Harry Potter's Great British Thespians
Brendan Gleeson as Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, 4, 5, 7
With a glass orb that wanders erratically and piercingly, Mad-Eye joined Hogwarts in Goblet of Fire — one of the retinue of eccentric professors who are not what they seem. Turns out Mad-Eye is a charter member of the anti-Voldemort Order of the Phoenix, founded many years ago by Dumbledore, and including Hagrid, Lupin, Snape (yes, Snape) and Harry's parents James and Lily Potter. Whether playing heroic or villainous types, Gleeson, 55, always brings a roguish strength to his roles. Subsidizing his acting vocation with a job teaching Gaelic and Phys. Ed. at a secondary school, this Dublin native became a full-time actor at 34. He earned early acclaim as Michael Collins in the Irish TV film The Treaty and as the gangster Martin Cahill in John Boorman's The General. In 2009 won an Emmy impersonating Winston Churchill in Into the Storm. Gleeson's son Domhnall plays Ron Weasley's brother Bill in the Deathly Hallows films.