Who Is Cillian Murphy’s Wife? All About Yvonne McGuinness

Despite their profession, Cillian Murphy and his wife Yvonne McGuinness have an extremely modest life.

Murphy has appeared in worldwide hit films such as Beginning and Batman begins, and played Thomas Shelby Pointed glasses for six seasons. McGuinness, meanwhile, is a visual artist who creates innovative, situational art installations. Both originally from Ireland, the couple lived in London for years but now live in Dublin with their teenage sons – far from the glamor of Hollywood.

“I don’t need to live in Los Angeles,” Murphy told PEOPLE in 2005. “I’d be so far away from my family — I’d never see them.”

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When Murphy was presented with the Desert Palm Achievement Award at the Palm Springs International Film Awards in January 2024, he took the opportunity to thank McGuinness and their sons on stage.

“Two-thirds of them are sitting downstairs. We had to leave one at home for exams,” he said. “But just thanks for putting up with me—putting up with half of me and the shadow me and the absent me, the rest of me when I’m doing a movie like this or working in general. You’re always there. I like me. So thanks, guys.”

But who is Cillian Murphy’s long-term love, Yvonne McGuinness? Read on to learn more about her work as an artist and her life outside the spotlight with Murphy.

She is a successful artist

Originally from Kilkenny, Ireland, McGuinness is a classically trained visual artist who holds an MA from the Royal College of Art in London.

“Her work spans film, performance, sculptural and textile elements, sound and writing,” reads McGuinness’s website, explaining that the artist performs “live public interventions and performances.”

She met Murphy before he became famous

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Murphy’s first acting role in the late 1990s turned into his breakthrough. He was cast in a local production in Cork, Ireland for a new play called Disco pigs then unknown playwright. It became such a hit that it toured in Dublin and London and then around the world for 18 months. It was during this time that Murphy and McGuinness met for the first time, and she then accompanied the actor on most of the tour.

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“That time, crafting Disco pigsit was somehow the most important period in my life,” he said Guard 2016. “The people I met there remain my closest friends… They shaped me in terms of my taste, in terms of what I wanted to do with my life. And it was around the same time I met my wife. She came on tour with us. It was so exciting, 20 years ago or whatever it was — we were all just kids, trying to find our way — but such a special, special time.”

She and Murphy married in 2004 and have two children

McGuinness and Murphy married in 2004 and later had two sons together: Malachy, born in 2005, and Aran, born in 2007.

While McGuinness was pregnant with Malachy, Murphy was filming the war drama in 2006 The wind that shakes the barley. The actor later told Guard that making the film was one of his favorite acting experiences, partly because he was able to be close to McGuinness.

“I was living at home with my folks, my wife was pregnant with our son, and we were running around the hills of West Cork shooting the Black and Tans. Fantastic!” he described.

That same summer, Batman begins premiered in theaters and catapulted Murphy’s career to a new level.

They lived in London for decades and now live in Dublin

“I loved living in London in my 20s and 30s, but after a while you think, ‘Okay, is this it? Is this it for the rest of my days? Or is there another possibility?’ said Murphy Guard.

He and McGuinness decided to move the family to Dublin in 2015 because they wanted their sons to be closer to their grandparents. “We wanted them to be Irish, I guess,” he said. “It’s amazing how quickly their accents have adapted. Even within a year of coming back, they’re moving more and more into this raunchy West British kind of thing. Which I think will hopefully get them lots of girls when they’re 15 year.”

They value their privacy

Although McGuinness has Instagram and Twitter accounts, both are private, and Murphy is not on social media at all. The couple are so tight-lipped about their family life that, although Murphy often gives interviews about his hit movies, he rarely speaks publicly about his wife or children.

Both are vegetarians

“I was a vegetarian for a long time and then I came back and now I’m back to vegetarianism,” Murphy said Guard. – My wife is too.

When Murphy was filming pointed glasses, McGuinness stayed at home with his children

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The couple lives in Dublin, but Pointed glasses recorded in Liverpool, England. During production, McGuinness stayed in Dublin with their children, while Murphy moved into a rented flat in Liverpool and lived what he called a “zero” life. Guard.

“It’s a canceled life,” he explained. “At the end of the day you go home to your tiny apartment and eat to survive, learn sentences for the next day and try to sleep as much as possible. Which isn’t much. And then you get up and do it again.”

Murphy also described the decompression period he went through after filming each season and returning home. “It takes time. My wife can see it happening. ‘OK. Tommy is gradually going away. I’m bringing Cillian back,'” he said.

McGuinness proposed an adaptation of the novel Little things like these

In an interview published in July 2023, Murphy spoke with Guard about his upcoming film, Little things like these, saying that his wife originally suggested adapting Claire Keegan’s novel for the screen.

Murphy explained that he wanted to work with Pointed glasses director Tim Mielants and they were trying to think of a movie to make when McGuinness suggested adapting the popular book.

“That’s already going to be gone,” Murphy said, referring to the rights to adapt the book. He recalled contacting the agent and finding out he was available.

Murphy credits McGuinness with keeping him grounded

Despite Murphy’s high-profile career, the couple try to stay out of the limelight. “Fame has never been the goal. I just want to move forward,” Murphy previously told PEOPLE. “If I can leave one film behind that is something that affects someone, that’s totally fine.”

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He credits his wife for keeping him grounded. “It’s very important to have someone like that,” he said. “My life hasn’t changed at all, really. I still have the same friends and we go to the same places.”

As Murphy said Guard In 2016, it took him “a long time” to figure out who he was, noting that he sees a level of trust in his and McGuinness’ sons that he didn’t experience at their age.

“I was brave. But deep down… I don’t know, they seem to have adjusted better than I was. More confident in myself. I’m happy about that. It was something that took a long time for me to figure out : that it’s okay to be you, that it’s okay to be an individual,” he said.

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Source: HIS Education