Jamie Dornan.Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty
Jamie Dornangot a little cheeky at the 16th AnnualU.S.-Ireland AllianceOscar Wilde Awards.
The 39-year-old actor was honored Thursday night at The Ebell Club in Los Angeles for his role inBelfast, a 2021 semi-autobiographical film fromKenneth Branaghabout an Irish working-class family during the 1960s.
In his speech, Dornan noted that honorees previously received a highlight reel featuring key moments from their acting career. With none in store, he opted to improvise.
“In the absence of a reel, I’m just going to act out my entire career. Only the things you know best,” he said before whipping out a pair of handcuffs, in a nod to his role in theFifty Shades of Greyfilms.
“I’m going to need a participant from the audience,” he quipped while holding the cuffs.
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Jamie Dornan and wife Amelia Warner.Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic
Dornan appeared in films of all kinds in the years between his starring roles inBelfastand theFifty Shades of Greyfranchise, from his work in the 2018 biographical filmA Private Warto voicing a troll named Chaz in the 2020 animated movieTrolls World Tour.
“It was always just come out, spend a lot of time here, take on a load of meetings,” he said. “So the longest I ever did was probably four or five months or something, maybe even three or four months, to be honest, in the early days.”
“And then it felt like slightly non-committal in a good way: If you failed, you didn’t fail as hard because you hadn’t properly moved out there,” Dornan explained.
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The actor said it took some “self-belief” to reach this point in his career, but now, he’s pleased with his progress.
“My whole ethos in life is, ‘Back yourself,’ so I guess I backed myself to be able to make something happen,” he said Thursday. “And I alwaysfelt I had something to offer… things needed to fall into place, and you need a bit of luck in this time. So luckily it worked out in the end.”
Dornan is also proud of the “important message” he helped to convey in his latest filmBelfast— which isup for seven awardsat this Sunday’sOscars, including Best Director for Branagh, 61, and Best Picture — telling PEOPLE that it was “a very cool thing to be a part of it.”
“I am just beyond proud to be from that part of the worldand to tell a story thatresonated with so many people across the world, and maybe change some people’s opinion of that part of the world, in the north of Ireland and Belfast, and the people and the hard-working families,” the actor said.
source: people.com
