John Kavanagh

Acting

John Kavanagh

Born

1946-01-01 (80)

Place of birth

Dublin, Ireland

Known for

Acting

Credits

82 titles

John Kavanagh (born 1946, Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish character actor who was a member of the Abbey Theatre company for ten years (1967–1977) before going freelance. He has worked in over 20 films and numerous TV series since 1970. His film credits include Braveheart (1995), The Butcher Boy (1997), Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), Florence Foster Jenkins (2016), and The Last Duel (2021). On television he is best known for playing The Seer / Pope Leo IV in Vikings (2013–2020) and Vikings: Valhalla (2022–2024), and Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio in The Tudors (2007–2008). He received a Drama Desk Award nomination (1989) for Juno and the Paycock. He is also a singer, having played the lead in the Irish…

Known for

Film credits

2020s · 6 titles

The Last Duel poster
7.4

King Charles VI declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges settle his dispute with his squire, Jacques Le Gris, by challenging him to a duel.

The Last Duel

2021

Riverdance: The Animated Adventure poster
6.0

A young Irish boy named Keegan and Spanish girl named Moya journey into a magical world of the Megaloceros Giganteus who teach them to appreciate Riverdance as a celebration of life. Based on the stage show phenomenon of the same name and featuring Bill Whelan’s multi-platinum Grammy Award-winning music.

Riverdance: The Animated Adventure

2021

Bucking Fastard poster
6.0

Two sisters, Jean and Joan Holbrooke, are so close to each other that they speak in unison, love the same man, and have the same dreams. They even make the same slip of tongue in unison. We cannot see the world as they see it, but we do see how the world reacts to them – through the courts and the press, through those that want to help and those who want to use them, through the eyes of beasts both tame and wild, and even through their own echoes in the core of the earth.

Bucking Fastard

2026

Baltimore poster
6.0

Based on actual events that took place on 26 April 1974, former debutante turned IRA member Rose Dugdale and three comrades carried out an armed raid on Russborough House, Wicklow, in which nineteen masterpieces were stolen in an effort to support the IRA’s armed struggle. The film plays out over the course of the days following the raid, when Rose is in hiding in a remote cottage.

Baltimore

2024

One Sweet Hour poster
NR

An ageing Elvis impersonator finally faces up to his demons as he travels through the Irish midlands with his long-lost brother, who has recently quit his life in a monastery.

One Sweet Hour

2026

Der Irland-Krimi: Zerrissene Seelen poster
5.8

Criminal psychologist Cathrin Blake is confronted with a very personal case: Superintendent Sean Kelly, with whom Cathrin is also friends, has to deal with his family history when his nephew Eoin comes to Ireland from his native Australia.

Der Irland-Krimi: Zerrissene Seelen

2024

2010s · 9 titles

In Secret poster
6.1

In 1860s Paris, a young woman, Therese, is trapped in a loveless marriage to the sickly Camille by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin. She spends her days behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame play dominos with an eclectic group. After she meets her husband’s alluring friend, Laurent, she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences. Based on Emile Zola’s novel, Thérèse Raquin.

In Secret

2014

Florence Foster Jenkins poster
6.7

The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.

Florence Foster Jenkins

2016

The Invisible Woman poster
5.9

In 1857, at the height of his fame and fortune, novelist and social critic Charles Dickens meets and falls in love with teenage stage actress Nelly Ternan. As she becomes the focus of his heart and mind, as well as his muse, painful secrecy is the price both must pay.

The Invisible Woman

2013

Supervized poster
5.2

Four aging superheroes in a retirement home in Ireland come together for one last hurrah.

Supervized

2019

The Stag poster
5.8

At his fiancée’s urging, a very modern Irish groom-to-be reluctantly agrees to a stag weekend with his friends, camping in the western wilderness of Ireland. Much to their chagrin, these modern men are joined by the brother of the bride, a crazy, unpredictable alpha male known as “The Machine”, and an explosive Id to their collective Ego. The Machine is a force of nature, and under his leadership, the men—stripped of modern comfort, convenience and, finally, clothing—must begin their journey into the wild.

