Who is Paul Mescal, the former soccer player now nominated for Best Actor at the 2023 Oscars?

From a very young age he devoted himself to Gaelic football, the most popular sport in his country, Ireland. And while he showed enough talent to become a professional player, a jaw injury sidelined him. We do not know if it is because of this that he has a slightly tilted jaw: typical boxer’s chin, roughly chiselled, and certain airs of mickey rourke either Jean Paul Belmondotwo iconic faces squared.

But Paul Mescal (Maynooth, 1996) at the same time he has a permanent sleepy face, basset hound eyes. And at the same time also the appearance of an ordinary Irishman, a small town boy who suddenly appears to stir up the city. It is because of his appearance that he begins the attraction that he has been generating in the last three years; and after that, an acting talent that just placed him among the five nominees for Best Actor at the Oscars 2023. Undoubtedly, one of the surprises of this edition.

hard dispute

It is true that does not start as favorite. He will have to face the vindicated Brendan Fraser, who leads the bets thanks to “The Whale”; Austin Butler for his leading role in “Elvis”, and we already know the Academy’s weakness for ‘biopics’; Colin Farrell, who is brilliant in that remarkable black comedy called “The Banshees of Inisherin”; and a heavyweight veteran like Bill Nighy, for “Living”.

However, it has not been a small thing to enter the fight. For it has left out Tom Cruise from “Top Gun: Maverick”, Tom Hanks from “Grumpy Neighbor” and Hugh Jackman from “The Son”. Three consecrated who came with force. So what did this 26-year-old do to win over the voters of the Hollywood Academy?

rapid rise

Most of his career to date has been spent on stage. In the theater, his first important work was that of the spectrum of “The Phantom of the Opera”. She was only 16 years old. After accumulating several more stagings -which he has not abandoned to date-, it was foreseeable that they would summon him for the screen. Y his outstanding performance occurred in “Normal People” (2020), Irish miniseries based on the book of the same name by Sally Rooney. In it, he plays Connell, a student experiencing the twists and turns of a romantic relationship with his classmate Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones).

The series garnered rave reviews, with particular emphasis on the acting of the leads. Hence, the following year Mescal appeared in a secondary role in “The Dark Daughter”, a film that came to be nominated for an Oscar, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Though understated, her appearance was haunting enough within a story of secrets veiled by tension and suspicion.

Until the 2022 consecration for the actor arrived. Especially with two highly acclaimed premieres at the Cannes Film Festival. The first is “God’s Creatures”, a drama directed by Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer, set in a remote Irish fishing village. The other is “Aftersun” by Charlotte Wellsthe emotional film that has been named among the best of last year and that earned him an Oscar nomination.

It’s not a minor detail the mentioned films are directed by women. Because the choice of Mescal perhaps responds to the search for a figure that does not necessarily fit the conventional prototypes of manhood: there is in him a formidable capacity to convey a vulnerable, timid, insecure image, usually in a low key, except in certain peaks that the emotional intensity deserves. The world has changed and with it the ways of understanding masculinities. In that, Mescal is right.

future star

If Mescal’s still short film and television career is not enough for you, you can also see him in some video clips. That of “Scarlet” by the Rolling Stones, for example; or that of “Savior Complex”, by the American singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgerswho is also the actor’s partner. There is no shortage of projects for the future, and with the exposure that the Oscars will give him, surely more will come.

For now, Ridley Scott has already chosen him as the protagonist of the sequel to “Gladiator”his Academy Award-winning film in 2000. He will not play the remembered Máximo Décimo Meridio by Russell Crowe, but the main responsibility for the film will fall on his shoulders.

Meanwhile, another ambitious project in which he is involved is “Merrily We Roll Along”, where he will also have a starring role. Directed by Richard Linklater, it is about a movie to be shot over the course of 20 years, with its actors meeting every two years to film scenes and thus show the passage of time in their physical appearance (an idea that Linklater had already experienced in “Boyhood”, 12 years in the making). Reason enough to be able to closely follow his career. Because he brings them to him.