Known for his distinctively deep voice, Hinds is also known for his voice role as Grand Pabbie, the Troll King in the animated film Frozen (2013) and its sequel, Frozen II (2019). He played General Zakharow in Red Sparrow (2018). He also portrayed Steppenwolf in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2017) and its 2021 director's cut.
Hinds was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 9 February 1953.[5][6][7] Raised as a Catholic[8] in north Belfast, he was one of five children and the only son of his doctor father, Gerry, and schoolteacher and amateur actress mother, Moya.[9][10]
He appeared in the title role of the RSC's production of Richard III in 1993, directed by Sam Mendes, who turned to Hinds as a last minute replacement for an injured Simon Russell Beale. Hinds gained his most popular recognition as a stage actor for his performance as Larry in the London and Broadway productions of Patrick Marber's Tony Award-nominated play Closer. In 1999, Hinds was awarded both the Theatre World Award for Best Debut in New York and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Special Achievement (Best Ensemble Cast Performance) for his work in Closer. He was on stage in 2001 in The Yalta Game by Brian Friel at Dublin's Gate Theatre. He appeared on Broadway in The Seafarer by Conor McPherson, which ran at the Booth Theatre from December 2007 through March 2008. In February 2009 he took the leading role of General Sergei Kotov in Burnt by the Sun by Peter Flannery at London's National Theatre.[17] Hinds returned to the stage later in 2009 with a role in Conor McPherson's play The Birds, which opened at Dublin's Gate Theatre in September 2009.
In 1996, Hinds acted as a police detective in the Tales from the Crypt episode "Confessions".
Hinds was featured in two notable television docudramas: Granada Television's docudrama Who Bombed Birmingham? (1990) in which Hinds portrayed Richard McIlkenny, a Belfastman falsely imprisoned for an IRA bombing; and HBO's docudrama Hostages (1993), where he portrayed Irish writer and former hostage Brian Keenan. Hinds starred opposite Kelly Reilly in Above Suspicion, a TV adaptation of Lynda La Plante's detective story, which was broadcast in the United Kingdom in January 2009; he returned for the sequels The Red Dahlia (2010), Deadly Intent (2011) and Silent Scream (2012). Hinds has performed in audiobook and radio productions as well. He performed as Valmont in the BBC Radio production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and also narrated the Penguin Audiobook Ivanhoe. He also performed in Antony and Cleopatra and The Winter's Tale as part of The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare, an audio production of Shakespeare's plays which won the 2004 Audie Award for Best Audio Drama. He read the short story "A Painful Case" for the Caedmon Audio version of James Joyce's Dubliners.[citation needed]
In September 2011, Hinds returned to the Abbey Theatre in Dublin to star as Captain Jack Boyle in a revival of Seán O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock, alongside Sinéad Cusack as Juno. The production transferred to the National Theatre of Great Britain in November 2011 for a three-month run. He played "Jim" in the film The Shore (2011), written and directed by Terry George. The Shore won the Best Short Film, Live Action category at the 84th Annual Academy Awards (The Oscars) in 2012.
In the summer of 2013, he performed at the Donmar Warehouse in London in the premiere production of The Night Alive, a play by Conor McPherson, which transferred in November 2013, with Hinds in the lead role, to the Atlantic Theater Company in New York.
In 2017, Hinds portrayed the DC Comics villain Steppenwolf in the superhero film Justice League. Disappointed with the reshoots and changes made by Joss Whedon following director Zack Snyder's departure, including ones made to Steppenwolf's appearance and characterisation, Hinds publicly supported the release of Snyder's original cut of the film, calling it superior to the theatrical version.[27] On 18 March 2021 Snyder's version, titled Zack Snyder's Justice League, was released on the WarnerMedia Entertainmentstreaming serviceHBO Max, restoring many scenes, including those of Hinds as Steppenwolf in the character's original design, which were not featured in the theatrical version.[28]
In 2021, Hinds appeared as a drug trafficking gangster known as Eamon Cunningham, in the TV drama "Kin". The drama was first broadcast on 9 September 2021 on RTÉ. A second series was commissioned and broadcast 19 March 2023. The BBC aired the series in 2023 in the United Kingdom. The series is also available in the United States of America and Canada on AMC+.
Hinds lives in Paris with his wife, the French-Vietnamese actress Hélène Patarot. They met in 1987 while in the cast of Peter Brook's production of The Mahabharata. Their daughter, Aoife Hinds (born 1991, in London), is also an actor[31] and has appeared in Derry Girls, Normal People, and Hellraiser.[32][33]
^"Winners & Nominees 2022". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 27 March 2022. Archived from the original on 28 March 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
GRUNERT, Andrea. "Ciarán Hinds: Exkursionen ins Reich des Phantastischen" Enzyklopädie des Phantastischen Films. 98th issue. Meitingen: Corian. June 2012. p. 1–11. ISBN978-3-89048-498-3 [German]
GRUNERT, Andrea. "Ciarán Hinds, acteur". Jeune Cinéma. issue 361/362. Autumn 2014. p. 62–69. [French]