FAMOUS FACES
WHO’D have thought the young lad from the Denny ad would go on to be the next Gladiator?
Long before Normal People or Gladiator 2, PAUL MESCAL was known to us for eating sausages in a quirky commercial for the meat brand. He told recently how he got paid €5,000 for the memorable 2017 ad, which allowed him to pay his rent for the rest of the year.
Mescal, 28, described it as the moment where he learned he could earn his bread and butter in his chosen creative profession, saying: “The big break for me was being told you can get paid as an actor.
“It was the most money I had ever been paid. I was too old to have said yes to a sausage advert but I was desperate.
“It’s something people in Ireland reference a lot to bring me right back down to earth.”
The Kildare man – who went on to movie superstardom – played the son in a family breakfast scene.
Dressed in a striped top and a hoodie, he spins a globe and picks a spot to travel to – but ends up on a bus to Ballyhaunis, not Bali.
But probably the most famous ad to kickstart a Hollywood career is the award-winning Guinness commercial “Quarrel” in 2003.
MICHAEL FASSBENDER, 46, plays a man who crosses the Atlantic to make up with an old friend. He has only one line of dialogue in the ad: “Sorry.”
He’s seen in his kitchen listening to the radio when he suddenly switches it off and strides out of the house.
We see him crossing through city streets and then past the Naas ball on the N7, before making his way through fields and then to the edge of a clifftop.
He jumps off and swims across the Atlantic to New York, where he walks into a bar and apologises to his friend.
The iconic ad is regarded as one of the all-time classic commercials.
It was made all the more poignant as the soundtrack to it was the haunting Heyday by Mic Christopher, who had tragically died two years before.
Panto star – and morning show host – ALAN HUGHES was first known to us as the homecoming son in the old ad for the ESB in 1985. At a time of mass unemployment and emigration, the ad tugged at the heartstrings of anyone who had a family member living abroad.
The commercial shows Alan getting a lift back home, while his mother prepares the house and a meal for him.
He looks dreamily out the window at the Irish landscape as he makes the journey to the sound of Dusty Springfield’s Going Home.
CHRIS O’DOWD is one of the biggest comedy actors in the world — but the Roscommon man started out in an ad for Daz. Chris, 44, known for Moone Boy, Bridesmaids and the IT Crowd, played a love cheat character in a series of spoof soap opera ads for the detergent.
In one episode of “Cleaner Close”, Chris is caught red-handed on a date with his secret lover.
She tips a bowl of spaghetti over his white shirt and finishes off with a chocolate dessert on his head.
It is understood he would have got paid about €10,000 at the time for his recurring role.
His wife Dawn O’porter joked about his humble beginnings in a social media post recently to mark their sixth wedding anniversary.
She said: “Married 6 years today. Happy anniversary my darling. When I saw you in those Daz adverts, I never imagined you’d be mine.”
Meanwhile, one of Britain’s bestknown comedy actresses, VICKI MICHELLE, had her start in the famous “Sally O’brien” ad.
It was actually an ad for Harp lager, but it was Sally O’brien “and the way she might look at you” that captured hearts.
Made in 1980, it was another ad that focused on the homesickness of those who had emigrated.
Vicki went on to become famous for her role as Yvette in the comedy series ‘Allo ‘Allo.
But she says the Irish always remember her as Sally – with her sexy look – who made a man yearn for her from the other side of the world.
“Most people recognise me as Yvette from ‘Allo ’Allo,” she said.
“But Irish men will always ask about Sally. It’s funny but flattering.”
Other actresses to get their start in commercials include Pamela Anderson, who modelled for Labatt’s beer; Courteney Cox, who appeared in an ad for Tampax and Demi Moore for Diet Coke.