The Stag

2013

The Runway poster
6.1

The Runway is inspired by the true story of a South American pilot who landed his plane near Mallow, in 1983. Against all odds, the people of the town came together to build a runway to get him home and briefly caught the imagination of the nation. It is the story of Paco, a young boy without a father who adopts the pilot and convinces the town to build a runway to get him home.

The Runway

2010

Lost Memories poster
NR

Sean races against the clock to his mother's deathbed in possession of his mother's dying wish while dealing with inter-family politics over the phone.

Lost Memories

2017

Horse poster
NR

In this melancholic rural drama set in 1960s Ireland, a widowed father is unable to communicate with his young son about their shared sadness.

Horse

2014

Deposits poster
NR

Deposits concerns the connection of all the ‘Disappeared’, who are the remains of those murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and those killed centuries earlier by the British Redcoats. What they have in common is that they are buried without trace, but they are also connected by their hopes of discovery.

Deposits

2017

2000s · 12 titles

The Black Dahlia poster
5.6

In 1940s Los Angeles, two former boxers-turned-cops must grapple with corruption, narcissism, stag films and family madness as they pursue the killer of an aspiring young actress.

The Black Dahlia

2006

Alexander poster
6.0

Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.

Alexander

2004

Closing the Ring poster
6.2

During the 1940s, a group of young men go off to war, leaving behind Ethel Ann, who is in love with one of them, Teddy. In modern-day Belfast, a man named Jimmy endeavors to return a ring found in the wreckage of a crashed plane. He travels to Michigan, where the grown Ethel Ann, who married another man after Teddy was killed in battle, now lives. Ethel Ann must decide whether to go with Jimmy to meet the soldier who last saw Teddy alive.

Closing the Ring

2007

Pete's Meteor poster
5.3

Lives change for members of an Irish family after a meteor crashes in their backyard. The kids believe that it was sent down to them by their dead parents, but the government hauls the rock away and sends it to the local university.

Pete's Meteor

2002

Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor poster
4.8

Amid the American Revolution, Benedict Arnold’s battlefield valor brings fame, but resentment, debt, and bruised honor corrode his loyalties, pushing the once-heroic general toward betrayal.

Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor

2003

The Tiger's Tail poster
5.6

After a chance encounter, a Dubliner is stalked by a murderous facsimile of himself.

The Tiger's Tail

2006

Mystics poster
5.5

A black comedy about two old-time conmen who pretend to be able to communicate with the dead.

Mystics

2003

No artwork available
8.0

Monster (Grattan Smith), a diminutive young Dubliner, dreams of going abroad in search of opportunity and adventure. Finding his plans consistently thwarted by a host of oddball characters, he is joined by Freddie, a homeless explorer (MC Wuzza), as he struggles to find an alternate escape.

Last Days in Dublin

2001

Puckoon poster
6.3

Spike Milligan's book about the divided Irish village of Puckoon comes to the big screen.

Puckoon

2002

The Halo Effect poster
8.0

Fatso is the proprietor of what may be the worst eaterie in the city, and is struggling to keep a sinking ship afloat. His compulsive gambling is getting the better of him and he has to contend with an endless succession of loan sharks and debt collectors. He employs hopelessly incompetent staff and generally manages to keep the entire community around him ticking over. However just as Fatso seems to be getting everything under control, he is faced with a dilemma that could destroy him for good.

The Halo Effect

2004

Sinners poster
7.5

Powerful drama set in 1960s Ireland about a young, unmarried mother-to-be whose family sends her to a convent. There, out of sight of society, her work in the laundry provides her with close friendships, which bring hope and relief from daily prayer and penance. (Radio Times)

Sinners

2002

No artwork available
9.0

Kelvin's quiet life is turned upside down when a new neighbour turns out to be a beautiful woman.

