Shane Connaughton

Irish writer and actor

Shane Connaughton
Born	(1941-04-04) 4 April 1941 (age 83) Kingscourt, County Cavan, Ireland
Occupation(s)	Writer, actor
Years active	1975–present
Spouse	Ann Connaughton

Shane Connaughton (born 4 April 1941 in Kingscourt, County Cavan^[1]^[2]) is an Irish writer and actor, probably best known as co-writer of the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for My Left Foot.^[3] He also co-wrote the screenplays for the Academy Award-winning 1980 short film The Dollar Bottom and 1992 film The Playboys, as well as other screenplays and plays. He won the Hennessy Award in 1985.^[4]

Connaughton is the author of the books A Border Station (1989), The Run of the Country (1991), and Big Parts (2009).^[3]^[5] He adapted The Run of the Country for the screen in 1995 and published a book about its filming, A Border Diary, the same year.^[4] A Border Station, a short story collection, was a bestseller in Ireland and was shortlisted for the Guinness Peat Award.^[6] His first two books are both set in the County Cavan village of Redhills, where he grew up, and The Playboys and The Run of the Country were filmed there.^[2]

Connaughton attended Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has worked as a theatre and film actor,^[2] appearing in Coronation Street, Mike Leigh's Four Days in July, Neil Jordan's The Miracle, and The Playboys, among other roles. He acted in the 2020 award-winning black comedy, Redemption of a Rogue.

Connaughton is married and has two children. He lives in London much of the time.^[2]

Notes

^ [1] Shane Connaughton
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Hogan, Sinead. Shane Connaughton brings it all home to his beloved native county. The Anglo-Celt. 4-29-2009.
^ ^a ^b Welch, Robert, and Bruce Stewart. The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature. Oxford University Press, 1996. p. 112.
^ ^a ^b How to Write--Meet the Writers: Shane Connaughton. BBC World Service.
^ Lynch, Brian. With Shane Connaughton in swinging '70s London. Irish Independent. 3-21-2009.
^ Milligan, Bryce. Crossing Irish borderlands into self-awareness. Chicago Tribune. 4-7-1992.