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Actor

1979-01-31 · Finglas, Dublin, Ireland · Male

29 series in the catalog

Emmett John Scanlan (born 31 January 1979) is an Irish actor, known for playing villainous, bad boy characters. His credits include Hollyoaks (2011–2013), The Fall (2013–2014), Peaky Blinders (2019–2022), Breakdown (2016), In The Flesh (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), The Tower (2021), Ten Percent (2022), Kin (2021–2023), Fool Me Once (2024), MobLand (2025), and How to Get to Heaven from Belfast (2026).

Early life

Scanlan was born on 31 January 1979, in Dublin. His family are natives of Clontarf, Dublin.

Career

He played the lovable rogue and bad boy Brendan Brady in Hollyoaks from 2010 to 2013, for which he was nominated and won many soap awards. He appeared alongside Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan in the BBC Two drama The Fall (2013–2014).

From 2013–2016, he starred alongside Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders, Series 5 and Series 6, and worked alongside Craig Fairbrass, James Cosmo, Bruce Payne, Olivia Grant and Tamer Hassan in Breakdown (2016),.

Scanlan has acted in BBC Three's In The Flesh series 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). In 2021, he starred as Inspector Kieran Shaw in ITV's The Tower.

In 2022, Scanlan appeared as Marcus MacLeod in the British remake of Call My Agent!: Ten Percent. He played a main role as Jimmy Kinsella in the RTÉ family gangster drama Kin.

In 2024, he starred alongside Michelle Keegan and Adeel Akhtar in the Netflix series Fool Me Once (2024), and worked alongside Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Tom Hardy, Paddy Considine and Joanne Froggatt, playing a heavy for the Harrigan family in the British Gangster series MobLand (2025).

Personal life

Scanlan married girlfriend Claire Cooper on 31 December 2015 in New York City. In July 2020, she gave birth to a boy. In October 2020, Cooper disclosed that she had suffered a miscarriage of their baby the previous year. On 12 November 2022, Cooper gave birth to their daughter. Scanlan also has a daughter born in September 2002 from a previous relationship.

For a period of time whilst filming Hollyoaks, Scanlan lived with friend and then-co star Joe Tracini. Tracini has credited Scanlan with helping him through his addiction issues, and addressed Scanlan's support during his 2026 comedy tour 10 Things I Hate About Me.

Scanlan is a vegan and supports PETA. He is a supporter of Manchester United.

Awards and nominations

(*) means there were two main rounds of nominations for that category. Shortlisted means he made it to the second and final round of voting.