Aidan Gillen (born Aidan Murphy; 24 April 1968) is an Irish stage and screen actor, best known in the UK for his role as Stuart Jones in the ground-breaking Channel 4 television series Queer as Folk. He is perhaps best known to US audiences for his role in HBO's hit television series The Wire in which he plays Tommy Carcetti, a city councilman of Baltimore.

Life and career

Gillen was born in the Drumcondra suburb of Dublin, Ireland, and educated at St. Vincent's C.B.S., Glasnevin. He began his acting career as a teenager with Dublin Youth Theatre, at the age of 16 playing Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Project Arts Centre,Guardian interview by Mark Lawson, 3 October 2007 before moving to London.