Raw talent

He has been a show-stealer recently in the RTÉ TV drama 'Raw', but SINEAD GLEESONdiscovers that Padraic Delaney has a growing film profile I I never did the school play thing. I wouldn't have had the courage, but I'm a film nerd and that's what ultimately pushed me in this direction

N THE WEEK I meet Padraic Delaney, he has just been for an audition, where he was required to play a character with health problems. Slim, bearded and wearing a leather jacket and hoody, Delaney is the antithesis of this. Smiling and relaxed, he admits that he has, like many people, been off alcohol since New Year's Day.

Delaney came to acting relatively late and in an untraditional manner. "I started off studying engineering and after three months realised I was failing miserably. I'd always loved TV and film and knew that was the time to make the 'it's now or never' leap. Funnily enough . . . I never did the school play thing. I wouldn't have had the courage to do it back then, but I'm a film nerd and that's what ultimately pushed me in this direction."

He studied drama at Trinity College Dublin and rather than finding himself playing awkward catch-up, he loved it. "I devoured it; they were some of the best years of my life. Acting is a scary profession, but you don't think along those lines when you're in your late teens - you throw yourself headlong into things. It was great training and I learnt a lot about theatre, but I always knew I wanted to work in film and television."

Delaney's first big film role was in Ken Loach's Irish Civil War drama The Wind that Shakes the Barley, where he starred alongside Cillian Murphy. The film was made on a modest budget of €3 million. "People think when you star in a high profile film that you're suddenly a millionaire. It's bonkers. People are all, 'Where's the Bentley?' I always said that the three directors I really wanted to work with were Mike Leigh, Martin Scorcese and Ken Loach. For my first job in film, to work with Ken was phenomenal."

We're sitting in the Library Bar of Dublin's Central Hotel, which is mostly peopled by weary shoppers and tourists. With a gesture towards George's Street, he tells me that his first meeting with Loach was on this very street. Loach is a famous enthusiast of improvisation, providing his ensemble casts with the bare bones of the story, but it's not something all actors are keen on. Delaney says he thrives on it and knows he's good at it, while being keenly aware of his strengths and weaknesses as a performer.

Does he ever turn down work? "Sometimes, yes. If I felt couldn't do a part justice, I would hold up my hand and say, 'I know an actor who could do this better.' That's probably a terrible thing to admit. but I know what my limits are. I also know what I'm good at - and that's important. There was a time when I was younger when I thought I could do anything, but it's about knowing yourself. I used to be very precious about the kind of work I'd do, but I've lightened up."

Several RTÉ shows came calling - Pure Mule, Legend, Eden- before he landed a role in The Tudors, where he played George Boleyn for two series. Most recently, TV roles in Single-Handedand Rawhave kept him busy. " Rawis a lot of fun to work on, but I was a little bit anxious when I started, because it moves so fast. It's a really slick machine - two or three takes and you're moving on."

Is he a foodie? "Oh, I love my food. It's probably what I spend most of my money on. It's a real treat to go out for something to eat. Plus, I'm a terrible, awful cook. I can do the basics, but nothing that requires too much preparation. Too many pots going at the same time scares me. I'm a good washer-upper though."

This instantly brings to mind the cliché of the out-of-work actor - waiting tables or working in restaurant kitchens. Delaney is keenly aware that as a profession, acting has always been precarious, and he doesn't take it for granted. "Since 2005, I've been lucky to have had a steady flow of work. 2009 was a quiet year, and it was also the first year people started talking about the recession. Six months prior to that we hadn't even heard the 'r' word, but as an actor, you're always in a state of recession, you don't know when the job is going to come around. There will always be more actors than jobs. Ireland is a small country and everyone roots for each other. Acting is also about perseverance, about sticking at it longer than the other person does. Any actor is only ever a couple of months from being back in the dole queue."

Economic chaos notwithstanding, 2010 was a busy year for the Wexford man. As well as roles in the TV movie When Harvey Met Boband Irish film Perrier's Bounty, he starred in Blackthorn, a re-imagining of the life of Butch Cassidy, alongside Sam Shepard. "I couldn't believe it. The man is a Pulitzer prize winner. In a role like this there's almost no acting required for him because he's a real cowboy. He's 65 going on 18 and is full of great stories. He's done some crazy things in his life, so after the shoot every day he'd namedrop about the hedonistic 1970s and what him and Jack Nicholson got up to."

The film was shot in Bolivia for six weeks ("the most beautiful place I've ever been to") and premieres at this year's Cannes Festival. Isztambul - made by Hungarian director Ferenc Török - will screen at the Dublin Film Festival on Monday, and Delaney agreed to the project having seen Török's Moscow Square. "I've dabbled in a lot of things, but I think I'm more comfortable on a smaller set. I like small-budget, independent films, but then I'd be happy to do romantic comedy too. I'd like to try everything."

Like most actors, he has also had a couple of near-misses with major roles. It was down to - no pun intended - the wire for a role in David Simon's Generation Kill and he recently auditioned for a role in HBO's Boardwalk Empire.

Despite interest from the US, he is keen to stay in Ireland. His parents and three siblings live here and he has a brother and sister in the US. "Every actor thinks about it regularly. Funnily enough, it always rears its head again at the start of a new year. I'm quite happy to stay here, and despite all the stuff that's going on at the moment, I like Ireland. I spent about four months in London [starring on stage in Doubt]. It's a big city and I felt a bit like an automaton."

What about the Mecca of celluloid, Los Angeles? "In terms of lifestyle choice, I couldn't live there, but New York . . . I could spent a couple of years there. I have family ties to Ireland and I'd be hate to be forced to leave, especially if the choice was taken away from me."

Isztambulis at Cineworld, Dublin on Monday, February 21st at 6.30pm as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. jdiff.com