Brian Gleeson is a 38-year-old Irish actor from Dublin, best known for playing insurance agent Thomas Claffin in Bad Sisters and for supporting parts in films such as Phantom Thread and Logan Lucky. He is the son of Brendan Gleeson and the younger brother of Domhnall Gleeson, which is how many people first come across his name. His own credits tell a different story, one built from character roles, stage work, and a comedy series he helped produce.
In 2026, he has had a busy year. He starred in Sky’s Welsh crime drama Under Salt Marsh, has a film called Ink on his résumé, and is booked for a guest night on a London stage this month. Here is how a boy from Malahide built a career that no longer needs a famous surname to explain it.
Brian Gleeson Quick Facts
- Full name: Brian Gleeson, also credited as Breen Gleeson
- Born: 14 November 1987, Dublin, Ireland
- Age: 38 (he turns 39 on 14 November 2026)
- Parents: actor Brendan Gleeson and Mary Weldon
- Brother: actor Domhnall Gleeson
- Pronunciation: BREE-ən
- Known for: Bad Sisters, Frank of Ireland, Phantom Thread, Peaky Blinders, Under Salt Marsh
Which Brian Gleeson Are You Looking For?
This page is about the actor. A second Brian Gleeson plays rugby for Munster, and the two get mixed up in search results all the time.
RTÉ reported in January 2026 that the rugby player, a 21-year-old back-row forward, signed a two-year extension that keeps him at the province until at least 2028. He won a Grand Slam with Ireland Under-20s in 2023. If you came looking for scrum stats, he is a different man entirely.
Early Life and Family in Malahide
Gleeson was born in Dublin and grew up in Malahide. As a child, he appeared in school plays and then joined the Gaiety Youth Theatre Company, according to Wikipedia and several film databases.
Acting runs through the house. His father, Brendan, worked as a teacher while acting on the side and started his film career at 34. That late start matters, because it means the Gleeson sons grew up watching someone who built a career slowly rather than someone handed one early.
Domhnall, born in 1983, became the best-known of the brothers on screen and earned a Tony nomination at 23 for The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Brendan won an Emmy for playing Winston Churchill in Into the Storm. Wikipedia lists four children in the family.
The three men shared a stage in early 2015 in Enda Walsh’s play The Walworth Farce. Father and son also shared a role in Assassin’s Creed, covered below.
The First Roles, From The Tiger’s Tail to Love/Hate
Gleeson started acting in 2006 in The Tiger’s Tail, a John Boorman film he shot the year he finished the Leaving Certificate. His father was in the cast too. He played Connor O’Leary.
His first real attention came from television. In 2010 he played Hughie in the first season of the Irish crime drama Love/Hate, and the part earned him an Irish Film and Television Award nomination for best supporting actor in television.
Film work followed quickly. He appeared in the horror film Wake Wood (2011), the Roman-era adventure The Eagle (2011), and Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), where he played Gus. In 2013 came the comedy The Stag, in which he played Simon.
In 2014, he took the lead in Standby, opposite Jessica Paré. The same year, he shot Tiger Raid, an Iraq War drama that did not reach audiences until 2016.
Rebellion, Phantom Thread, and the Hollywood Years
The next stretch put Gleeson in front of bigger audiences. In 2016, he starred as Jimmy Mahon in Rebellion, the Irish drama set during the 1916 Easter Rising.
That same year he played the young Joseph Lynch in Assassin’s Creed. Brendan played the older version of the character, so father and son shared one role across two ages. Brian’s scenes are the opening flashback and a later vision.
Then came a run of 2017 films with famously demanding directors. He played Dr. Robert Hardy in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, Sam Bang in Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky alongside Daniel Craig, and the younger brother in Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!
He kept moving between formats after that. He had regular roles in The Bisexual (2018) and Resistance (2019), played Merlin in Hellboy (2019), and appeared as Jimmy McCavern in Peaky Blinders. Wikipedia notes that some critics disliked his Glaswegian accent in that role but accepted it because of the quality of his acting.
Looking across those credits, a pattern shows up. Gleeson is rarely the name on the poster, yet he keeps getting cast by directors who run tight sets and expect actors to hold a scene without help from the script. That is a judgment, not a verified statistic, but the list of collaborators supports it.
Making His Own Show With Frank of Ireland
In 2020 he played Ben O’Shea in Death of a Ladies’ Man, a drama with Gabriel Byrne and Jessica Paré. The performance earned him an Irish Film and Television Award nomination for best supporting actor in film at the 2021 ceremony.
The next year he put his name on something of his own. Frank of Ireland is a six-episode comedy in which he plays Frank Marron, a 32-year-old who is newly single and still living with his mother, according to IMDb. Brian also served as an executive producer, and Domhnall appears in it too.
The episode titles give away the tone: “We Need to Talk About Kevin Costner,” “Guitar Nero,” and “James Caan’t.” It is a show that treats film references as a joke language, which fits a family that has spent decades in the industry.
