Gabriel Byrne

In the police line-up in The Usual Suspects (1995), Gabriel Byrne gives Keaton a seriousness that holds our attention among the more conspicuous personalities. Benicio del Toro's Fenster supplies the peculiar deliveries; Byrne gives the group some weight. We enjoyed their abrasive company, and Byrne's gravity helped us take the men seriously even while the dialogue made us laugh. His restraint gives us a reason to keep watching him when somebody else is speaking.

Joel and Ethan Coen's Miller's Crossing (1990) had already placed that steadiness at the centre of a crime film, with Byrne playing Tom Reagan. His economical acting suits the character's guarded manner. In Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects, Christopher McQuarrie's dry dialogue gives the men enough wit to make their exchanges worth hearing. We rate that film highly, with a reservation that matters here: its people can seem thin beside its plotting, and Byrne's gravity helps without quite solving the problem.

His later work as therapist Paul Weston in In Treatment (2008–2010) gave his small gestures and changes of expression more time to tell us about a character. It also helps explain why describing him simply as brooding misses something important. Across his work, he can give difficult men a warmth that makes us willing to spend time with them. We do not need every thought spelt out, provided the performance persuades us there is some thinking going on.

Ballerina (2025) is a reminder that this approach needs a part with something in it. Byrne's Chancellor in Len Wiseman's film is soft-voiced and scarcely registers, a villain whose lack of force gives us little to anticipate. We found the film mixed, with better action once its laborious first hour was out of the way, but Byrne is not one of its compensations. Start with The Usual Suspects; do not choose Ballerina on his account.