What To Watch If You Need More of Robert Sheehan

One thing that I’m continually reminded of is just to always find something that will challenge you in a new way, a very new way, and that’s not the easiest of roads but it’s the most exciting. – RTE Interview

In the last couple of months, it was impossible to not stumble across something about Netflix new hit show The Umbrella Academy, especially with the recent announcement the series has been renewed for a new season. It feels like everyone has watched the show in which fresh faces got the perfect platform to get introduced to a brighter audience. However, some may be familiar with some of the faces, but naturally we want to know everything about them and their previous roles!

One of those is the Irish actor Robert Sheehan who plays Klaus and his character is not only a fan favourite, but he’s been introduced to many new viewers. To make your life easier, here’s a little guide about his career and to let you know what you definitely have to watch ASAP.

Robert was born on January 7th 1988 as Roibeárd Mícheál Ó Siodhacháin in Portlaoise, Ireland as the youngest of three children. He got his first role at the age of fourteen in the movie Song for a Raggy Boy (2003). He studied film and television and after failing his exams, because he was away for several months to film Summer of the Flying Saucer (2008), he decided to travel around Ireland as a stand-up comedian. Even though he has been in some major projects and was nominated for five IFTA and one BAFTA Award, not many people had him on their radar, but looking at it now, this is about to change now.

I think the challenge of an actor is the downtime, the time in between having just had the great fulfilling creative high of completing a project with a bunch of people you become intimately close with, and you go from that to sitting back at home at your kitchen table going, ‘Right, so, purpose, let’s figure out the purposes of me now. – RTE Interview

His career started 2003 with short appearances in different TV shows, followed by Foreign Exchange (2004), Young Blades (2005), and The Tudors (2010), which he still remembers fondly because he was able to work alongside one of his favourite actors, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, before he landed a role next to Nicolas Cage in Season of the Witch in 2011.

Showing not only his comedic talent but also his musical side, Robert plays one half of the McCormick brothers next to Ben Barnes (Narnia, The Punisher) who desperately try to be as successful as their former school friends, who later became U2, in Killing Bono in 2011.

His next project is the one most of his fans know him from. He played the iconic Nathan Young in the first two seasons of the British TV hit show Misfits (2009-2011) in which five teenage offenders get struck by lightning during their community service and inherit supernatural powers. Even after almost ten years, people are still comparing all his roles with this one.

In Demons Never Die (2011), his character Archie and his friends are building a suicide pact which soon becomes more dangerous when a serial killer is doing their job for them. After this dark story, he jumped into the 6-episode long TV show Me and Mrs Jones (2012) where he may or may not start a relationship with his best friend’s mother.

He then played Simon Lewis in The Mortal Instruments (2013), which is based on Cassandra Clare’s popular YA fantasy series. Half of the fandom loves this movie, the other half does not. No matter which side you are on, the cast left an imprint on everyone who has watched the movie and personally, I am disappointed that we never got to see the other five books adapted on the big screen.

When you look for some recommendations online, every fan recommends watching the Irish TV show Love/Hate (2010-2013) which tells the story of an organised crime scene in Dublin in which Rob’s character, Darren, wants to have nothing do to with all of it but ends up in the middle of the action. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on this TV show, give it a chance.

To show another side of him he stars in Anita. B (2014), which is a movie about a survivor of Auschwitz who tries to build a future of which she did not dare to dream about and falls in love with Eli, played by Robert.

In the US remake of the German movie “Vincent will Meer”, The Road Within (2014) sees Robert play Vincent, a teenager with Tourette’s Syndrome, who is sent to a medical center by his father after his mother died. There he meets Marie (Zoe Kravitz) and Alex (Dev Patel) with whom he goes on a road trip to prove that they can take care of themselves. I highly recommend this movie because it not only shows brilliant acting from the three of them, but also a heartbreaking wonderful story which will touch you deeply.

In 2015 he first played Leon in Moonwalkers next to Ron Pearlman and Rupert Grint (with whom he starred alongside in Cherrybomb in 2009), in which they plan the biggest con of all time, the moon landing. Afterwards, he starred in The Messenger, where he plays Jack who can communicate with the dead. It is a very sad movie which focuses on Jack’s mental health and the people around him as on the fact that he is the messenger of a souls last word to those they love.

Jet Trash (2016) is a movie that I highly recommend. Not only is he playing one of the lead roles, but he also co-produced the movie. Lee and Sol are living on a beach in Southern India, after leaving England and their troubled past behind. Everything went well until Lee accidentally kills a holy cow and his ex-girlfriend finds him.

In 2017, Sheehan was quite busy. First Robert appears in the second season of the Amazon Prime show Fortitude as Vladek Klimov. Followed by The Song of Sway Lake where he played Nikolai who helps his friend Ollie to steal something from his family estate. Unfortunately, this movie is only available to stream via Amazon Prime or Google Play in the US, Great Britain and Ireland. Fingers crossed, that it will be available for the rest of the world soon.

Afterwards he starred alongside Rebecca Breeds (The Originals) as Roland in Three Summers, which is a lovely folklore Australian movie about a music festival where Roland and Keevey meet three summers in a row in which they recognise how much they have changed and what they really want to achieve with their music in life.

The last movie of 2017 in which he had a short but important role is as Duncan in Geostorm alongside Gerard Butler and Jim Sturgess, where they have to save the world from drastic climate changes.

2018 also provided many exciting films for us to watch including the Netflix Original movie Mute, starring Alexander Skarsgard and Paul Rudd in the main roles and Robert playing the prostitutes Luba. The story is simple. Set in the future, a mute bartender wants to find a girl who disappeared and picks a fight against the local gangsters.

You definitely will have a better time watching Bad Samaritan in which David Tennant’s character kidnaps and kills young women while Robert’s character, Sean, wants to save his latest victim. Great story, great acting, and as always Tennant proves he can play a bad guy so authentically that it scares you.

A short – like for only three episodes – but heartwarming appearance of him can be seen in the second season of Genius which is about Pablo Picasso’s life. Robert plays Picasso’s friend from his early teenage years, Carles Casagemas who took his life because of unrequited love.

Before we have seen him in The Umbrella Academy, Robert’s last role was in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Mortal Engines, which was written by Philip Reeves. In the movie, he plays Tom Natsworthy.

You realize fame is something that if you court it too much, or if you indulge in it too much it will have a negative effect ultimately on your mental health and self esteem, because fame is ultimately about achieving positive self esteem through external factors and that’s a losing game I would say. – RTE Interview

As you can see most of Robert’s work can be classified into independent productions. Just a few can be called mainstream. If you ask me, this is what makes him as an actor more interesting because he trusts his gut and does not care about his celebrity status. If it is theater, a low-budget project, or a blockbuster, if the character and the story speak to him, he will gladly play his part the best he can.

If you are interested in knowing more about him and his career choices, the The Pantelis Podcast which was aired last year might be of interest to you.

What favourite is your favourite movie or TV show starring Robert Sheehan? Tell us in the comments below!