Desmond Eastwood

Born in Lisburn, the son of Mary and Desmond Eastwood, he attended Friends' School, Lisburn. He graduated with a law degree from Queen's College, Belfast in 2014, before moving to Dublin to study acting at the Gaiety School of Acting. He has five siblings. His brother Colum is a film maker.^[1][2]

He has appeared in television productions including Krypton, Vikings and Blood, working alongside Adrian Dunbar, and worked on Game Of Thrones. He also appeared in his brother's first feature film Black Medicine, which starred Antonia Campbell-Hughes.^[1]

He could be seen in 2020 television series Normal People playing Niall who befriends the character Connell, played by Paul Mescal.^[3] For his role in the series he was nominated for best supporting actor at the 17th Irish Film & Television Awards.^[4][5] Eastwood and Mescal were performing in The Lieutenant of Inishmore together on stage in Dublin when the production was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6] Derry Girls writer Lisa McGee labelled his Normal People character "the soundest one",^[7] and Eastwood later appeared in her series as Benny.^[8]

He has roles in 2023 Liam Neeson film In the Land of Saints and Sinners,^[9] and Pierce Brosnan film The Last Rifleman.^[10][11]

He plays Detective Murray Canning in the first two series of the BBC One Northern Ireland police drama Blue Lights.^[12][13]

He can be seen in 2024 Finnish drama Stormskerry Maja^[14] and Christoph Waltz comedy action film Old Guy.^[15]

Key

†	Denotes works that have not yet been released