrell takes one of the leading roles alongside Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch, Vince Vaughn, and Kelly Reilly in season two of this much-loved gritty drama.

The story follows three police departments in California working together when the body of Ben Caspere, a corrupt city manager, is found on the side of a road. But a career criminal, who lost money as a result of the murder, is hot on their heels, looking for answers himself.

Farrell plays Ray Velcoro, a detective of the Vinci Police Department.

True Detective is available now on NOW and Sky Atlantic.

Find out more about True Detective here.

In this bizarre psychological thriller, Farrell stars as Steven Murphy, a cardiothoracic surgeon whose life changes forever when he befriends Martin, a 16-year-old he performed an operation on.

Things quickly escalate with Martin’s behavior getting more bizarre and he grows more involved in Steven’s personal and family life, resulting in a strange and horrifying demand that could affect Steven’s wife and kids if he doesn’t act fast.

But what he has to do in order to save his family could devastate him forever regardless.

Another collaboration with director McDonagh and Brendan Gleeson, which follows Pádraic (Farrell) when his best friend Colm (Gleeson) ends their friendship.

Determined to find out why, Pádraic goes to extreme efforts to try and get his attention again, with the entire small isle left caught in the crossfire as things escalate beyond reprehension.

The dark comedy was massively praised during the awards season and was nominated for nine Oscars that year – including a nod for Farrell for Best Actor.