Film maker and writer, born in Co Sligo, Ireland. He studied at University College, Dublin, and helped form the Irish Writers Co-operative (1974). His first collection of stories, Night in Tunisia (1976), was followed by the acclaimed novels The Past (1980) and The Dreams of the Beast (1983). He worked as a script consultant on Excalibur (1981), made his directorial debut with the thriller Angel (1982), and has boldly emphasized the fairy-tale and fantasy elements of such challenging works as The Company of Wolves (1984) and Mona Lisa (1986). He turned his hand to comedy with High Spirits (1988). He addressed social and political issues in the acclaimed Crying Game (1992), took on Irish history in his study of a legendary Irish patriot, Michael Collins (1996), and explored childhood violence in The Butcher Boy (1998). .