Bad Sisters and Thomas Claffin
Bad Sisters, developed by Sharon Horgan with Dave Finkel and Brett Baer, is the role most viewers now connect him with. Gleeson plays Thomas “Tom” Claffin, an insurance agent at Claffin & Sons, the firm that holds John Paul’s life insurance policy.
Tom and his half-brother Matthew, played by Daryl McCormack, try to prove the Garvey sisters had a hand in John Paul’s death, because a payout would sink their struggling business. Seána Kerslake plays Tom’s pregnant wife, Theresa.
Gleeson appeared in 11 episodes between 2022 and 2024. The series won a 2022 Peabody Award in the entertainment category, according to a Wikipedia mirror, and Tom is a good example of what he does well: a funny man without ever winking at the audience.
In 2023, he also turned up in The Mandalorian, in the episode “Chapter 23: The Spies,” as Brendol Hux. The character shares a surname with General Hux that Domhnall played in the Star Wars sequels, which made the casting a quiet family joke for anyone watching closely.
Atomic, The Brightening Air, and Under Salt Marsh
His 2025 credits show how far he moves between mediums. He played Mark Ellis in the series Atomic, took the role of Stephen in the National Theatre Live broadcast of The Brightening Air from the Old Vic, and appeared as Pete in the short film Craggy Confidant.
Under Salt Marsh is his highest-profile 2026 project. The six-episode crime thriller, created by Claire Oakley, premiered on Sky Atlantic on 30 January 2026 and ended on 27 February. Kelly Reilly stars as former detective Jackie Ellis, with Rafe Spall as Detective Eric Bull.
Gleeson plays Mac Jones, husband of Nisha (Dinita Gohil) and father of a one-year-old named Dash. Mac works on the sea wall meant to protect the Welsh town of Morfa Halen from an approaching storm.
In a Sky interview, he said he went for a more rural Irish tone for Mac. He described Mac as a man who values his reputation and standing in the community, which is a useful lens for watching how the character reacts once suspicion starts to move through town.
Other 2026 listings include the film Ink, where he plays Brian McConnell, and a narrator credit for Maggie O’Farrell’s Land listed on TV Insider.
What Is Next for Brian Gleeson
His next confirmed appearance is on stage. Tim Crouch’s play An Oak Tree runs at The Other Palace in London from 7 October to 15 November 2026, with a different guest actor joining Crouch for each performance.
BroadwayWorld lists Gleeson for 20 October. Other announced guests include Suranne Jones, Juliet Stevenson, and Sacha Dhawan. The run follows his Old Vic credit in The Brightening Air, so London theatre is clearly part of his current schedule.
Where to Watch Brian Gleeson in the United States
Bad Sisters is the simplest starting point. BroadwayWorld credits the series to Apple, and it is the title most American viewers know him from.
His Mandalorian episode, “Chapter 23: The Spies,” belongs to the Star Wars series that streams on Disney+. Phantom Thread and Logan Lucky are feature films, so they move between rental, purchase, and subscription services depending on the month.
Under Salt Marsh is a Sky Original, and Sky lists Sky and NOW as its exclusive UK home. A US streaming date for the series was not confirmed in the sources reviewed for this article, so check current listings before you plan a binge. Streaming rights change often, which makes any viewing guide a snapshot.
Net Worth, Relationships, and What Is Not Confirmed
No reputable outlet has published a verified net worth for Brian Gleeson. Several celebrity sites print figures, but none name a source or method, so this article does not repeat them.
The same goes for his personal life. He has not publicly confirmed details about a partner or children in anything this article could verify, and speculation does not belong in a biography.
Earnings for working actors are rarely disclosed, and the gap between a supporting actor’s salary and a lead’s can be large, so a guess would mislead readers more than it would inform them. If Brian Gleeson or his representatives ever publish a figure, it would belong here with a named source.
Anything tied to the calendar will change, including his age, his London dates, and the release of Ink. Those are the lines to recheck before the page is updated.
Why His Career Matters
Gleeson belongs to a rare group: actors who share a famous surname and still carry their own résumé. His father’s career, his brother’s career, and his own overlap in places, yet his path runs through different rooms, from Irish television to Hollywood sets to London stages.
The evidence is on the list of collaborators. He has worked with Boorman, Anderson, Soderbergh, Aronofsky, and Horgan, and he gave the Claffin family business a human face in a Peabody-winning series. He also made a comedy of his own with Frank of Ireland, which shows he is willing to take creative risks as well as supporting parts.
Gleeson also keeps a foot in comedy. Frank of Ireland and the dry humor of Tom Claffin sit on one side of his work, while Rebellion, Tiger Raid, and Under Salt Marsh sit on the other. Moving between them without a visible seam is the skill that keeps casting directors calling.
For readers new to him, Bad Sisters is the easiest place to start, and Under Salt Marsh is the best look at where his acting is now. For readers who know him only as Brendan’s son, the credits above make the case that he is no longer the supporting act in his own family.