Paul Mescal is the breakout star of Oscar season.
Less than three years after becoming an internet boyfriend thanks to Hulu series “Normal People,” the Irish actor is on the fast track to the A-list with a surprise best actor Oscar nomination for “Aftersun.” Now, he’s slated to star in Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” sequel (in theaters Nov. 22, 2024) and Richard Linklater’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” which will shoot over the next two decades in a “Boyhood”-style experiment.
Mescal, 27, will next appear on stage in “A Streetcar Named Desire” in London’s West End, taking on the role made famous by Marlon Brando. Here are five things to know about the up-and-comer:
‘Aftersun’ is a quietly heartbreaking father-daughter story
In “Aftersun,” Mescal (pronounced “Mess-cull”) plays an anguished yet attentive young dad who goes on holiday with his preteen daughter (Frankie Corio). The critically acclaimed drama is based in part on director Charlotte Wells’ memories of her late father, and has earned best first-feature prizes from the Independent Spirit Awards and British Academy Film Awards, among others.
The movie “just feels universal,” Mescal told USA TODAY last fall. At “Aftersun” screenings, “people have come up and spoken about their personal relationship to the film (and how they) lost a parent. Just for it to be moving quite a large swath of audiences has been so utterly satisfying. The same version of the script that moved me when I read it is working its magic on audiences that are going to see it.”
Paul Mescal got his start in an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical
Growing up in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland, Mescal played Gaelic football until he caught the acting bug at 16, when he landed his first role as the Phantom in school musical “The Phantom of the Opera.” “It became a real addiction to me then,” Mescal recalls. “I had this mask that we had to tape (to my face), because it kept flying up and revealing the makeup. But that whole experience is a feeling that I’m probably still chasing: just the adrenaline rush and the stakes feeling so big. What I find sad about growing up is that first experiences are harder to come by.”
The Irish actor’s first TV role was in ‘Normal People’
Mescal graduated with a bachelor in acting from Dublin’s The Lir Academy in 2017. He worked in theater until he was cast in Hulu’s “Normal People,” based on Sally Rooney’s 2018 romance novel and co-starring Daisy Edgar-Jones. The show was released at the height of COVID lockdown in 2020 and became a social media sensation, which gave Mescal a small taste of fame while still quarantined at home. He went on to earn Emmy and Critics Choice Award nominations for his performance.
“There was such a drastic shift in life pre- vs. post-‘Normal People’ for me. I was grateful, if I’m being honest, about the slow introduction to the public side of being in a film or TV show that is popular,” Mescal says. Edgar-Jones, too, remains a close friend: “It’s wonderful to have somebody who’s not only going through something similar, but a friend that you can talk to candidly about the ridiculousness and wonderful parts of this career.”
Despite constant media attention, his personal life is not ‘fair game’
Mescal’s love life has become a source of intense fascination online. The actor was previously linked to singer Phoebe Bridgers, although the couple reportedly broke up late last year. (In a January Rolling Stone interview, Bridgers confirmed she is not engaged.) Mescal says he’s still trying to navigate how much or how little to share about his personal life.
“Ultimately, I get to choose what I say and what I talk about,” Mescal says. “If I say one thing in one interview, it doesn’t mean that it’s a pre-decided rule that it’s then fair game. The information I choose to share about my life is dependent on many things. It’s day by day. My private life will always remain, to a certain degree, as private as I choose to keep it.”
He has a rule of thumb for choosing movies like ‘Gladiator’
In addition to “Gladiator 2” and “Merrily,” Mescal has half a dozen films in the pipeline, including next month’s musical drama “Carmen” with Melissa Barrera (“In the Heights”) and the upcoming sci-fi thriller “Foe” with Saoirse Ronan. When it comes to selecting his next project, Mescal has a checklist that he likes to run through: Does it have a good script, a good director and a good character?
“That’s what I was told in drama school: Aim for three,” Mescal explains. “If you have two, make it a strong consideration. And if you only have one, you shouldn’t do it. So I’ve been sticking to that rule as much as possible and I’m proud of the films (I’ve done). It works for me.”
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