Cillian Murphy is an Irish theatre and screen actor, who is known for playing Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan`s Batman trilogy. He made his acting debut with Sweety Barrett (1998). Cillian worked in little known movies like Sunburn (1999), Disco Pigs (2001) and How Harry Became a Tree (2001), before appearing in Danny Boyle`s 28 Days Later (2002). The movie paved the way for Murphy to star in critically acclaimed and commercially successful flicks like Cold Mountain (2003), Batman Begins (2005), Red Eye (2005), Breakfast On Pluto (2005), The Wind That Shakes The Barley (2006), Sunshine (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), Broken (2012), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Transcendence (2014), Anthropoid (2016) and Free Fire (2016). Murphy has also starred in the TV crime show, Peaky Blinders (2013- ). He plays Thomas Shelby, the ruthless leader of the Peaky Blinders gang. In Nolan`s 2017 World War II thriller, Dunkirk, Murphy starred alongside Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy and Harry Styles. This is the fifth time Murphy has starred in a Nolan movie. His 2019 release includes Anna. His 2021 releases include
A Quiet Place Part 2. Murphy portrayed J. Robert Oppenheimer in the biographical thriller
Oppenheimer. The film marks the sixth collaboration between Nolan and Murphy, and the first starring Murphy as the lead. To prepare for the role, Murphy lost a significant amount of weight to match Oppenheimer`s near-emaciated appearance, extensively researched Oppenheimer`s life and took inspiration from David Bowie`s appearance in the 1970s. For his performance, he won all prominent awards including the most coveted Academy Award for Best Actor.