Who is Normal People star Paul Mescal?
SINCE Normal People hit screens, Paul Mescal has been praised for his portrayal of Connell Waldron. But who is the actor, what TV shows has he been in before, and what has he said about the BBC version of Sally Rooney’s hit novel? Read on to find out more about the up-and-coming star… Who is […]
SINCE Normal People hit screens, Paul Mescal has been praised for his portrayal of Connell Waldron.
But who is the actor, what TV shows has he been in before, and what has he said about the BBC version of Sally Rooney’s hit novel? Read on to find out more about the up-and-coming star…
Who is Paul Mescal?
Paul is 24-year-old actor born in 1996 the Irish town of Maynooth near Dublin.
He is the son of Paul, a Garda (member of the Republic of Ireland police service), and Dearbhla, a school teacher, and he has a brother Donnacha and a sister Nell who is a singer.
Throughout school he played Gaelic football – including for an under-21s team for Kildare, and as a member of Maynooth GAA.
However, he was forced to give up the sport when he broke his jaw while studying at the prestigious Trinity College Dublin.
This moment, he recently told GQ, made him realise he would never be able to play professionally and also pursue acting at the same time.
Paul explained: “I still played through first and second year. I had agreed in my own heart to give it up before starting third year, but we had a match the Saturday before starting college and I went out to catch the ball and broke my jaw.
“I had to make up a lie and said that I got mugged in my place of work, a garage.”
He added: “I was late to playing to drama schools, because I thought that I was going to be going to do law and arts, or something, and play football.”
Paul graduated from university in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting from the Lir Academy.
He currently lives in a flat in London, and has amassed a following of more than 30,000 on his Instagram account @paul.mescal.
Which TV shows has he been in?
Normal People is Paul’s first TV role – however he has had a wide range of theatre parts in Dublin and London.
After graduation, he took on the role of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby and played the Prince in Hans Christian Andersen’s The Red Shoes – both at Dublin’s Gate Theatre.
Paul has also played Lieutenant Langon in The Plough and the Stars at the Lyric Theatre and Gaiety Theatre in London.
More recently he starred in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man back in Dublin.
The actor set to appear in upcoming comedy series Bump.
What has he said about Normal People?
Paul was cast as Connell a month before the part of Marianne was decided – and had to go through scenes with about ten actresses auditioning for the part.
But he has insisted he aways knew it would be Daisy Edgar-Jones.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, he said: “I was the only guy called back to the first set of chemistry reads, but they didn’t give me the part by then – it was awful.
“And before the next round of chemistry reads, they put me out of my misery, offered it to me, then I met Daisy and she was amazing. And then that was it.”
Paul has acknowledged there was plenty of competition for his role at the time, telling The Guardian: “It’s one of those parts that you know quickly will be big.
“I was around a lot of Irish actors at the time and we all felt we were Connell, in a sense”.
However, author Sally Rooney gave him her seal of approval when they met for coffee in Dublin before filming started.
Speaking to GQ, he recalled: “[Rooney] said that I looked like how she had imagined Connell when she was writing it four or five years ago.
“When she kind of gave me her blessing, that was a major weight off my shoulders.”
Paul has revealed to the i that he has been amazed by the enthusiastic reception.
He said: “At various intervals, Daisy and I are screaming at each other over the phone, like, ‘What is going on?’”
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How do you watch Normal People?
The first two episodes aired back-to-back on April 27, 2020 on BBC One.
However, the whole series is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
The adaptation consists of 12 episodes, which are each 30 minutes long.