The Wonderful Story of Kelvin Kind

2004

1990s · 20 titles

Braveheart poster
7.9

Enraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord's soldiers. This leads the village to revolt and, eventually, the entire country to rise up against English rule.

Braveheart

1995

Some Mother's Son poster
6.8

Based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in a British prison, in which IRA prisoner Bobby Sands led a protest against the treatment of IRA prisoners as criminals rather than as prisoners of war. The film focuses on the mothers of two of the strikers, and their struggle to save the lives of their sons.

Some Mother's Son

1996

Circle of Friends poster
6.3

Three girlhood friends now at college share first loves, first kisses and first betrayals. At the center of it all is the best-looking boy on campus. Can a self-conscious dreamer hook the biggest fish in the pond?

Circle of Friends

1995

Widows' Peak poster
6.4

Scandal and mystery reign following the arrival of Edwina in a small Irish town populated entirely by widows. Edwina quickly falls out with the locals while also falling in with the son of the community's leader

Widows' Peak

1994

The Butcher Boy poster
6.8

Francie and Joe live the usual playful, fantasy filled childhoods of normal boys. However, with a violent, alcoholic father and a manic depressive, suicidal mother the pressure on Francie to grow up are immense. When Francie's world turns to madness, he tries to counter it with further insanity, with dire consequences.

The Butcher Boy

1998

Dancing at Lughnasa poster
6.0

Five unmarried sisters make the most of their simple existence in rural Ireland in the 1930s.

Dancing at Lughnasa

1998

Into the West poster
6.4

Accused of a crime they didn't commit, two city kids and a magical horse are about to become the coolest outlaws ever to ride Into The West.

Into the West

1992

Sharpe's Sword poster
7.3

Franco-Spanish Border, 1813. Sean Bean returns as the courageous Major Richard Sharpe, his latest mission to protect the identity of the master spy, El Mirador. Sharpe captures Colonel Leroux who has been sent by Napoleon to assassinate El Mirador but Leroux escapes. In an ensuing battle, Sharpe's sword is destroyed and he is left for dead. He is lovingly nursed back to health by a beautiful young girl who has been rendered mute after witnessing the slaughter of her companions. Armed with a new sword forged by the faithful Sergeant Harper, Sharpe continues his mission to protect the life of El Mirador and seek retribution.

Sharpe's Sword

1995

Children of the North poster
7.7

The murders of two MI6 agents in Northern Ireland add up to an explosive political situation.

Children of the North

1991

The Informant poster
6.6

A former Irish Republican Army fighter, Gingy McAnally (Anthony Brophy), is reluctant about being called back into service after serving time in prison. He executes the grisly task but ends up captured by a sympathetic British police lieutenant named Ferris (Cary Elwes). The intimidating Chief Inspector of the Belfast Police (Timothy Dalton) convinces Gingy that his best hope is to become an informant and turn in other IRA operatives. As Gingy's marriage unravels under the stress, he is forced to come to terms with the fact that in this war both sides lose. Three men, three political circles, each fighting for their lives, each with their own agenda in the battle for Northern Ireland.

The Informant

1997

Who Bombed Birmingham? poster
8.5

Docudrama film exploring the efforts of World in Action researchers Ian MacBride and Chris Mullin in proving that the "Birmingham Six" only admitted to the bombing under extreme duress, and that the five IRA members were in fact responsible for the deadly attacks

Who Bombed Birmingham?

1990

Shadow of a Gunman poster
7.0

The first part of O'Casey's "The Dublin Trilogy". Set in 1920, as the War of Independence rages, "Shadow of a Gunman" is the story of two young men, Donal and Seamus who share a flat in Dublin.

