Love/Hate star Barry Keoghan has revealed he’s writing a movie about his time spent growing up in foster care.
The TV actor – known for playing cat-killer Wayne – spent several years with foster families as a kid before relatives took care of him but refused to let it hold him back.
“It’s not the ideal way to grow up, but it has made me who I am. I lived with my auntie and my grandma since I was ten, and they looked after me,” he said.
Love/Hate: Barry in gangland drama playing Wayne | RTE
“So it was a part of my life, but not all of it. I was never going to let it hold me back.”
Now Barry, 22, has written Quick Judgement about this period of his life and hopes it will tell people not to judge what could be “really decent people”.
“It’s about saying no matter what background people come from, you shouldn’t judge them, because they could have an underlying talent or skill, or could just be really decent people,” he explained.
“It’s still in the works, and I’ve loved writing it. I love writing the backgrounds for my characters, so my writing comes from my acting. I want to keep doing both.”
New role: Barry has worked with Michael Fassbender
And Barry, who has recently worked with Michael Fassbender on Trespass Against Us, admits acting did put his life on track.
“In school, I wasn’t the most intelligent person. I did plays, but when I started misbehaving they took all that away from me,” he told Hot Press.
“I didn’t finish school, so people probably didn’t take me seriously. But then I got a part in a film Life’s A Breeze. It was a tiny part, but I got to go to Sweden to film it.
“And I think once people saw that I was getting these opportunities and I was serious about it, they started taking me seriously.
“But I think it’s a brave thing to say you want to be an actor here. People think you’re dreaming.”
