1. The son of a soccer player for the Dublin-based Shamrock Rovers, he considered becoming a footballer before enrolling in Dublin's Gaiety School of Acting...
2. ...which he ditched in 1996 upon landing a part in the BBC series Ballykissangel, followed by his first movie role in the low-budget (and appropriately titled) Irish drama Drinking Crude.
3. Director Joel Schumacher digs him: In addition to the current box office hit Phone Booth, the lad starred as a Texan soldier-in-training in 2000's gritty Vietnam-era Tigerland.
4. He has a knack for playing notorious historical figures: Jesse James in 2001's flop American Outlaws and the titular king of Macedonia in Oliver Stone's Alexander, due in 2004.
5. He's a mama's boy.