Shadow of a Gunman

1995

Vicious Circle poster
8.5

Criminal Martin Cahill gets in trouble when a major robbery succeeds. He aims for more trouble when he tries to do a large art robbery

Vicious Circle

1999

Arise and Go Now poster
NR

Exploding poets, randy bishops and bungling IRA hoodlums are causing havoc in a small town in Northern Ireland. Kevin, an IRA recruit, and Father Dade, the local priest, try to drive some sanity into their world

Arise and Go Now

1991

Love Lies Bleeding poster
10.0

Conn, a member of the IRA and a former hunger striker, is serving a life sentence for murder. During peace talks, he is released on a 24-hour parole and uses the time to search for his girlfriend Leyla’s killer. He finds only lies and intrigue surrounding her death, and he begins to realize that his lover was not what she seemed.

Love Lies Bleeding

1993

Events at Drimaghleen poster
9.0

The painful memories of the tragedy that awaited the people of Drimaghleen on 2/11/88 have just begun to fade; Hetty Fortune and her TV documentary team travel there to piece those memories together into a story of horror.

Events at Drimaghleen

1991

Fools of Fortune poster
6.5

A Protestant Irish family is caught up in a conflict between Irish Republicans and the British army.

Fools of Fortune

1990

Samuel Beckett: As the Story Was Told poster
NR

A two-part biography of the Irish writer Samuel Beckett. The first part covers the traumas of his formative years: his ill-fated love affair with his first cousin, the death of his father, and his decorated service with the French Resistance. He had settled in France before the Second World War, met fellow Irishman James Joyce, and begun writing. Patrick Magee's television performance of `Krapp's Last Tape' (1972) is interwoven with key landscapes and personalities from Beckett's life. The second part concludes the story of how Beckett finally began to connect with his audience, principally through `Waiting for Godot'. Includes an interview with the actress Billie Whitelaw, a celebrated interpreter of his work.

Samuel Beckett: As the Story Was Told

1996

Bad Company poster
NR

A dramatization of the circumstances surrounding the murder of Carl Bridgewater and the subsequent trial and imprisonment of four men.

Bad Company

1993

August Saturday poster
10.0

Grania did something 15 years ago that brought her great happiness but also great pain. The events of that day have been a heavy secret to bear that, if discovered, would devastate those closest to her.

August Saturday

1990

1980s · 10 titles

The Price poster
NR

Geoffrey Carr is a wealthy, key player in Britain's emerging computer industry, and newly married to Frances , a much younger woman, with wilful daughter Clare from a previous marriage. He'll do anything to make them happy, including stretching his finances to buy a Georgian estate in County Wicklow, where Frances grew up. Frank Crossan is an Irish Republican hitman on the run from British authorities. Seeking refuge with old girlfriend Kate, he creates a plan to kidnap a wealthy Brit for a ransom to fund a major arms deal. Their two worlds collide when Frances and Clare are brutally snatched away to a bleak hideaway and taken hostage. Geoffrey initially wants to cave in to the kidnapper's demands “ but nothing is simple when a personal crisis plays out against the forces of political intrigue, high finance and with the eyes of the media on them.

The Price

1985

Bellman and True poster
6.7

Hiller, a computer expert, was bribed by group of bank robbers to obtain details of the security system at a newly-built bank. Having obtained the information, he thought he'd seen the last of the robbers. But now they've traced him and his son to London. They hold the son hostage and force Hiller to decode the information about the alarm and then to take part in the robbery.

Bellman and True

1987

The Fantasist poster
4.3

A young Dublin woman is stalked by a telephone charmer who poses victims nude and then stabs them.

The Fantasist

1986

Cal poster
5.8

Cal, a young man on the fringes of the IRA, falls in love with Marcella, a Catholic woman whose husband, a Protestant policeman, was killed one year earlier by the IRA.

Cal

1984

The Storyteller: A Story Short poster
NR

The Storyteller recounts the time he was caught making a fool of the royal cook and, as punishment meted out by the King, must tell one story a day for a year. All goes well until the very last day when he suffers from storyteller's block.

