Cillian Murphy born 25 May 1976 is an Irish actor He made his professional debut in Enda Walshs 1996 play Disco Pigs a role he later reprised in the 2001 screen adaptation His early notable film credits include the horror film 28 Days Later 2002 the dark comedy Intermission 2003 the thriller Red Eye 2005 the Irish war drama The Wind That Shakes the Barley 2006 and the science fiction thriller Sunshine 2007 He played a transgender Irish woman in the comedydrama Breakfast on Pluto 2005 which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination Murphy began collaborating with filmmaker Christopher Nolan in 2005 playing Dr Jonathan Crane Scarecrow in The Dark Knight Trilogy 20052012 as well as appearing in Inception 2010 and Dunkirk 2017 and portraying the lead role of J Robert Oppenheimer in the biographical epic Oppenheimer 2023 By the year 2023 Murphy has already worked with Nolan for around 20 years and six films He also gained prominence for his role as Tommy Shelby in the BBC period drama series Peaky Blinders 20132022 and for starring in the horror sequel A Quiet Place Part II 2020 In 2011 Murphy won the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Actor and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for the oneman play Misterman In 2020 The Irish Times named him one of the greatest Irish film actors