Winona Ryder gave me a vintage Pogues T-shirt
Anthony Boyle is Ireland’s newest acting star... with some A-list pals
THE hottest actor out of Belfast since Jamie Dornan is set to burst on´to our screens as a young Jew fighting fascism in a new series from the makers of The Wire.
In the space of a few short years, Anthony Boyle conquered the West End and Broadway before landing a starring role opposite Winona Ryder in Sky Atlantic’s new series, The Plot Against America.
And he was even showered with gifts from his co-star. ‘She’s incredible, she is an absolute icon and just so kind, she has no ego whatsoever,’ Boyle says of Ryder. ‘I remember singing the Pogues one day just randomly and the next day she came and gave me a T-shirt the Pogues gave her when she was like 15 watching them in concert.
‘She was just so kind and giving and generous.’
The 26-year-old shot to stardom after a brief but memorably gory cameo in Game Of Thrones filmed on the set outside his hometown. He then picked up an Olivier award and a Tony nomination for his role in Harry Potter And The Cursed Child before playing a heartthrob in Derry Girls.
He has now rounded off a dizzying tour-de-force with his role in The Plot Against America, based on the Philip Roth book, which imagines an alternate history of the Second World War years. It’s quite the effort after leaving his Cardiff drama school nine months early. ‘I’ve just been so lucky, so much of it’s luck and timing. I’m just thankful,’ Boyle says. The new HBO miniseries on Sky Atlantic is set in an alternative version of 1940s New Jersey, when American Jews are persecuted after voters elect hero aviator and Nazi sympathiser Charles Lindbergh to the White House. Boyle’s hotheaded Jewish character, Alvin Levin, leaves New Jersey to fight with the Canadians against the Nazis. He says of his character: ‘I think he is a sort of wayward kid. He cares more about being good than being liked. He just feels everything. I was focusing on what it would have been like for a Jewish person growing up in a fascist state.’
The high production values are seen in spades in HBO’s beautiful 1940s New Jersey sets. Boyle remarks: ‘There was one day we had booked out the entirety of Newark town centre. The clothes and coming out of the cars and when you look off in the distance you can see people in period dress. You realise HBO are making the best TV out there.’
Apart from Ryder, Boyle’s other female celeb pals include the cast of Derry Girls. Boyle played heartthrob DJ David Donnelly in the first episode of the show that has made global stars of the cast. He said: ‘They are all amazing. It’s such an incredible thing, it’s worldwide now, people love it.’
And when two of the actresses came over to see him perform Harry Potter And The Cursed Child on Broadway he was tickled to see them getting stopped in the streets. ‘Nicola [Coughlan] and Louisa [Harland] were getting stopped in the streets of Manhattan. It had just been released in the States when they landed,’ Boyle says.
‘It was fun to watch that in real time. One of the dressers on Broadway
was like, “I got to watch that with subtitles” with the Derry accents,’ he laughs.
Growing up in Belfast, Boyle is a child of the ceasefire as opposed to a child of the Troubles but he still felt the hangover from the city’s war years.
‘I’m technically called a ceasefire baby. Obviously I didn’t grow up with what my parents’ generation had to endure but the hangover of that is always present. Our police stations are still army barracks, there are still 80-foot walls separating Catholics and Protestants.
‘The Troubles sort of looms over us all constantly unfortunately but I think it is getting better.’
While there is an impressive pedigree of actors from the city from Liam Neeson to James Nesbitt to
‘So much of it is luck and timing’
‘The inspiration I take is Van Morrison’
Jamie Dornan, his biggest idol is Van Morrison.
‘Obviously Jamie [Dornan] is an amazing actor but for me the inspiration I would take is Van Morrison. I think the man creates high art. You go, “I can’t believe he’s walked the same streets as me.”’
For the past few years Boyle has lived in midtown Manhattan during his Broadway run before moving to Brooklyn to film the HBO series, but he and his brother flew back home to Belfast in March at the start of lockdown.
In the future he would like to divide his time between Ireland and America. ‘I love New York, I love London but I think Belfast is always going to [be] that special palace,’ Boyle says. ‘For me it’s one of the greatest cities. I love the energy here, I love the people. I do like travelling as well.’
While back in Belfast during the lockdown, he has had time to relax after living the last few years at breakneck speed. Boyle says: ‘Now that we can see other people, I can go and see family members I haven’t seen in years and have a wee cup of tea.’
All episodes of The Plot Against America are available on Sky Atlantic and Now TV on July 14