Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who showed his talent nearly a decade ago in Neil Jordan's Michael Collins, has been slightly overshadowed in recent years by his compatriots Cillian Murphy and Colin Farrell.
On Monday night at a Golden Globe Awards ceremony dominated by Ang Lee's gay romance Brokeback Mountain, the Cork man stole back some limelight by winning the award for best actor in a miniseries or television movie. He starred as the young Elvis in a TV series shown so far only in the US.
Murphy, shortlisted for his gender- bending performance in Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto, was there to watch Rhys Meyers pick up his statuette. The other unsuccessful Irish nominees were Kenneth Branagh (up for the TV series Hope Springs) and Pierce Brosnan (for the thriller The Matador).
This recognition for Rhys Meyers's charismatic, sinuous turn as the king of rock 'n' roll in the CBS miniseries Elvis is just one part of a satisfying double whammy for the actor. Last week Woody Allen's Match Point, in which Rhys Meyers, now 28, plays a former tennis professional romancing Scarlet Johansson, opened to the best reviews the director has received in many years. Match Point was up for four awards on Monday night, but failed to pick up a statuette.
Pausing to clear up one important detail - "No hyphen!" - Rhys Meyers, cheekbones now a little less terrifyingly sharp than before, chatted amiably and enthusiastically to the press gathered in the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles before heading off to the parties.
"It's a really nice thing to happen to anyone," he told The Irish Times yesterday morning from his hotel room. "Myself and Cillian then went off to the party and it was just great. We were sitting there and saying: 'We are from Cork and we are taking over'."
Does winning a Golden Globe change things for an actor? "In the space of a 15-minute gap things do suddenly change for you, just in terms of the way people think about you. I think it is just that you have this award and nobody can argue with it. You've won. You are a Golden Globe winner. It's not like a performance where one critic might praise you and another might disagree. It's like: who won the World Cup in 1986? Argentina."
Delightful as the honour is for Rhys Meyers, the television awards often seem something of a sideshow at this unusual event. Awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association - a mysterious body, viewed more as an exclusive club than a professional entity - the Golden Globes, despite the increasingly lavish nature of the ceremony, are of particular interest as a pointer to success at the Academy Awards.
If Monday night's bash was any guide, Ang Lee and his colleagues should clear some space on their mantelpieces. Brokeback Mountain, the overpoweringly sad tale of a romance between two sheepherders in the American west, ran away with four awards: best motion picture (drama); best director; best original song; and, for Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, best screenplay.
Surprisingly, the film failed to pick up any acting awards.
Heath Ledger, who stars opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Lee's picture, was beaten in the best actor in a drama title by second-favourite Philip Seymour Hoffman, for his turn as Truman Capote in Bennett Miller's well-received Capote.
The other big winner of the evening was the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, playing respectively Cash and his wife June Carter Cash, both picked up Globes. The James Mangold film carried away the award for best picture (musical or comedy).
Walk the Line's producers will, however, probably be aware that they have profited from the Globes' eccentric tradition of breaking the film awards into two categories. At the Oscars, Walk the Line will have to go head-to-head with Brokeback.
The bookies suggest that - despite increasing mutterings of disgust in America's red states - the gay cowboys may give the man in black a damn good whupping.
Golden Globes: full list of winners
Complete list of winners at 63rd annual Golden Globes presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association
MOTION PICTURES
Picture, Drama: Brokeback Mountain
Actress, Drama: Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
Actor, Drama: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Picture, Musical or Comedy: Walk the Line
Actress, Musical or Comedy: Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
Actor, Musical or Comedy: Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line
Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
Supporting Actor: George Clooney, Syriana
Director: Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
Screenplay: Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain
Foreign Language: Paradise Now, Palestine
Original Score: John Williams, Memoirs of a Geisha
Original Song: A Love That Will Never Grow Old from Brokeback Mountain
TELEVISION
Series, drama: Lost, ABC
Actress, drama: Geena Davis, Commander-in-Chief
Actor, drama: Hugh Laurie, House
Series, musical or comedy: Desperate Housewives
Actress, musical or comedy: Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Showtime Actor, musical or comedy: Steve Carell, The Office
Mini-series or movie: Empire Falls
Actress, mini-series or movie: S Epatha Merkerson, Lackawanna Blues
Actor, mini-series or movie: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Elvis
Supporting Actress, series, mini-series or movie: Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy
Supporting Actor, series, mini-series or movie: Paul Newman, Empire Falls
Cecil B DeMille Award: Anthony Hopkins
