In the event that your circa Peaky Blinders obsession with Cillian Murphy has been reignited amid Oppenheimer and its ~awards buzz~, it’s probably time you meet his wife Yvonne McGuinness. They’ve been together for a while now—since 1996, to be exact—so if you aren’t aware of Yvonne, you have some catching up to do. Which is where we come in…
^ …Here and ready to serve the C.M. cause. 🫡
Here’s everything we know about Cillian Murphy’s wife, Yvonne McGuiness.
Cillian and Yvonne Met Riiiiiight at the Start of His Career
Cillian Murphy was in a play called Disco Pigs in the ’90s—and he met Yvonne around the time they were touring. The year? 1996. Cillian’s vibe? Best described as dreamy.
^ This photo is actually from the early aughts, but whatever.
“That time, making Disco Pigs, was kind of the most important period of my life,” Cillian told The Guardian in 2016. “The people I met there remain my closest friends….They shaped me in terms of my tastes, in terms of what I wanted to do with my life. And it was around the same time I met my wife. She came on tour with us. It was so exciting, 20 years ago or whatever it was—we were all just kids, trying to find our way—but such a special, special time.”
They’ve Been Married for 20 Years and Have Two Sons
Cillian and Yvonne got married in 2004 and have two kids Malachy and Aran, born in 2005 and 2007. They keep their children relatively—by which I mean completely—out of the spotlight.
That checks out entirely because Cillian seems very committed to privacy. As he put it back in 2014, “I get the bus, I get the tube, I go to the shop and get the milk and do normal things. I would hate it if that became impossible. As an actor, you’re supposed to be playing real people so it seems essential to live like a normal person.”
Cillian also talked to GQ about balancing his personal and work life, saying, “That work-life balance thing is hard. I have an amazing wife and I couldn’t do this without her and her understanding. But it is a struggle.”
Yvonne Is a Professional Artist
According to Yvonne’s website, her work “encompasses film, performance, sculptural and textile elements, sound and writing. She has an interest in embodied experience of place and belonging by staging live, public, interventions and performances which create surreal and dynamic moments of interaction and connection to place, time and communities.”
FYI, this appears to be her Instagram, but it’s fully private:
She Was Born in Kilkenny, Ireland
Yvonne was born October 12, 1972, and—after a few years in London—lives in Ireland with Cillian and their kids. Oh, and fun fact: Her uncle is a famous politician named John McGuinness.
They Don’t Do Red Carpets Together
Which is why you didn’t see Yvonne on any pre-SAG-AFTRA strike red carpets. In fact, the only photos of them around appear to be these pap pic from back in 2016.
Cillian and Yvonne Lived Apart During Peaky Blinders
Mostly because the studio filmed the show in a different city from where Cillian’s family lived. As the actor put it to The Guardian, there is “zero” thing as a personal life when filming. “It’s canceled life. You go home to your tiny apartment at the end of the day and you feed yourself for sustenance and you learn the lines for the next day and you try to get as much sleep as you possibly can. Which isn’t much. And then you get up and do it again.”
Mehera Bonner is a celebrity and entertainment news writer who enjoys Bravo and Antiques Roadshow with equal enthusiasm, She was previously entertainment editor at Marie Claire and has covered pop culture for over a decade.
