Stanley Townsend

Acting

Stanley Townsend

Born 1961-08-20 · Dublin, Ireland

Stanley Townsend (born August 1961) is an Irish actor. Townsend was born and brought up in Dublin. After attending Wesley College, Dublin, he studied mathematics and civil engineering at Trinity College. While there he joined the Dublin University Players, the college's Amateur Dramatic Society. He later co-founded co-operative theatre company Rough Magic with writer/director Declan Hughes and theatre director Lynne Parker, performing in numerous productions including The Country Wife, Nightshade, and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. He subsequently went on to perform in several productions at The Gate and The Abbey Theatres in Dublin. In London, he has worked with such directors as Sam Mendes in The Plough and the Stars, Richard Eyre in Guys and Dolls and Rufus Norris in Under the Blue Sky. Theatre appearances at the Royal Court include The Alice Trilogy directed by Ian Rickson and Shining City directed by Conor McPherson, for which he won an Irish Theatre Award and was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor in 2004. Townsend's television work began on a number of shows for RTÉ in Dublin. Since moving to London, television appearances have included Spooks, The Commander, Hustle, Waking the Dead, and Omagh Bombing. ilm credits include Mike Newell's Into the West, Jim Sheridan's In the Name of the Father with Daniel Day-Lewis, The Van by Stephen Frears, Peter Greenaway's The Tulse Luper Suitcases, The Libertine with Johnny Depp, Paul Morrison's Wondrous Oblivion with Delroy Lindo, John Boorman's The Tiger's Tale and Michael Radford's Flawless. He currently lives in London.

Acting credits

Cars 2 poster
6.2

Star race car Lightning McQueen and his pal Mater head overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix race. But the road to the championship becomes rocky as Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.

Cars 2

2011

Jay Kelly poster
6.1

Famous movie actor Jay Kelly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting both his past and present, accompanied by his devoted manager, Ron.

Jay Kelly

2025

In the Name of the Father poster
7.9

A small-time Belfast thief, Gerry Conlon, is wrongly convicted of an IRA bombing in London, along with his father and friends, and spends 15 years in prison fighting to prove his innocence.

In the Name of the Father

1993

The Uprising poster
NR

As war and plague devastate 14th-century England, a humble peasant ignites a rebellion, uniting an army of commoners to defy the King’s might in a desperate fight for justice and survival.

The Uprising

2026

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

What a Girl Wants poster
6.3

American Daphne Reynolds heads to Europe in search of the father she's never met. But instead of finding a British version of her boho mother, she learns the love of her mom's life is an uptight politician. The only problem now is that her long-lost father is engaged to a fiercely territorial social climber with a daughter who makes Daphne's life miserable.

What a Girl Wants

2003

The Physician poster
7.3

England, 1021: Born in a miserable mining town, Robert Cole swears to become a physician and vanquish disease and death. His harsh path of many years, a quest for knowledge besieged by countless challenges and sacrifices, leads him to the remote Isfahan, in Persia, where he meets Ibn Sina, the greatest healer of his time.

The Physician

2013

Flawless poster
6.7

A female executive and a night janitor conspire to commit a daring diamond heist from their mutual employer, The London Diamond Corporation.

Flawless

2007

The Current War poster
6.7

Electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse compete to create a sustainable system and market it to the American people.

The Current War

2018

The Song of Names poster
6.7

A man searches for his childhood best friend, a Polish violin prodigy orphaned in the Holocaust, who vanished decades before on the night of his first public performance.

The Song of Names

2019

The Voices poster
6.3

A mentally unhinged factory worker must decide whether to listen to his talking cat and become a killer, or follow his dog's advice to keep striving for normalcy.

The Voices

2014

One Chance poster
6.7

This film follows the remarkable and inspirational true story of Paul Potts, a shy, bullied shop assistant by day and an amateur opera singer by night.

One Chance

2013

The Libertine poster
5.9

The story of John Wilmot, a.k.a. the Earl of Rochester, a 17th century poet who famously drank and debauched his way to an early grave, only to earn posthumous critical acclaim for his life's work.

The Libertine

2004

Happy-Go-Lucky poster
6.6

A look at a few chapters in the life of Poppy, a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her.

Happy-Go-Lucky

2008

Burton and Taylor poster
6.2

Legendary acting duo and married couple Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor prepare for a 1983 theatrical production of the play "Private Lives."

Burton and Taylor

2013

Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar poster
5.7

On an archaeological dig in Iraq, author Agatha Christie uncovers a series of murders.

Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar

2019

The Nativity Story poster
7.0

Mary and Joseph make the hard journey to Bethlehem for a blessed event in this retelling of the Nativity story. This meticulously researched and visually lush adaptation of the biblical tale follows the pair on their arduous path to their arrival in a small village, where they find shelter in a quiet manger and Jesus is born.

The Nativity Story

2006

National Theatre Live: Golden Boy poster
NR

1930s New York, at the height of the Depression. Joe Bonaparte is a gifted young violinist with extraordinary talent and a future in music, until a chance at fame and fortune lures him into the brutal world of professional boxing. Pressured by a ruthless manager, tempted by a forbidden love, and bound by the expectations of his Italian-American family, Joe is a young man torn between the seductive promise of the American Dream and the quiet honor of a decent life. He must confront what he’s willing to sacrifice, who he’s willing to become, and how to find his place in a world that demands he choose a side. Sam Yates directs Josh O'Connor in this searing revival of Clifford Odets' knockout American classic. Brought to life with a live string quartet, this propulsive drama explores ambition, identity, and the high price of success.

National Theatre Live: Golden Boy

2026

Once Upon a Time in a Cinema poster
6.7

Earl Clancy, a cinema owner on the edge, battles a series of disasters while juggling personal turmoil and the chaos of a packed Friday night crowd. Told in real time over the course of the movie playing in the cinema (Breathless, starring Richard Gere).

Once Upon a Time in a Cinema

2026

Taffin poster
5.6

When a small Irish town is terrorized by a corrupt business syndicate, a lone hero wages an all out war.

Taffin

1988

Isolation poster
5.5

On a remote Irish farm, five people become unwilling participants in an experiment that goes nightmarishly wrong.

Isolation

2005

Inside I'm Dancing poster
7.4

Michael is a 24-year-old who has cerebral palsy and long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, run by the formidable Eileen. His life is transformed when the maverick Rory O'Shea moves in.

Inside I'm Dancing

2004

The Snapper poster
6.5

Sharon Curley is a 20-year-old living with her parents and many brothers and sisters in Dublin. When she gets pregnant and refuses to name the father, she becomes the talk of the town.

The Snapper

1993

Wondrous Oblivion poster
6.6

David Wiseman is eleven years old and mad about cricket. He has all the kit but none of the skill. When a Jamaican family moves in next door the father starts giving cricket lessons to David, and becomes close to David's mother. But this is 1960's London, and when the locals start making life difficult for the new arrivals, David has to choose between fitting in and standing up for his new friends.

Wondrous Oblivion

2004