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Aidan Gillen
★ Acting

Aidan Gillen

Born 1968 · Dublin, Ireland · Active 1984–2026

Aidan Gillen, born in 1967 in Dublin, is an Irish actor known for his compelling roles across television and film. In 12 Rounds (2009), he delivers a notable performance that adds depth to the action genre, showcasing his ability to navigate intense narratives. Gillen's career spans various acclaimed series, but his work in action films like 12 Rounds highlights his versatility and skill in portraying complex characters. His contributions to cult cinema continue to resonate, making him a significant figure in the genre.

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12 Rounds

12 Rounds

2009 ★ 5.8
as Miles Jackson

A sting operation to capture arms dealer Miles Jackson goes awry when the FBI's inside man double crosses them. Miles rendezvouses with his girlfriend Erica Kessen, who has a getaway car. Officers Danny Fisher and Hank Carver are dispatched to help the FBI. They look at Jackson's record and see a surveillance video of him dancing with Kessen. An encounter with them at a traffic light leads to her death and Miles being taken away. Miles swears vengeance on Fisher. One year later Fisher, now promoted to Detective due to his actions with Jackson, gets a phone call from Jackson, who has escaped from prison. Fisher runs outside the house looking for Jackson, and Fisher's car and house explode, throwing him to the ground. After Fisher recovers, Jackson says he is launching a game of revenge called "12 Rounds." The house, the car, and Phil, the plumber who came to fix a pipe were "Round 1." Molly Porter, Fisher's girlfriend is kidnapped by Jackson for "Round 2." For "Round 3," Fisher and Carver must follow a series of clues to locate the cell phone that Jackson calls, and for "Round 4" Fisher has to get to New Orleans Savings and Loan where a fire has broken out and extract two security deposit boxes within 20 minutes. Carver has a lead on the man who helped kidnap Molly Porter and volunteers to look into that while Fisher continues with the game. FBI Special Agents George Aiken and Ray Santiago work with them to get Porter back. For "Round 5" one of the security boxes is a bomb and the other contains a clue to the next round. Fisher discovers and disposes of the bomb. The other box contains a hotel room key. The room is raided and found empty. For "Round 6," Fisher and the FBI go to the Monteleone Hotel to find Molly and Miles in a room, but when they arrived, Miles had only left on a video camera of the hotel a note that said "we are still here". After that, Danny talks to Willie; a hotel employee who knew where Miles was later. But at that moment, the security elevator stops and they finds a video recording with Molly (at gunpoint) saying that in 60 seconds the elevator will fall (telling Willie that what he does to her is not personal) and that (given that Wille is overweight) only one will survive. When Danny leaves the elevator, Willie falls and dies (still subtracting 5 seconds) In "Round 7" Fisher follows a series of clues to a bus where he finds Porter on board, wearing a bomb underneath her jacket. He is handcuffed to a bar and is given an envelope with a phone number as the clue to the next round. The Feds try to get Jackson but he escapes with Porter. When Fisher is freed, he tells the Feds about the bomb, and just when a sniper shot trying to kills Miles, fail and everyone get out of the bus (including Molly and Miles). Carver shows up and tells Fisher he has located Jackson's henchman, Anthony Deluso. In "Round 8" Fisher has to find the correct cell phone number that disarms bombs placed in different locations. Jackson answers and tells him that his call disabled Streetcar 907's brakes. In "Round 9" Fisher and Santiago slam their car into the transformer, shutting off electricity for the whole neighborhood. They run along the streetcar, clearing people out of the way until it can slow to a halt. A mine planted by Jackson kills Carver and Deluso. Jackson says that Porter's bomb can only be disarmed by Fisher's fingerprint. He tells Fisher to pay a visit to Erica Kessen, so Fisher, Santiago, and Aiken start for the cemetery. Another detective, Chuck Jansen calls Fisher to tell him that the numbers in the envelope were rigged to the streetcar. Jackson had cameras monitoring the elevator shaft and set off the bomb five seconds early. Fisher realizes that Willie's death in the elevator episode was orchestrated by Jackson. Santiago does a check on Willie and finds he had a second job as a Homewood Security guard. They figure out that Jackson was leading them to take out the power because Homewood Security comes in to move the federally unprotected cash from the United States Mint in New Orleans. Jackson's grudge against Fisher was only a cover for his scheme to steal this money. Aiken tells Santiago to lock down the Mint, while he and Fisher go after Porter. Fisher realizes that "Round 12" is a wild-goose chase, since Jackson needs Porter, a nurse, to help him escape. Jackson, dressed as a security guard, steals the cash. He uses Porter's ID card to get to a Medevac chopper on a hospital roof, transporting the money inside a body bag. Fisher and Aiken race to the hospital roof, where Aiken is wounded. Jackson activates the touch phone-bomb and throws the switch away. Porter and Fisher jump into a pool, while Jackson is left in the exploding helicopter. The movie ends with Danny and Molly leaving, with Molly wanting to go home, but Danny tells her about what happened to it.

