'Saltburn' Won't Be At The Oscars. Here's Where Else To Watch ...

Barry Keoghan in "Saltburn" (2023).

Courtesy of Prime Video

Barry Keoghan is having his moment. Although Saltburn was snubbed at the upcoming 96th Academy Awards, the Irish actor has appeared in many titles over the years. Read on for Barry Keoghan’s movies and TV shows, from Masters of the Air to The Banshees of Inisherin.

Keoghan grew up in Summerhill, Ireland, and lost his mother to a drug overdose when he was 12 years old. He recalled dancing for his late mother to Elvis’ “A Little Less Conversation.” “She loved that,” he told Esquire. “It was her favorite song. It was when she was in hospital. And it could come on and me and my brother used to dance to it. We’d be by her bedside.”

After his mother’s death, Keoghan and his brother were in the foster care system for seven years before moving in with their grandmother. “You know what, I’m proud of it,” the actor said of his difficult childhood. “I’m not going to say what happened was the right thing, but it’s certainly given me a lot of ammunition.”

His acting journey began when he was 15 years old; he and some school friends were walking around Dublin when he saw an advertisement in a shop window calling for actors. Keoghan called the phone number on the casting call and Mark O’Connor picked up the phone; he told Keoghan that he was working on funding the proposed film. Then, after persistently calling O’Connor for over a year, Keoghan eventually got the part in the movie.

After that, started to keep a list of directors he wanted to work with. His early acting jobs include playing a desperate orphan in Calm with Horses and a troubled boy named Martin in The Killing of a Sacred Deer. He also landed roles in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, the Oscar-nominated The Banshees of Inisherin, the MCU’s Eternals, and more.

Barry Keoghan’s Movies And TV Shows

Barry Keoghan in "Saltburn" (2023).

Courtesy of Prime

Barry Keoghan finally landed his first leading role in Saltburn, which debuted in theaters in November 2023 and Amazon Prime Video last December. “I looked at good leading performances with a strong arc to prepare because this was my first leading part,” the rising star told Variety.

Despite not receiving any formal acting training, Keoghan said he was dedicated to learning from other actors, both older and younger. “I love watching what people bring to the table and why they make their choices and get into character,” he explained. “For me, I’ll play around with plastic spoons in my mouth. I’ll keep an accent. I’ll listen to music. I’ll stay in a dress code. That’s all so I’m mentally in it.” Here are the best Barry Keoghan movies and TV shows and where to watch them.

Eternals (2021)

In Marvel Studios’ 2021 film Eternals, Keoghan portrayed Druig, one of the immortal aliens who could manipulate people’s minds. Although the MCU film received poor reviews from critics (including a 47% score on Rotten Tomatoes), the actor defended Chloé Zhao’s approach to creating the film.

“I think Chloe [Zhao] brought a whole kind of feel to it. You know? So Chloe brings - as you’ve seen from her past films - raw performances and really, really touching performances,” he said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “I don’t think it was… I think it was new. I think it was just new. It was new for the Marvel world.”

Where to watch Eternals: Disney+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+

Dunkirk (2017)

In Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed historical war thriller Dunkirk, Keoghan played a young boy named George who joins his friend, Peter, and his father, Dawson, to help evacuate soldiers stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, France, during World War II. Dunkirk won three Academy Awards in 2018 and boasts an impressive 92% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Dunkirk was like a dream, you know, planes and boats,” the actor told Wonderland Magazine. “He [Nolan] creates this world where you don’t really have to act. He’s a master.”

Where to watch Dunkirk: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+

Chernobyl (2019)

Keoghan played a small but memorable role in HBO’s historical miniseries Chernobyl, which chronicled the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the massive cleanup efforts that followed.

The actor played Pavel, a liquidator who must kill animals to prevent the spread of radiation contamination around the Chernobyl exclusion site. The drama series was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series in 2019.

Where to watch Chernobyl: Max, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

American Animals (2018)

Bart Layton’s crime drama, American Animals, tells the story of the real-life 2004 book heist that took place at Transylvania University, when four college students attempted, but failed, to steal rare books worth millions.

