Meet our Acting Level 3 Tutor! Hugh O'Conor
Hugh O'Conor leads our Acting Level 3 Short Course taking place this 23 April, 2026
Hugh O'Conor leads our Acting Level 3 evening course, which is a scene-study intensive designed for students who have completed Levels 1 and 2 or students who have prior acting experience. It challenges you to integrate all prior training and elevate your ability to deliver truthful, compelling performances. Book now your place on our upcoming Acting Level 3 course through the booking link here.
Hugh is an award-winning filmmaker, actor and photographer. He won the 1991 Youth in Film award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the young Christy Brown in the Oscar-winning My Left Foot (1990), and was nominated at the 2001 SAG awards for BestEnsemble for his performance as Pére Henri in the Oscar-nominated Chocolat (2000). He won the Irish Times Theatre award for Best Supporting Actor in 2013 for his performance as the Fool in King Lear at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.
After studying film at NYU as a Fulbright scholar, he wrote and directed several shorts with the Irish Film Board, including the award-winning Corduroy (2010), which was selected for the Generation 14+ programme at the 60th Berlinale. His debut feature, Metal Heart (2018), written by the Booker Prize-nominated Paul Murray, and his animated adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat (2018) were award-winners at their premieres at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2018. Metal Heart had its US premiere at the 2019 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where Hugh was nominated for the Panavision Spirit award. The Overcoat, voiced by Cillian Murphy and Alfred Molina, was nominated for Best Short Animation at the 2020 IFTAs, and acquired internationally by Amazon Prime.
His short animation Worry World (2023), directed by Jess Patterson, won the Oscar-qualifying James Horgan award at its premiere at the 2023 Galway Film Fleadh. It went on to win the Audience Award for Best Animated Short at the 2023 Newport Beach Film Festival, and Best Animated Short in 2024 at Animation Dingle, Manchester Film Festival, and the Boyne Valley International Film Festival. Hugh won Best Script at the 2024 Writer’s Guild of Ireland Zebbie awards.
In addition to film and theatre work, Hugh has directed music videos for artists including Sinéad O’Connor, and was series director for Irish National Opera’s acclaimed 20 Shots of Opera, which was nominated for the Special Jury Prize at the 2021 Irish Times Theatre Awards. In 2019 he received the Maverick Award from the Irish Film Critics’ Circle, as well as the Jim Sheridan Award for Achievement in Irish Film at the Irish Screen America festival in Los Angeles. His photography has been exhibited at the RHA, the RUA and is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Ireland.
Hugh recently created the family series Showkids (2025), starring Flynn Gray, Philippa Dunne, Killian Sundermann & Amy De Bhrún for Deadpan Pictures, which aired on RTÉ1 in late 2025, and was nominated for both IFTA and RTS awards in 2026. Recent acting work includes Werner Herzog’s upcoming feature Bucking Fastard.
www.hughoconor.com