Big screen debut for 11-year-old Jimi

AN 11-year-old Ballina actor looks set to follow in his father’s footsteps, having secured his first major professional role in a film.

 

Jimi O’Bhaoill de Faoite will play the lead role in Eoinin at the Irish Shorts section of the Cork Film Festival this Saturday.

Directed by Tom Sullivan and produced by Ciarán O’Cofaigh, this adaptation of Padraig Pearse’s Eoinin will also be broadcast on TG4 next spring. It is based around the story of a mother, Máire, who struggles to retain control when her 11 year-old son, Eoin is diagnosed with leukaemia.

Diarmuid de Faoite is a multi award-winning actor, writer, drama therapist and drama teacher from Ennis.
His television and film roles include Cathal in Corp+Anam/Body and Soul, the gritty drama series from TG4 also starring Maria Doyle Kennedy; Pádraic Ó Conaire in Pádraic Ó Conaire – An Fear; Jack in Ros na Rún; Rásaí na Gaillimhe/The Galway Races for TG4 and Finbarr in Grásta i Meiriceá/Grace in America.
Diarmuid said his son, who has benefited from drama classes with a local teacher in Ballina, has grown up attending theatres and watching backstage productions throughout the country.

Jimi has sat in with Diarmuid for rehearsals at prestigious places such as the Old Vic in London and provided a musical accompaniment during the Earth Song Festival near Cahir, which his father produced earlier this year.

When Diarmuid got a call about the possibility of Jimi taking a major role in Eoinin, he felt it was a great opportunity to open a door to a potential future acting career.

Independent director Tom Sullivan put Jimi through the rigours of an audition, which he passed with flying colours, booking his ticket for rehearsals and filming in a studio near Spiddal, County Galway.
Diarmuid said it is important for any director to know they can rely on a child that is taking on the lead role to met the varying demands under pressure.

After long day of acting, Jimi sat into his father’s car and declared, “Now I know how people are so tired after a day’s work”.

Although Diarmuid has built up vast experience portraying a wide range of emotions during his illustrious 25-year career, he couldn’t bear to see his son on set.

“Jimi plays a child who is dying. I remember watching him on set with all the make-up to make him look white and sick. I couldn’t stay on set. I have taken on several difficult roles over the years but when it comes to your own, it is a different ball game.

“In addition to teaching Jimi how to act, I taught him to come out of character. It is important that Jimi learned to leave it all behind him when he leaves the theatre after rehearsals because the pain is palpable on set,” he said.