The Storyteller: A Story Short

1988

Children in the Crossfire poster
7.0

For the children of Northern Ireland, violence and hatred are a way of life passed from one generation to the next. In "Children in the Crossfire" four children from both sides of the conflict come to America through a special project, and discover each other away from the ravages of their homeland.

Children in the Crossfire

1984

The Ballroom of Romance poster
7.4

In County Leitrim in the 1950s, Bridie has been attending the local dance hall for years in the hope of finding a good husband who can help work her family's farm. Now surrounded by younger, prettier women at the dances, she comes to the realisation that all the good men of her generation have emigrated or have been spoken for, and her only remaining hope for marriage is with the alcoholic and unreliable Bowser Egan.

The Ballroom of Romance

1982

The Country Girls poster
7.0

The lifelong friendship of two rural Irish girls is put on the test when they grow up and leave for the big city, each with different life goals in mind.

The Country Girls

1983

Joyriders poster
10.0

The growing relationship of two people who travel through Ireland in a series of stolen cars.

Joyriders

1988

No artwork available
NR

Explores the detailed concepts of Ireland and Irish Freedom developed by Patrick Pearse, a leader of the 1916 Irish Rebellion, visiting the places his writing developed -- St. Enda's school in Rathfarnham, Dublin, and his cottage in Rosmuc, Connemara -- and the issues to which he was committed, and which still dominate Irish life: language, the role of the Church, Northern Ireland, and education. Presented in the format of a modern TV current affairs interview.

Revival: Pearse's Concept of Ireland

1980

Series credits

Vikings poster
8.1

The adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok, the greatest hero of his age. The series tells the sagas of Ragnar's band of Viking brothers and his family, as he rises to become King of the Viking tribes. As well as being a fearless warrior, Ragnar embodies the Norse traditions of devotion to the gods. Legend has it that he was a direct descendant of Odin, the god of war and warriors.

Vikings

2013

Vikings poster
8.1

The adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok, the greatest hero of his age. The series tells the sagas of Ragnar's band of Viking brothers and his family, as he rises to become King of the Viking tribes. As well as being a fearless warrior, Ragnar embodies the Norse traditions of devotion to the gods. Legend has it that he was a direct descendant of Odin, the god of war and warriors.

Vikings

2013

Vikings poster
8.1

The adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok, the greatest hero of his age. The series tells the sagas of Ragnar's band of Viking brothers and his family, as he rises to become King of the Viking tribes. As well as being a fearless warrior, Ragnar embodies the Norse traditions of devotion to the gods. Legend has it that he was a direct descendant of Odin, the god of war and warriors.

Vikings

2013

The Tudors poster
7.8

The Tudors is a history-based drama series following the young, vibrant King Henry VIII, a competitive and lustful monarch who navigates the intrigues of the English court and the human heart with equal vigor and justifiable suspicion.

The Tudors

2007

The Tudors poster
7.8

The Tudors is a history-based drama series following the young, vibrant King Henry VIII, a competitive and lustful monarch who navigates the intrigues of the English court and the human heart with equal vigor and justifiable suspicion.

The Tudors

2007

Vikings: Valhalla poster
7.6

In this sequel to "Vikings," a hundred years have passed and a new generation of legendary heroes arises to forge its own destiny — and make history.

Vikings: Valhalla

2022

Performance poster
6.3

An anthology series of various plays and dramatic performances.

Performance

1991

Lovejoy poster
7.4

The adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.

Lovejoy

1986

ScreenPlay poster
6.0

Screenplay was a drama anthology television series, broadcast on BBC between 1986 and 1993. Numerous episodes were produced including one named "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" starring Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie.

ScreenPlay

1986

ScreenPlay poster
6.0

Screenplay was a drama anthology television series, broadcast on BBC between 1986 and 1993. Numerous episodes were produced including one named "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" starring Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie.

