Cillian Murphy Is Famously Private. Here's What You Didn't Know About the Actor

Is Cillian Murphy married?

Murphy is married to Irish visual artist Yvonne McGuinness . The two first met in 1996 , and they got married in 2004. McGuinness works in video installation and print, and she's also made several short films .

Murphy has been open about the fact that it takes him some time to shake off Tommy's intensity when filming is over, and he said that his McGuinness often sees a difference in him based on what he's shooting at the time.

Cillian Murphy and Yvonne McGuinness in 2016. BusinessInsider USA Images

"If you talk to my wife about how I am during different films, she says she can see a marked difference. Obviously, when I come home in the evening, I do switch off and put the bins out but it seeps in there by osmosis. Im sure Ive been an asshole. Its a difficult thing living with an actor," Murphy explained .

However, Murphy also said that he takes things easier now . "Now I'm more at ease. It is ultimately just dressing up and doing voices. We take it seriously and do it as best we can but going home and being with your family, that's reality," he said.

Does Cillian Murphy have kids?

Murphy and McGuinness have two sons. And while most kids would be delighted at having a superstar actor for a dad, the violent nature of Murphy's on-screen roles means that they haven't seen most of his work.

"Most of what I do is highly unsuitable for them. Theyre suitably underwhelmed by my work," Murphy explained . "Im trying to keep them in that state because its such a silly industry."

Where does Cillian Murphy live?

While Murphy is from Ireland, he lived in London for years with his wife and kids. In 2016, he and his family moved back to Ireland, to a town near Dublin where "people leave me alone," Murphy explained to the Evening Standard . The couple also wanted their kids to be closer to grandparents.

Murphy also revealed that he picks TV and film roles that won't disrupt his family life. "The only thing Ive tried to stick to, and Ive repeated it ad nauseum, is to follow the good writing. I dont want to go to America and up sticks to wherever a shoot may be for 12 months. Ive got young kids; you dont really want to uproot the family for a year."

How do you pronounce Cillian Murphy's name?

Cillian is pronounced Kill-ee-an, with a hard C sound. Cillian and Killian are both popular spellings of the name, but Murphy is credited with the popularity of the "Cillian" spellingas British Baby Names reports, Cillian's rise as the dominant spelling coincides with Murphy's career.

Is it true that Cillian Murphy used to be in a band?

Before he became an actor, Murphy sang and played guitar in a band, Sons of Mr Greengenes , with his brother. The duo was actually a five-album deal by a record label in London, but they turned it down. Murphy's younger brother was still in school, and their parents were unsure if they wanted their sons to get involved in the music industry.

Looking back, Murphy says that he's glad he didn't go down the music route. "I'm very glad in retrospect that we didn't sign because you kind of sign away your life to a label and the whole of your music," he explained in an archived interview with The Evening Herald .

Cillian Murphy has conflicted feelings about Tommy's Peaky Blinders haircut.

Murphy's haircut on the show (an undercut with a textured crop on top) is instantly recognizable, and Murphy said that it makes fans come up to him in person. "Its when you get the haircut that people start shouting at ya," he said. "When I dont have the haircut I can get the bus quite unmolested."

And while the cast reportedly had to be convinced to get all of their cuts, Murphy told Vulture that he's learned to live with it. "Ive gotten more tolerant of the haircut over the years. And bizarrely, its become a desirable cut amongst the fashionistas, which is staggering to me. Its one more sign of how the show has infiltrated the mainstream culture.