Popular actor well known for his roles as Lt. Archie Hicox in Inglourious Basterds, Magneto in X-Men: First Class, and the scheming robot David in Prometheus. In the 2013 historical drama 12 Years a Slave, he played slave driver Edwin Epps.
His parents moved to the Republic of Ireland when he was two years old and ran a restaurant. He was first introduced to audiences in Tom Hanks' Band of Brothers.
His dad is from Germany and his mom is from Northern Ireland. He was born in Germany but grew up in Kerry, Southwest Ireland.
His father worked as a chef, and his sister Catherine worked as a neuropsychologist at UC Davis. He dated Shame co-star Nicole Beharie in 2012. In 2017, he married Alicia Vikander.
He played a supporting role in the action movie Haywire, which starred Gina Carano.