Collin Farrell is an Irish actor. Farrell appeared in the BBC drama Ballykissangel in 1998, made his film debut in the Tim Roth-directed drama The War Zone in 1999, and was discovered by Hollywood when Joel Schumacher cast him as the lead in the war drama Tigerland in 2000. Take a look below for 35 more fun and fascinating facts about Colin Farrell.

1. Farrell was born in Castleknock, Dublin, Ireland, the son of Rita and Eamon Farrell.

2. His father played football for Shamrock Rovers FC and ran a health food shop.

3. His uncle, Tommy Farrell, also played for Shamrock Rovers.

4. Farrell has an older brother, Eamon, Jr., and two sisters, Claudine and Catherine. Claudine works as his personal assistant.

5. Farrell was educated at St. Brigid’s National School, followed by secondary school at Castleknock College, an exclusive all boys private school and then Gormanston College in County Meath.

6. He unsuccessfully auditioned for the Irish musical group Boyzone around this time.

7. Farrell was inspired to try acting when Henry Thomas’ performance in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial moved him to tears.

8. With his brother’s encouragement, he attended the Gaiety School of Acting, dropping out when he was cast as Danny Byrne on Ballykissangel, a BBC drama about a young English priest who becomes part of an Irish rural community.

9. As an 18-year-old travelling in Sydney, he was at one time suspected for attempted murder.

10. The police sketch looked remarkably like him and he had even described blacking out during the night in question. His only alibi was apparently a journal kept by his friend that explained the two had been across town that night, taking MDMA.

11. Farrell had roles in television shows and films, including Ballykissangel and Falling for a Dancer in 1998 and 1999.

12. He made his feature film debut in English actor Tim Roth’s directorial debut The War Zone, a drama about an incident of child abuse, starring Ray Winstone and Tilda Swinton as parents of a girl Farrell’s character (Nick) dates.

13. Farrell also appeared in Ordinary Decent Criminal with Kevin Spacey and Linda Fiorentino, a film loosely based on the life of Martin Cahill.

14. In 2000, Farrell was cast in the lead role of Private Roland Bozz in Tigerland, an under-released film directed by American Joel Schumacher. He reportedly got the part on the basis of his charm.

15. In 2007, Farrell joined other celebrities as a spokesman for the Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai, China.

16. He has also lent his support to the anti-bullying campaign Stand Up! organised by the Irish LGBT youth organisation BeLonG To in March 2012.

17. The actor appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show two years earlier to increase awareness of the subject.

18. In 2015 Farrell became an official Ambassador of the Homeless World Cup which uses street football to inspire homeless people to change their lives.

19. Farrell met English actress and singer Amelia Warner at the premiere of Quills in 2000. They dated from July to November 2001.

20. There was speculation that they married; of the experience, the actor said “Too fast, too young.” However, in December 2011 Warner told The Sun that the marriage was never legal: “We had a ceremony on a beach in Tahiti that was by no means legal and we knew it wasn’t… It was just a thing we did on holiday. We went shark feeding and then we did that. We booked them both on the activities desk at the hotel.”

21. By the end of 2003, he was linked to singer Britney Spears, Playboy cover girl Nicole Narain, model Josie Maran and actresses Angelina Jolie, Maeve Quinlan and Demi Moore.

22. Farrell and Kim Bordenave became parents of a son (James Padraig), born in 2003, in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles.

23. In October 2007 he said his son has Angelman syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by intellectual and developmental delay, lack of speech and a happy, excitable demeanor.

24. From 2007 to 2008 the actor dated Muireann McDonnell, an Irish medical student.

25. Farrell and British-American writer Emma Forrest dated for over a year, an experience she discusses in depth in her memoir Your Voice in My Head (focusing on her relationship with her therapist, who died unexpectedly); it is a planned film starring either Emily Blunt or Emma Watson, and Stanley Tucci, and directed by Francesca Gregorini. According to Forrest, she and Farrell planned to have a child together before he ended the relationship.

26. Farrell fathered his second child, a son born on 9 October 2009, with Polish actress Alicja Bachleda-Curuś. His relationship with Bachleda-Curuś ended in mid-2010.

27. In December 2005, Farrell checked into a rehabilitation treatment center for addictions to recreational drugs and painkillers. He spoke about it on the Late Show with David Letterman after coming out of rehab and continued to do so in the years following.

28. On July 20, 2006, as Farrell was being interviewed by Jay Leno on The Tonight Show, telephone sex worker Dessarae Bradford evaded security, walked on stage, confronted Farrell, and threw a self-published book-length exposé of Farrell on Leno’s desk.

29. As Farrell escorted her off the stage and handed her over to NBC security, she shouted, “I’ll see you in court!” After being held by the Burbank police, Bradford was released.

30. The next day, Farrell obtained a restraining order against her and the incident was edited out of the broadcast.

31. Bradford had twice attempted to sue Farrell for abusive messages, but the lawsuits were dismissed due to a lack of evidence. She failed a lie detector test on an Ion Television program when attempting to prove her claims.

32. In January 2006, Farrell filed a lawsuit against his former girlfriend, Playboy model Nicole Narain, and the Internet Commerce Group for the unauthorized public distribution of a 13 minute sex tape which they made in 2003.

33. He was offered $5 million for its rights.

34. While ICG tried to release it, Narain said that she would work with Farrell to ensure that the tape remained private; Farrell said she tried to release it to damage his acting career and “make money out of it”, a claim Narain denies.

35. On 16 April 2006 they reached a confidential settlement; Farrell’s lawsuit against ICG continued, with a trial date of 21 July 2006. Eventually, it was settled amicably.