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The 2023 Academy Awards are being taken over by Irish folks, with 14 nominations total across categories for Irish actors, filmmakers, and productions. Today, we’re getting to know Aftersun star Paul Mescal a bit better. Having made his on-screen debut in the hit miniseries Normal People in 2020, he has become quite the hot commodity in the entertainment industry. This marks the (almost) 27-year-old’s first Academy Award nomination, and we’re sure it won’t be his last.
As Paul Mescal continues to become more popular amongst mainstream audiences, we thought we would tell you a little bit more about him as he continues his journey to stardom and hopefully wins an Oscar in 2023 and the coming years. Here’s everything you need to know about the Irish star Paul Mescal, from his net worth to his biography, and much more:
Paul Mescal Net Worth
Paul Mescal’s net worth has grown pretty quickly considering that his professional film and television career really only began in 2020. Additionally, though, his professional stage career did begin in 2017. For his stage roles, he earns anywhere between $1,000 and $2,000 per week, possibly more when cast in a leading role. Additionally, he has earned between $35,000 and $50,000 per television episode. Mescal has earned decent amounts for his film appearances, and we’re wondering whether he’ll be offered more money for his future roles now that he’s been nominated for an Academy Award. He also had earned some money via endorsement deals to be posted on social media, but his social media are currently deactivated. Mescal’s net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million as of January 2023.
Paul Mescal Biography
Paul Mescal was born in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland on February 2, 1996. He attended Maynooth Post Primary School and spent his youth playing football, eventually becoming a minor and under-21 Gaelic football player for Kildare, as well as a member of the Maynooth Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Club. He broke his jaw while playing and finished the game, but he gave up the sport shortly afterward. However, he occasionally still coaches youth teams when he returns home.
Mescal first tried his hand at acting when he was 16 years of age, landing the iconic role of the Phantom in a school production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. He decided he wanted to pursue acting professionally and auditioned for the Lir Academy at Trinity College Dublin. In 2017, he graduated from the Lir Academy with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting, and he secured agents prior to his graduation.
Following his graduation, he won the role of Jay Gatsby in a stage production of The Great Gatsby at the Gate Theatre in Dublin. At the same theatre later that year, he portrayed the Prince in Hans Christian Andersen’s The Red Shoes. He also appeared in the world premiere of Asking for It by Louise O’Neill at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 2018. His career in the theatre continued to flourish as he made his London debut that year, starring in The Plough and the Stars at the Lyric Hammersmith. He returned to Ireland to star in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Kilkenny Arts Festival and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for the Dublin Theatre Festival.
Paul Mescal Early Days
2020 was a big year for Mescal. He performed at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre in The Lieutenant of Inishmore just before his career began to take off. He starred in his first television role on Hulu and BBC Three’s miniseries Normal People, based on Salley Rooney’s 2018 novel of the same name. His character, Connell Waldron, was somewhat similar to Mescal himself, attending Trinity College and playing Gaelic football. However, Mescal did state that he is not as hesitant as Connell, nor is he emotionally unavailable. He won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for the role, and his performance was met with widespread critical acclaim. He also was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries. Later in 2020, he had a supporting role in The Deceived, a Channel 5 miniseries. That October, he performed in a virtual reading of Kenneth Lonergan’s play This Is Our Youth to benefit the charity the Actors Fund of America.
Paul Mescal Career
In 2021, Mescal had a supporting role in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut, The Lost Daughter. This was also his feature film debut. In 2022, Mescal starred in two films, God’s Creatures, and Aftersun, which both premiered at that year’s Cannes Film Festival. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance as a troubled young father in Aftersun. Additionally in 2022, he starred in Carmen, a contemporary film adaptation of the Bizet opera. He began starring as Stanley Kowalski in the 2022 London revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, and the production is slated to transfer to the West End in March 2023. Mescal has several films in the works, including Merrily We Roll Along, based on the Stephen Sondheim musical of the same name and meant to be filmed over the next 20 years.
Paul Mescal Personal Life
In 2020, Mescal moved to London from Ireland and also began a relationship with singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers. The two flirted a bit via Twitter before Bridgers flew to Ireland (mid-pandemic) to meet him. They made their relationship public in November 2021, though fans had been speculating long before that, especially since he had appeared in the music video for her single “Savior Complex,” directed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag fame. Mescal reportedly bought a home in West Cork, Ireland, recently, and it is rumored that he bought it with Bridgers. However, rumors began to swirl that the two had broken up in late 2022. The rumors have yet to be confirmed or denied by either of them.
Mescal openly talks about seeing a therapist. In his free time, he enjoys singing and playing the piano. He occasionally performs covers with his younger sister, Nell, such as “Nothing Arrived” by Villagers. He performed spoken word and sang with Irish singer-songwriter Dermot Kennedy in July 2020 at the London Natural History Museum.
Paul Mescal Family
The Normal People star is the eldest of three children born to Dearbhla and Paul Mescal. His mother is a Garda officer – basically an Irish police officer – while his father is a schoolteacher. His father also was once a semi-professional actor. He has a sister, Nell, and a brother, Donnacha. Nell is actually an accomplished singer. The 19-year-old just released a new single, “Homesick,” on January 18, 2023. She just performed her new song on The Late Late Show on Ireland’s RTÉ One. Mescal’s mother currently is living with multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, and was diagnosed with it in July 2022. Nell revealed via Twitter that their mother will begin chemotherapy in the near future, sharing that Dearbhla got her hair cut in preparation for chemo on the same day that Paul found out he was nominated for an Oscar.
Conclusion
There you have it! If you haven’t checked out Paul Mescal’s work just yet, now is the perfect time to do so. Do let us know in the comments what you think about this Irish man and what your favorite work of his has been so far!
