---
name: "Glen Hansard"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/glen-hansard"
fi1m_id: "glen-hansard"
imdb_id: "nm0360598"
tmdb_id: 45124
wikidata_id: "Q220010"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "21 April 1970"
died: "29 July 2026"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 82
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-03T01:59:42.659897+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Glen Hansard

## Identity

Glen Hansard

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/glen-hansard
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** glen-hansard
- **IMDb ID:** nm0360598
- **TMDB ID:** 45124
- **Wikidata ID:** Q220010
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Hansard, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q220010, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0360598/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/45124

Actor. Born 21 April 1970 in Dublin, Ireland. Died 29 July 2026.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 21 April 1970, Dublin, Ireland
- **Died:** 29 July 2026
- **Active:** 1991–2021
- **Also known as:** Glen James Hansard
- **Average Fi1m score:** 82, as actor, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 82 (1), 2000s 88 (1), 2020s 75 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 82 to 77 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 1 of 3 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Music 2, Romance 2, Comedy 1
- **Screen time:** 5 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $42m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Hansard, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q220010, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0360598/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/45124

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Once*](https://film.one/film/once.md) (88)
- **Peacock:** [*The Commitments*](https://film.one/film/the-commitments.md) (82)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Glen Hansard

> Glen Hansard makes singing feel like something a character needs to do, with frustration audible in the force of his voice. In *Once*, that directness makes a modest musical romance unusually persuasive.

In *Once* (2007), Glen Hansard sings with enough force to make the frustration of his Dublin busker, Guy, audible before it needs explaining. We were moved by the roughness of his singing, because it lets us hear feelings the character otherwise keeps guarded. John Carney gives the music time, and Hansard makes that patience worthwhile. He can sound almost too insistent, but there is something convincing about a man who finds it easier to sing than to say what he means. We recommend the performance warmly, particularly for the way it works alongside Markéta Irglová’s quieter presence.

His screen work has been occasional, with music remaining his main occupation. Alan Parker’s *The Commitments* (1991) gave him the supporting part of guitarist Outspan Foster in its Dublin soul band. We rate that film for its funny, unruly company and the importance it gives the songs, though a little too much polish creeps in. The lead in *Once* was a more revealing use of him, allowing his singing to carry feelings that dialogue might have made obvious.

Carney’s useful decision is to give Guy and Irglová’s Girl music to make together before asking us to care about their attraction. Hansard and Irglová supply the music as well as the central performances, so playing feels like work they know how to do. Her quieter presence and their ease together stop his urgency becoming exhausting. We do occasionally wish the songwriting would press its feelings less firmly upon us. The rough photography can also make it harder to concentrate on the people, an unnecessary obstacle when the performances deserve close attention.

His musician roles draw on his experience as a Dublin busker, which helps explain why the playing rarely feels like an actor demonstrating a newly acquired skill. A later small role in the musical *Cyrano* (2021) continued that association with films built around songs. There is a narrow body of screen work here, and little basis for grand claims about what else he might have played. Start with *Once*, and give the songs time; his partnership with Irglová is worth a few rough edges.

## Biography

Glen Hansard is an Irish actor and musician. He played Outspan Foster in the 1991 film *The Commitments*.

He starred as Guy in the 2007 film *Once*, for which he shared the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Hansard has also appeared in *Cyrano* (2021) and provided a voice for an episode of *The Simpsons* (2009). Primarily known as frontman of the band The Frames since 1990 and as one half of the duo The Swell Season, he released solo albums including *Rhythm and Repose* (2012).

Born in Dublin in 1970, Hansard died in 2026.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, nytimes.com, irishtimes.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *Cyrano* (2021), Fi1m 75, as Guard — [page](https://film.one/film/cyrano.md)
- *Once* (2007), Fi1m 88, as Guy — [page](https://film.one/film/once.md)
- *The Commitments* (1991), Fi1m 82, as Outspan Foster — [page](https://film.one/film/the-commitments.md)

## Complete filmography (13)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Robin in the Hood* (2025), Executive Producer
- *Cyrano* (2021), as Guard — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/film/cyrano.md)
- *Eddie Vedder: Live at Ohana Festival 2021* (2021), Actor
- *Heyday - The Mic Christopher Story* (2019), Actor
- *The Camino Voyage* (2018), Musician
- *Jeff Buckley: You and I* (2016), Actor
- *The Swell Season* (2012), Original Music Composer
- *Parenthood* (2010), series, as Glen Hansard
- *Once* (2007), as Guy · Original Music Composer, Songs — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/once.md)
- *The Commitments* (1991), as Outspan Foster — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-commitments.md)
- *The Simpsons* (1989), series, as Irish Guy (voice) — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-simpsons.md)
- *Shelter me: Apollo House*, Actor
- *The Forward Journey*, Actor

## Gallery

- ![Glen Hansard](https://film.one/media/person/78797/gallery-d8bda9a29d45.jpg) Glen Hansard — Sven-Sebastian Sajak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/WP2016_GlenHansard_FFM.jpg/1280px-WP2016_GlenHansard_FFM.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Picture I took of the Eddie Vedder sign outside the Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, California. (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/78797/gallery-54a01844d945.jpg) Picture I took of the Eddie Vedder sign outside the Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, California. (2011) — Lugnuts, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/EddieVedderWiltern.jpg/1280px-EddieVedderWiltern.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Glen Hansard's Takamine NP15 guitar, with a hole below the strings. Photo was taken during a concert at Lucca Comics & Games 2015.](https://film.one/media/person/78797/gallery-8aea7f920613.jpg) Glen Hansard's Takamine NP15 guitar, with a hole below the strings. Photo was taken during a concert at Lucca Comics & Games 2015. — Niccolò Caranti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Glen_Hansard%27s_guitar_-_Lucca_Comics_%26_Games_2015.JPG/1280px-Glen_Hansard%27s_guitar_-_Lucca_Comics_%26_Games_2015.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Glen Hansard in 2015](https://film.one/media/person/78797/gallery-a9d3bc57571c.jpg) Glen Hansard in 2015 — Paul Bowman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Glen_Hansard_-_Live_at_Vicar_Street.jpg/1280px-Glen_Hansard_-_Live_at_Vicar_Street.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Glen Hansard](https://film.one/media/person/78797/gallery-cdc1a3572b59.jpg) Glen Hansard — Image via TMDB
- ![Glen Hansard](https://film.one/media/person/78797/gallery-e0432eb33fa1.jpg) Glen Hansard — Image via TMDB
- ![Glen Hansard at Lucca Comics & Games 2015](https://film.one/media/person/78797/gallery-15e6e1b32a17.jpg) Glen Hansard at Lucca Comics & Games 2015 — Niccolò Caranti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Glen_Hansard_-_Lucca_Comics_%26_Games_2015_1.JPG/1280px-Glen_Hansard_-_Lucca_Comics_%26_Games_2015_1.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Glen Hansard at Lucca Comics & Games 2015](https://film.one/media/person/78797/gallery-dcd6b50bfa61.jpg) Glen Hansard at Lucca Comics & Games 2015 — Niccolò Caranti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Glen_Hansard_-_Lucca_Comics_%26_Games_2015_2.JPG/1280px-Glen_Hansard_-_Lucca_Comics_%26_Games_2015_2.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/glen-hansard