I was Paul Mesc-ow!
Actor reveals his painful GAA past ...and lying to his drama teachers
PAUL Mescal has told how suffering a broken nose and broken jaw on the GAA field almost derailed his acting career.
The Normal People star revealed he had to lie to his drama teachers to cover up how he got his injuries.
Kildare native Paul, 26, played for Maynooth and the Lilywhites but he had to give up football to focus on acting.
He told Seth Meyers on NBC’S Late Night chat show: “I broke my nose and my jaw.
“I broke my jaw two days before starting my final year in drama school.
“I was like, ‘I’m probably going to give it a break for the last year’, because I found they didn’t really go hand in hand.
“You can’t really act with a broken jaw.”
Paul, whose GAA shorts on Normal People sparked a global trend, wore a 1970s-style flared open neck shirt and suit on the TV show.
The actor, who is dating US singer Phoebe Bridgers, revealed he told his acting teachers at Trinity College he’d been mugged.
He said: “They say you’re not allowed to play any sport. I was face-to-face with my acting teachers and they were like, ‘what’s wrong?’. “I was like, ‘this is so weird, I got mugged at work’. Yeah, nightmare. His story was met with hoots of laughter from the live audience as host Seth Myers quizzed Paul about Gaelic football. Describing the action on the pitch, he said: “Chaos, pure chaos. “It’s basically like a mix between rugby and soccer, but it is just brutal. Well, rugby is pretty brutal. “You represent your parish or where you come from. It’s nonprofessional, so it’s like very spirited I’d say.” Asked if there was “a lot of fighting” he replied: “It depends on which town you’re playing against. Yeah, I like my town. “I played for Maynooth and Kildare, my county. Like a geography lesson.” Mescal appeared on the New York show to promote his latest movie Aftersun, which has received rave reviews from critics. He captained Kildare’s minor team and was tipped for senior glory but he ditched GAA to pursue his acting dream.
Chaos, pure chaos – it is just brutal PAUL MESCAL ON PLAYING FOOTBALL