Chris Whalley has his first Holy Communion diary, in which he wrote about his desire to become an actor. When he was seven years old, he and two of his friends rehearsed their plays and performed them in front of their classmates.
He never wanted to do anything else, and as a child it was born out of a desire to make people laugh. “I think when I was younger I just liked the attention and making people laugh and look at me,” he says. “In this sense, I was lucky, I didn’t want to do anything else. Obviously, this can make a big difference to young people trying to figure out what they are going to do with their lives. I have never had such a question.”
Since then, the Cork actor has made us laugh many times with his starring role as the plucky sportsman in The Young Offenders. Peter Foote’s hit film and subsequent television series brought the Irish sense of mischief to a global audience, making stars of two young heroes, Wally and Alex Murphy.
For Wally, it was the culmination of childhood ambition, and he remains grateful to many for advice and support along the way. “There were so many people who helped me so much,” he says of family and friends.
“I grew up about 100 meters from my best friend, we live together in London, Eanna Hardwick. We met in acting class and discovered that we were neighbors. We were always pushing each other as kids and then we went to music school in Cork at the Youth Theatre. Incredible people like speech and drama teachers Trina Scott and Regina Crowley have done so much for me in developing my passion and preparing me to audition for drama schools. And then I did a year at the Cork School of Music, which was amazing, on a drama and theater course at CIT.”
Wally went on to study at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and still lives in the city. Just this week he began a six-week run of Marina Carr’s Portia Coughlan at the city’s Almeida Theater alongside fellow Cork native Alison Oliver. “It’s a different game. I hadn’t done a play in five years (after his Olivier Award-winning role in The Lieutenant of Inishmore) and I had forgotten how much I liked it.”
At a busy time for the actor, he returns to our screens this week in period drama The Lies We Tell. A powerful new take on the Victorian detective thriller, Uncle Silas is Lisa Mulcahy’s grim story of Maud, an orphaned heiress forced to fight her guardian uncle (David Wilmot) for her inheritance, which features a terrifying lead performance from Agnes O’ Casey. great-granddaughter of literary legend Sean.
Wally plays Wilmot’s son, the troubled Edward, who likes Maud but struggles with his own demons. “He’s very layered, having grown up in a very abusive relationship with his father. He’s quite a traumatized young man.
“This character was a lot of fun to play because of those layers and the script. There’s so much that isn’t said, so much that can be played out in those scenes, so much about the character that’s revealed during the writing process. It was also difficult to go into very dark places.” Maud is tested to her limits in her attempts to secure her legacy in a film that talks a lot about power, control and the treatment of women.
“It’s a timeless story that I think will resonate at any time,” Wally says. “But the fact that it’s period-specific makes it even more interesting, obviously because of the hierarchy of the time. How depressed the women were to see her defy this imposing older man. It just makes for a very interesting story—the politics of it all.”
Last year, the actor had the pleasure of returning home to work. He spent several weeks in West Cork filming Bodkin, the first scripted series from the production company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama. The dark comedy thriller revolves around a group of podcasters who set out to investigate a series of mysterious disappearances in a seaside town. He has fond memories of the experience.
“My father is from Skibbereen and there are a lot of relatives there and in Clonakilty. We were mostly in Union Hall. It’s just a gorgeous part of Ireland. It was nice to be by the sea – wonderful restaurants, pubs, people. I lived with Will Forte, we had a house there,” he said, adding that he and the American star spent most of their free time swimming in the sea.
“He is a very funny person and a great friend. We stayed there for three or four weeks. And everything else was in Wicklow, at Ardmore Studios.”
Along with The Lies We Tell, the actor is enjoying the opportunity to mix up his roles as his career progresses.
“You want to play those characters that are very different from what you’ve played before and characters that are challenging because playing something different is all well and good, but is it challenging, you know? Sometimes you can get something that is within your wheelhouse. They may be different, but these are the kind of parts available.
“Sometimes I can find myself in danger of trying to manage these things too much and thinking, ‘What’s next?’ I think letting it happen organically, trusting your gut and doing what feels right can be a way of not trying to manage it too much.”
Although Wally has lived in London for several years, he still travels home regularly to spend time with family and friends. “You get off the train and smell the fresh air. It’s completely different from the London air. It’s a different time at home too. I just love Ireland – I love seeing friends and family, going to the beach, going into the sea. And also wonderful home cooking – my mother is a very, very good cook.”
- The Lies We Told is in cinemas Friday 13 October.
“The Miracle Club” (in theaters Oct. 13): A group of Irish women win the pilgrimage to Lourdes in this Irish film starring Laura Linney and Kathy Bates.
Fair Play (new on Netflix): This cleverly crafted thriller follows a couple in high finance.
Tarrach (in cinemas now): A group of friends bid to win the naomhog race in this charming Irish-language drama set in West Kerry.
The Old Oak (in cinemas now): British filmmaking legend Ken Loach’s latest film follows the arrival of Syrian refugees in a former mining village.
Enemy (in theaters Oct. 20): Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan play a couple facing a dilemma in Garth Davis’ sci-fi thriller.