Colin Farrell, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, which was recorded in front of an audience of students at Chapman University, is a 46-year-old Irishman who has been a bona fide movie star for half of his life. In 2022, he starred in four major films: Matt Reeves’ The Batman, which was a blockbuster in the spring; Kogonada’s After Yang, which premiered at Cannes; Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives, an acclaimed fall drama; and Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and has since brought him the greatest acclaim and accolades of his career.

Described by the Los Angeles Times as “a compelling actor with a surprisingly wide range” and by The Guardian as “a pretty boy with the acting chops of a heavyweight,” he has worked on films helmed by many of his era’s most distinguished directors, including Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Terrence Malick, Michael Mann, Woody Allen, Terry Gilliam, Sofia Coppola, Peter Weir, Yorgos Lanthimos, Neil Jordan, Steve McQueen, Tim Burton, Kenneth Branagh, Ron Howard and his most frequent collaborator, McDonagh; and he has shared the screen with many of its biggest stars and finest actors, as well, including Tom Cruise, Al Pacino, Jeff Bridges, Nicole Kidman, Denzel Washington, Jessica Chastain, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis and Brendan Gleeson.

But his career has been anything but smooth sailing. There have been giant highs, and lows; huge hits, and bombs; and moments of triumph, and of doubt. All of it has shaped him into the man and actor who this season, for his performance opposite Gleeson in McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, has already been honored with the best actor Venice Film Festival prize and the best actor in a musical or comedy Golden Globe Award (his second, 14 years after his first, which came for another McDonagh movie, In Bruges); has also been nominated for a best actor Critics Choice Award and is nominated for a best actor BAFTA Award; and in January, for the first time in his career, was nominated for an Oscar, as well.