Lifetime Achievement Award
Ciarán Hinds
“I have been remarkably lucky to work with so many brilliant, creative, talented people who are gracious, open-minded, warm-hearted individuals both here at home and further afield, on camera and off. It would take far too long to thank everyone I’m thinking of.
I’ve had a hell of a ride, and it really does come down to the tribe that we are - it takes all of us, every single one of us, to make it happen. I’m very, very happy to be a part of that tribe.
I look around and see so much extraordinary talent before me, and the younger generation of actors coming up is pure magic. I’m thrilled. I am so deeply honored
Thank you very much indeed.”
Ciarán Hinds, Recipient of the IFTA Lifetime Achievement Award 2026.
Ciarán Hinds acting career has amassed an extraordinary and varied body of work across five decades and continues to be prolific: this year, in 2026, global audiences will see him in Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On? (with Will Arnett and Laura Dern), Midwinter Break (with Lesley Manville), and Netflix’s new adaptation of East of Eden (with Florence Pugh).
Ciarán Hinds receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award
"The great Ciarán Hinds has gone toe to toe with all the Hollywood greats and all the Irish legends in countless classic films and plays."
Kenneth Branagh
"Not only are you a great actor of depth, intelligence, sensitivity, humor, but you are a great soul."
Ralph Fiennes
"Ciarán Hinds is a modest giant and gentleman of an actor, who has deservedly become one of the most highly-respected and versatile actors of his generation, working with world renowned filmmakers and storytellers. He is a performer of extraordinary depth, warmth and dignity, who commands the screen with his presence."
Áine Moriarty, Chief Executive of IFTA
He received an Oscar nomination in 2022 for his touching performance as Pop in Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, which also secured him Golden Globe & BAFTA nominations while going on to win the IFTA Award that year. Since 2003, he has received four additional IFTA Awards for his roles in; The Mayor of Casterbridge, Rome, KIN and The Dry.
Hinds has worked with countless iconic directors on projects including There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson), Munich (Steven Spielberg), Silence (Martin Scorsese), The Weight of Water (Kathryn Bigelow), Miami Vice (Michael Mann), In Bruges (Martin McDonagh), Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (Peter Greenaway) and many more.
Other international roles include Julius Caesar on HBO’s Rome as well as key roles in blockbuster series Game of Thrones, The Terror, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Man in the Hat, Political Animals, Life During Wartime, First Man, Red Sparrow, The Phantom of the Opera, Lara Croft: The Circle of Life, Bleed for This, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, John Carter, Above Suspicion, The Woman in Black, The Debt, The Rite, Oscar and Lucinda, Margot at the Wedding, Race to Witch Mountain, Miss Petticrew Lives for a Day, Justice League; and lending his voice to the smash hit Frozen animated franchise.Closer to home, Hinds has appeared in Irish projects including The Eclipse, Veronica Guerin, The Sea, Some Mother’s Son, Circle of Friends, The Wonder, Mickybo and Me and The Tiger's Tail. In recent years, he has returned to Ireland to star in two award-winning TV series: as the ruthless gangland patriarch in KIN and as the loving but chaotic father in The Dry, with both of these roles winning him IFTA Awards.
Key Credits
Midwinter Break (2026) The Dry (2022-2026) In the Land of Saints and Sinners (2024) Kin (2021 -) Belfast (2021) The Man In The Hat (2020) The Terror (2017) Game of Thrones (2013-2016) The Woman in Black (2012) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011) The Eclipse (2009) There Will Be Blood (2007) Rome (2005-2007) Jane Eyre (1997)
