Patrick Bergin

Patrick Connolly Bergin (born 4 February 1951) is an Irish actor and singer perhaps best known for his leading role opposite Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), the title character in Robin Hood, terrorist Kevin O'Donnell in Patriot Games and for playing the villainous Aidan Maguire in the BBC soap EastEnders in 2017–2018. Early life Bergin was born in Dublin and grew up in Drimnagh, Dublin 12. His father, Patrick Bergin Snr., was a Labour Party politician who once studied to be a priest with the Holy Ghost Fathers in Blackrock, Ireland. Patrick was one of four sons and one daughter (Pearse, Emmet, Patrick, Allen and Siobhan Bergin). He left Dublin for London in 1973, and by the time he was 17 he was in London running a theatre company. He worked on building sites and at a library. He studied at night and completed an education degree from North London Polytechnic. He was an English teacher for several years, then formed his own theatrical company because "no one else would have him". Career In 1980, Bergin decided to pursue acting full-time and found work in repertory theatre. For much of the 1990s it seemed that no one in Hollywood was interested in him. He accepted diverse acting roles, including a trilogy of Yeats plays; Morphine and Dolly Mixtures, for which he won a BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actor; Durango, based on John B Keane's novel; hosting TnaG's Silín Draíochta; and narrating Patrick Cassidy's Famine Concert. After Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), he portrayed the title character in Robin Hood, opposite Uma Thurman as Maid Marian. He describes 1996 as the lowest point in his career, a time when he rarely received any calls for movie roles. Internationally, Bergin's best-known role may be that of the menacing husband of Julia Roberts' character in the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy. He is also known for his role as Irish terrorist Kevin O'Donnell in the film adaptation of Tom Clancy's Patriot Games. He also appeared as Robin Hood in a 1991 film. In 2013 he appeared in the Scottish film The Wee Man playing notorious Glasgow gangster Arthur 'The Godfather' Thompson. He joined the BBC soap EastEnders towards the end of 2017, departing in March 2018.