Thrillian Murphy

Oppenheimer star’s joy at gong

FOR once, fiercely private Cillian Murphy was delighted to be in the spotlight, laughing joyfully as he picked up the Best Actor Oscar, the first Irishman ever to win it.

The actor, who grew up in Ballintemple, Cork, and found fame as a mob boss in Peaky Blinders, kissed his wife, artist Yvonne McGuinness, before collecting his Oscar for Oppenheimer.

He played the title role in the film about J Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist described as the father of the atomic bomb, and dedicated the Oscar to "the peacemakers of the world".

Wearing an 18-carat gold brooch with "layered trapeziums" - a nod to the atomic bomb design - he paid tribute to his family. He said: "Yvonne McGuinness, my partner in life and art. My two boys, Malachy and Aran, are sitting up there. I love you."

The actor has admitted in the past that he finds the red carpet experience "a challenge", but after the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre, he celebrated with other winners.

He posed in a line-up with Emma Stone, who won Best Actress for Poor Things, Robert Downey Jnr, who won best supporting actor for Oppenheimer, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Best Supporting Actress for The Holdovers.