Biography
Birdy Sweeney was an Irish actor and comedian. Born Edmund Francis Sweeney in Dungannon, County Tyrone, in 1931, he gained his nickname from his childhood talent for imitating birdsong, which he demonstrated on BBC Radio Ulster. He worked as a stand-up comedian on the club circuit for more than thirty years before beginning acting in his fifties.
Sweeney made his screen debut as an extra in a 1982 BBC Northern Ireland production and his stage debut in a 1989 Abbey Theatre production of The Iceman Cometh. He appeared in films including The Crying Game (1992) as Tommy, The Snapper (1993), The Butcher Boy (1997), Space Truckers (1996) and Angela's Ashes (1999). From 1996 he played Eamon Byrne in the first four series of the BBC drama Ballykissangel. He also appeared in Father Ted (1998) and The Bill.
Sweeney died in Dublin in 1999, aged 67.