Keoghan played Spencer Reinhard, one of the four students involved in the scheme (alongside Jared Abrahamson, Evan Peters, and Blake Jenner). American Animals also features interviews with actual thieves and victims from the botched heist.

Keoghan told IndieWire that the film’s authentic roots made it stand out to him. “It’s great to be a part of a movie that’s fun but also gives you a smack of reality,” he said. “It’s not Oceans 11, it’s more like Dog Day Afternoon, so it’s nice to be in that kind of movie that goes from one extreme to the other.”

Where to watch American Animals: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, fuboTV

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

From Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, Barry Keoghan stars as the terrifying antagonist in The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The actor played Martin, a 16-year-old who lost his father on the operating table. After his Dad’s death, Martin grows close with Steven (Colin Farrell), the surgeon responsible, and his family — then things get incredibly sinister as he seeks revenge.

“I felt that Martin was a kid reaching out for a father figure as his own father died in surgery. I think he was just looking for that. And then as I read on, he was just looking for revenge,” Keoghan said in an interview with Brief Take. “There was no pointing me in a specific direction with Yorgos. It was all in the script.”

Where to watch The Killing of a Sacred Deer: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Vudu

Masters of the Air (2024)

A companion to Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), Masters of the Air retells the real-life story of the 100th Bomb Group in the U.S. Air Force (also known as the “Bloody Hundredth” due to their heavy losses in combat). During World War II, the division helped dismantle Hitler’s Third Reich by bombing Nazi Germany under terrifying conditions.

Keoghan appears in Masters of the Air as Lt. Curtis Biddick, a courageous pilot based on the real-life airman who impacted the 100th Bomb Group. “How I wanted to play Biddick, and how I read him, was he was a guy wanting to put on a front and have a certain mentality trickle down to his squad, and to let his squad know that their leader is confident and everything’s going to be cool and to hold their composure — when, matter of fact, he was dealing with his own battles, and he probably had doubt, as well,” he told Collider.

Where to watch Masters of the Air: Apple TV+

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The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

In the dark comedy The Banshees of Inisherin from Martin McDonagh, Keoghan portrays Dominic, a mentally disabled young man living on the small Irish Island in 1923. Dominic is struggling with his abusive father and love for Pádraic (Colin Farrell)’s sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon). Keoghan won a BAFTA and received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role.

“It was my job to bring an honesty to him and not make him feel like we’ve seen him before,” Keoghan said to the LA Times. “We had a scale of ‘How big do I go? Do I go one to 10?’ I’d say five and he’d [McDonagh] say yeah — that was my thing with him to understand what he wanted. Because we wanted to humanize Dominic. We didn’t want to make him just for laughs. He has a story, and so it’s a fine line of balancing that. We had a lot of little ways to get there. I never reached a 10. Martin wanted to keep him real. Because it is tragic what happens to the poor boy.”

Where to watch The Banshees of Inisherin: Hulu, Max, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+

Saltburn (2023)

For his debut leading role in Saltburn, Keoghan portrays Oliver Quick, an Oxford student who becomes infatuated with his classmate Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). Felix invites Oliver to stay at his family’s estate, Saltburn.

“I’m really flirtin’,” Keoghan told GQ of his relationship with his co-star Elordi. “We were constantly close... It ain’t just for the cameras and the premiere[s]. Me and Jacob—he’s like a brother to me, honestly,” he explained. “I think when you’re comfortable with someone, you can be as close as you want, you know what I mean? It’s not like, ‘Oh, don’t come near me’—it’s like, I’m comfortable. When I’m comfortable around people, I’m comfy.”

Where to watch Saltburn: Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV+

What’s next for Barry Keoghan?

Barry Keoghan at the 14th Governors Awards held at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood on ... [+] January 9, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/WWD via Getty Images)

WWD via Getty Images

Keoghan is set to reunite with Chernobyl director Johan Renck for Amo Saddam, the new film about the final days of Saddam Hussein. The upcoming movie is based on Will Bardenwerper’s 2007 book, The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Leaves Unsaid, which follows the 12 soldiers (known as the Super Twelve) tasked with guarding Hussein for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Keoghan will play “an American soldier tasked with guarding the ousted Iraqi dictator in the months before his trial and execution.”