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13-07-00 news
Brendan Gleeson's Mission not so Impossible...

Top Irish actor Brendan Gleeson will soon enter the millionaire league after the phenomenal box-office success of Mission Impossible 2. The star of The General and I Went Down plays the boss of a drug company who has been injected with a deadly flu bug in the $200 million blockbuster.

Gleeson, a former teacher, will now be able to pick and choose the cream of Hollywood movie roles after sharing the screen with Tom Cruise, Oscar-winning Anthony Hopkins and hot newcomer Thandie Newton.

Mission Impossible 2 has taken more then $188 million at US cinema in just five weeks - and is guaranteed to double that figure when it opens on this side of the Atlantic on Friday. The movie has cemented Gleeson's already soaring reputation in Hollywood circles after starring roles in Braveheart with Mel Gibson and Lake Placid alongside Bridget Fonda.

Gleeson from Artane, has been a steady rise to fame since he gave up his teaching job in 1990 at the age of 34. He told his wife Mary and their four children he was going for a job as an actor.

Gleeson's breakthrough movie was Braveheart in which he had a prominent role opposite Mel Gibson. It went on to win two Oscars - best director and best Picture - but also served as Gleesons calling card in Tinseltown.

He enjoyed further success with The General - where he played Dublin criminal Martin Cahill. The film won the Best Director award - again throwing the spotlight on Gleeson for his brilliant performance.

Gleeson puts his success down to luck and never waiting for the offers to come rolling in he said: "I was lucky, and one thing I refused to allow myself do was wait for any phone calls. I couldn't bear to wait by the phone. And it's going really well. Because I started so late there was a kind of urgency about the way I learned my trade."