Rea was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Protestant parents; his father was a bus driver and his mother a housewife. He studied English at the Queen\'s University Belfast, and drama at the Abbey Theatre School in Dublin.\n', '

In the late 1970s, he acted in the Focus Company in Dublin with Gabriel Byrne and Colm Meaney.\n', '

After appearing on the stage and in television and film for many years in Ireland and the United Kingdom, Rea came to international attention when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film The Crying Game. He is a frequent collaborator with Irish film-maker Neil Jordan. Rea has long been associated with some of the most important writers in Ireland. His association with playwright Stewart Parker, for example, began when they were students together at the Queen\'s University of Belfast.\n', '

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