Barry McGovern (born 1948) is an Irish stage, film and television actor.

Background

He was educated at Castleknock College, Dublin. McGovern is a former member of the RTÉ Players and the Abbey Theatre Company. He has worked in theatre, film, radio and television, as well as written music for many shows, and co-written two musicals and directed plays and operas. He is known internationally for his award-winning one-man Beckett shows I'll Go On and Watt which the Gate Theatre presented at the 1985 and 2010 Dublin Theatre Festival respectively. ^{[citation needed]} McGovern revived "I'll Go On" for a run at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City for L.A.'s Center Theatre Group in 2014.

Filmography

Reviews

• (on his one man show "I'll Go On")^[1]
  • "McGovern illuminates the accessibility of the novels, their Irishness and their brilliant, bitter humour...brilliant" - The New York Times
  • "Barry McGovern's dazzling one-man performance…makes for wicked, compulsive fun" - The Irish Times
  • "An outright triumph…arrestingly funny" - Time
  • "90 minutes of laughter, bitterness, compassion and verbal music to leave you rapt" - New York
  • "Superb one-man show…. Without doubt one of the best interpreters of Samuel Beckett's work, McGovern's performance is masterful" - Sunday Business
  • “Barry McGovern’s astounding performance was not only the best of the festival, but also among the best I’ve ever seen… genius, no other word for it." - Sun Herald

Awards and nominations

Ovation Awards

• 2012: Nominated for Lead Actor in a Play for the role of Vladimir in the Center Theatre Group production of "Waiting For Godot"^[2]