ScreenPlay

1986

ScreenPlay poster
6.0

Screenplay was a drama anthology television series, broadcast on BBC between 1986 and 1993. Numerous episodes were produced including one named "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" starring Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie.

ScreenPlay

1986

ScreenPlay poster
6.0

Screenplay was a drama anthology television series, broadcast on BBC between 1986 and 1993. Numerous episodes were produced including one named "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" starring Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie.

ScreenPlay

1986

Sharpe poster
8.0

Sharpe is a British series of television dramas starring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars. Sharpe is the hero of a number of novels by Bernard Cornwell; most, though not all, of the episodes are based on the books. Produced by Celtic Films and Picture Palace Films for the ITV network, the series was shot mainly in Turkey and the Crimea, although some filming was also done in England, Spain and Portugal. The series originally ran from 1993 to 1997. In 2004, as part of ITV's new set of drama, ITV announced that it intended to produce new episodes of Sharpe, in co-production with BBC America, loosely based on his time in India, with Sean Bean continuing his role as Sharpe. Sharpe's Challenge is a two-part adventure; part one premiered on ITV on 23 April 2006, with part two being shown the following night. With more gore than earlier episodes, the show was broadcast by BBC America in September 2006.

Sharpe

1993

The Storyteller poster
8.2

The Storyteller, aided by his cynical dog, narrates classic folk tales, fables, and legends.

The Storyteller

1988

Titanic: Blood and Steel poster
7.2

Belfast, 1909. The Harland and Wolff shipyard has been handed the greatest project in its history. It will build a great, unsinkable ship. And it will be called the RMS Titanic.

Titanic: Blood and Steel

2012

Scarlett poster
6.6

Scarlett is a 1994 American television miniseries loosely based on Alexandra Ripley's eponymous 1991 book of the same name, a sequel to Margaret Mitchell's 'Gone with the Wind' (1936). Filmed across the United States and abroad, the series stars Joanne Whalley and Timothy Dalton. The miniseries was broadcast in four parts on CBS from November 13-17, 1994. Following the death of her sister-in-law Melanie Wilkes, Scarlett O'Hara sets out to reclaim her doomed romance with Rhett Butler, as it takes her home to Tara to Charleston to Savannah to Ireland, where she learns of her family's roots.

Scarlett

1994

Father & Son poster
7.4

Ex-gangland boss Michael O'Connor, now happily settled in rural Ireland, is forced to go back to Manchester when his son Sean is found guilty of the murder of a gang member.

Father & Son

2009

Vikings: Athelstan's Journal poster
6.9

Viking culture is seen from a first-hand experience through Athelstan's perspective. Athelstan reflects his inner thoughts on the ways of the Northmen including all their customs, values, and morals. Watch the young priest struggle with an emotional and psychological turmoil as he balances his faith in both God and Odin, revels in bloodshed then is haunted by memories of combat, and then recognizes the personalities of his barbarian family and understands that they, though pagan, are human beings.

Vikings: Athelstan's Journal

2015

Vikings: Athelstan's Journal poster
6.9

Viking culture is seen from a first-hand experience through Athelstan's perspective. Athelstan reflects his inner thoughts on the ways of the Northmen including all their customs, values, and morals. Watch the young priest struggle with an emotional and psychological turmoil as he balances his faith in both God and Odin, revels in bloodshed then is haunted by memories of combat, and then recognizes the personalities of his barbarian family and understands that they, though pagan, are human beings.

Vikings: Athelstan's Journal

2015

Peacock poster
5.8

A trainer tries to make his way as an instructor at a gym where the clientele doesn't take physical fitness very seriously.

Peacock

2022

Rebel Heart poster
7.3

The move towards independence in Ireland, from the 1916 Easter Rising until the 1922 civil war is seen through the eyes of a naive idealistic young man

Rebel Heart

2001

The Price poster
7.5

English computer millionaire Geoffrey Carr and his wife have plans for a country house in Ireland. Irish terrorists have plans for the wealthy couple.

The Price

1985