Mullan was born on 2 November 1959 in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the son of Patricia (a nurse) and Charles Mullan (a lab technician at Glasgow University).[1][2] The seventh of eight children, Mullan was brought up in a working class Roman Catholic family.[3][4] They later moved to Mosspark,[5] a district in Glasgow. An alcoholic, Mullan's father became increasingly tyrannical and abusive; he died from lung cancer when Mullan was 17.[6]
For a brief period, Mullan was a member of a street gang while at secondary school,[6][7] and worked as a bouncer in a number of south-side pubs.[8] He was homeless for short periods at the ages of 15 and 18.[9]
Mullan went on to the University of Glasgow to study economic history and drama, where he began acting on stage.[10]
In television, he played a lead role in the 2008 ITV series The Fixer.[11] Mullan appeared in Gerard Lee's and Jane Campion's 2013 miniseries Top of the Lake[11] as Matt Mitcham, head of the Mitcham family and father of Tui Mitcham, whose disappearance is the main topic of the series. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for his work in the series. From 2016 to 2019, he starred in the BBC Two sitcom Mum,[11] and from 2017 to 2018, Mullan appeared in the first two seasons of the Netflix series Ozark.[11] In 2018 and 2020, he starred in the second and third season of HBO's Westworld,[11] in a recurring and guest capacity respectively. Also in 2020, he starred in the first season of the Netflix series Cursed.[11]
He won top prizes both for acting (Cannes Best Actor award for My Name Is Joe)[14] and for the best film (Golden Lion for The Magdalene Sisters)[14] at major European film festivals.[14]
Personal life
Mullan married Ann Swan, an actress and scriptwriter, in 1989; they divorced in 2006. He has four children – three with Swan, including one son with autism, and one with former girlfriend, activist Robina Qureshi.[15] He is in a relationship with New Zealand actress Robyn Malcolm, whom he met while filming Top of the Lake in 2013.[16]
In January 2009, Mullan joined other actors in protesting against the BBC's refusal to screen a Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for Gaza. They told BBC director general Mark Thompson: "Like millions of others, we are absolutely appalled at the decision to refuse to broadcast the appeal. We will never work for the BBC again unless this disgraceful decision is reversed. We will urge others from our profession and beyond to do likewise."[19] Mullan has agreed to appear in an adaptation of Iain Banks's novel Stonemouth after the BBC aired a DEC appeal for Gaza in late 2014.[20]
Mullan was a supporter of the Yes Scotland campaign in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.[21] In 2015, he criticised the BBC for "horrendous bias" against the Yes campaign and told the Radio Times that "to see the BBC used as a political cudgel against a legitimate democratic movement ... really broke my heart."[22]
