Stephen Rea (b.1946 Belfast), actor, 2025

A new commission by David Stephenson.

Actor Stephen Rea was born in Belfast. He attended Belfast High School and Queen’s University before enrolling at the Abbey Theatre School in Dublin. His international breakthrough came with his portrayal of Fergus in The Crying Game (1992), directed by Neil Jordan, for which he received an Oscar nomination. Other movie credits include Interview with a Vampire (1994), Michael Collins (1996), and The End of the Affair (1999). He has been involved in several notable television productions. Rea has also enjoyed a celebrated career on stage, collaborating on several occasions with American playwright Sam Shepard. Rea has received many nominations and awards for his performances on stage and screen, and has been conferred with honorary degrees from both Queen’s University, Belfast, and the University of Ulster.

David Stephenson’s projects as a photographer and filmmaker have taken him all over the world. He has completed commissions for NGOs including Trócaire and Self Help International. He has worked extensively in Central America and Africa, as well as in Kosovo and throughout Ireland. Stephenson has won several awards, including best film at both the Fastnet Festival (2016) and the Belfast Film Festival (2017), for his documentary film Raymond, an elegiac portrait of an old man’s recollections of life on the border in Cavan. He has exhibited in Ireland, the UK and beyond, and is represented in public collections in Dublin.

Stephenson took the photograph in the back garden of Stephen Rea’s Dublin home. The sparseness of the ivy on an old wall behind Rea instantly appealed to Stephenson and made for an ideal backdrop for an informal head and shoulders study of this kind. Stephenson was mindful of the fact that his subject was ‘a public figure, but… also a very private person’ and wanted to capture this ‘interesting contradiction’ in his portrait. When shown the photograph by Stephenson, Rea remained quiet before saying ‘It’s me’.