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Career Highlights Top 6 by popularity · TMDB

Filmography

111 credits
2020s 20 credits
2026
Gorky Resort as Vasily Zarubin
Movie ★ 7.0
2026
Movie
2026
Movie ★ 6.4
2025
London Calling as Freddy Darby
Movie ★ 6.6
2025
Re-Creation as Hamilton Barnes
Movie
2025
Movie ★ 5.7
2025
Movie ★ 6.5
2025
Nostalgie as Drew
Movie
2024
Rock, Paper, Scissors as Steven Shadowwhispers (voice)
TV ★ 6.3
2023
Barber as Valentine Barber
Movie ★ 4.5
2023
Dance First as James Joyce
Movie ★ 6.9
2022
TV ★ 7.0
2021
Movie ★ 5.8
2021
Those Who Wish Me Dead as Jack Blackwell
Movie ★ 6.6
2021
Mayor of Kingstown as Milo Sunter
TV ★ 7.9
2021
Kin as Frank Kinsella
TV ★ 7.6
2010s 44 credits
2019
Confinement as Narrator (voice)
Movie
2019
Project Blue Book as Allen Hynek
TV ★ 8.1
2018
Movie ★ 7.1
2018
Dave Allen at Peace as Dave Allen
Movie ★ 4.4
2018
Bohemian Rhapsody as John Reid
Movie ★ 8.0
2018
Movie
2017
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword as William "Goosefat Bill"
Movie ★ 6.6
2017
The Lovers as Robert
Movie ★ 5.4
2017
Movie ★ 7.0
2017
Pickups as Aidan
Movie
2017
Urban Myths as Timothy Leary
TV ★ 7.4
2016
Further Beyond as Ambrosio O'Higgins
Movie ★ 5.8
2016
Sing Street as Robert Lawlor
Movie ★ 7.9
2016
Quantum Break as Paul Serene
TV ★ 6.7
2015
Movie ★ 10.0
2015
Still as Carver
Movie ★ 5.4
2015
Movie ★ 6.7
2015
Movie ★ 6.4
2015
Violet as Narrator
Movie ★ 7.5
2015
Charlie as Charles J. Haughey
TV ★ 1.0
2014
Calvary as Dr. Frank Harte
Movie ★ 7.1
2014
Ambition as Master
Movie ★ 6.6
2013
The Note as Lars
Movie
2013
Mister John as Gerry Devine
Movie ★ 4.8
2013
Movie ★ 6.0
2013
Scrapper as Ray
Movie ★ 6.3
2013
Movie ★ 7.7
2013
Mayday as Everett Newcombe
TV ★ 6.2
2013
Peaky Blinders as Aberama Gold
TV ★ 8.5
2012
Movie ★ 5.9
2012
Movie ★ 7.8
2012
Movie
2012
The Good Man as Michael
Movie ★ 8.0
2011
Blitz as Barry Weiss
Movie ★ 6.2
2011
Wake Wood as Patrick
Movie ★ 5.6
2011
Game of Thrones as Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish
TV ★ 8.5
2010
Thorne: Scaredycat as Phil Hendricks
Movie ★ 6.3
2010
Treacle Jr. as Aiden
Movie ★ 5.6
2010
Identity as DI John Bloom
TV ★ 6.9
2010
Love/Hate as John Boy Power
TV ★ 7.5
2010
Thorne as Phil Hendricks
TV ★ 6.5
2000s 25 credits
2009
12 Rounds as Miles Jackson
Movie ★ 5.9
2009
Freefall as Gus
Movie ★ 6.1
2009
Movie
2008
Blackout as Karl
Movie ★ 5.4
2007
Movie ★ 1.5
2007
Movie ★ 6.6
2007
Movie ★ 5.5
2007
Movie ★ 7.8
2005
Movie ★ 2.4
2005
Willesden Confidential as Steve Fallon
Movie
2005
TV ★ 8.1
2004
Photo Finish as Joe Wilde
Movie ★ 7.0
2003
Shanghai Knights as Lord Nelson Rathbone
Movie ★ 6.1
2003
Movie ★ 10.0
2003
The Last Detective as Steve Fallon
TV ★ 7.8
2002
The Final Curtain as Dave Turner
Movie ★ 4.9
2002
The Wire as Tommy Carcetti
TV ★ 8.6
2001
My Kingdom as Puttnam
Movie ★ 5.5
2001
Movie ★ 5.4
2001
Lorna Doone as Carver Doone
Movie ★ 5.8
2001
Dice as Glenn Taylor
TV ★ 9.0
2000
The Darkling as Jeff Obold
Movie ★ 5.1
2000
Buddy Boy as Francis
Movie ★ 4.9
2000
The Second Death as Pool Player
Movie ★ 6.3
2000
Lorna Doone as Carver Doone
TV ★ 7.7
1990s 10 credits
1999
Queer as Folk as Stuart Jones
TV ★ 7.8
1997
Movie ★ 7.0
1997
Mojo as Baby
Movie ★ 4.7
1997
Movie ★ 5.0
1996
Some Mother's Son as Gerard Quigley
Movie ★ 6.8
1995
Circle of Friends as Aidan Lynch
Movie ★ 6.2
1993
Safe as Gypo
Movie ★ 5.3
1992
An Ungentlemanly Act as Marine Wilcox
Movie ★ 5.8
1991
Movie
1991
TV ★ 6.5
1980s 7 credits
1989
A View of Harry Clark as Martin Kemp (as Adrian Murphy)
Movie
1989
TV ★ 8.2
1988
The Courier as Prostitute Boy
Movie ★ 7.5
1987
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne as Youth at Liquor Store (as Aiden Murphy)
Movie ★ 6.6
1986
ScreenPlay as Gypo
TV ★ 6.0
1985
Movie
1984
The Bill as Jeff Barratt
TV ★ 6.8
s 5 credits
James and Lucia as James Joyce
Movie
Driver as Dickinson
Movie
Movie ★ 8.7
Other Voices as Host — Presenter
TV