Allen Leech

 ( 1981 Births ) 

Afterwards, drama became the "focal point" of Leech's teenage years, apart from his family life, and drama and family support helped him through his school years. He became set on acting after winning a small role in a 1998 production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Gate Theatre. He earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master's Degree in Drama and Theatre Studies from Trinity College Dublin, later noting this was a "loophole" in his parents' stipulation that he earn a degree to fall back on if he failed to have success as an actor. He landed his first major roles in Cowboys & Angels and Man About Dog while at Trinity, and he has admitted that he did little schoolwork because he spent his time on auditions and acting.

He appeared as Willi in the Queen and Peacock, at the Garter Lane Arts Centre. The following years, Leech was in Tom Murphy's The Morning After Optimism and then Hugh Leonard's Da at the Abbey Theatre.

Leech's breakthrough film performance was in Cowboys and Angels,Koehler, Robert (13 July 2004). " Cowboys & Angels" Variety. Retrieved 22 July 2020. in which he played Vincent, a gay fashion student, followed by a role in the 2004 cross-country caper film Man About Dog.Cline, Rich (19 October 2004) " Man About Dog". ShadowsOnTheWall.Russell, Jamie (14 November 2004). " Man About Dog (2004)". BBC News. Hereford & Worcester

Leech played the role of Shane Kirwan in the Ireland's RTÉ series Love Is the Drug, in which he received a Best Actor nomination from the Irish Film and Television Awards. He followed that up with the role of Willy in the television series Legend, which is the story of three different Irish families. He received a Best Supporting Actor nomination from Irish Film and Television Awards for his performance.

In 2007, Leech appeared in the HBO drama series Rome as Marcus Agrippa, Octavian's top soldier and friend. The film, Rewind, opened in Ireland on 25 March 2011.

In 2010, he appeared on the small screen in The Tudors as the doomed Francis Dereham, former lover of Catherine Howard. Leech also appeared in ITV 2010s television series Downton Abbey as chauffeur Tom Branson, whose twin beliefs in socialism and Irish Republicanism clash with those of the British nobility. He played the role of officer Sam Leonard in television series Primeval in 2011 in series five. Leech also starred in the 2012 film adaptation The Sweeney. In 2014 he starred alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, as the spy John Cairncross, in The Imitation Game.

Leech was voted sexiest Irish male in 2005 in U Magazine. He was named one of GQ's 50 best dressed men in Britain in 2015.

In 2017, Leech appeared alongside Ginnifer Goodwin in the Los Angeles stage production of Constellations. The play ran from June 14 to July 23, 2017, at the Geffen Playhouse.

Leech played Paul Prenter, who was briefly Freddie Mercury's manager and lover, in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), which earned him a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In 2023 he starred alongside India Mullen in the crime drama The Vanishing Triangle.

Leech reprised his role as Tom Branson in the feature films Downton Abbey (2019) and (2022), and in the upcoming third and final film in the franchise, (2025).

• RTÉ Legend Official Site