Nesbitt stays true to his Ulster roots

The Coleraine man beat off the likes of world number one golfer Rory McIlroy to top the Big Lottery poll.

Nesbitt is widely known for his role as MP Ivan Cooper in the historical drama Bloody Sunday and is currently staring in the hit BBC drama The Missing.

He talked to student journalists at the Verbal Arts Centre this week about how that role made him think carefully about what he may have ignored in the past.

Quoting director Paul Greengrass, he said: “If Bloody Sunday was a pebble in the wall of peace, we would have achieved something.”

Nesbitt said that coming from a Protestant background didn’t matter to him but that it felt unusual to take on the role, despite Cooper being a protestant also.

He spoke of his concerns and suspicions that arose from this role, the fear that he would be seen as “Anti-British” but he claimed, as an actor from Northern Ireland, he had to eventually tackle the conflict and examine what he can only describe as a “watershed” that occurred in this country.

“We must remember the past but we must not dwell on it,” he said.

“There is still a lot of work to be done by the politicians on both sides.

“We must look towards future generations and engage with those who don’t vote.”

Nesbitt is almost as well known as a football fan as he is as an actor and the mad keen Manchester United supporter told the young reporters how he still dreams of one day playing for the Red Devils - even if he is almost a half a century old these days.

“I haven’t given up on it just yet ,” he said.

The Northern Irish man, who was once a brakeman on the Big Dipper at Barry’s amusements, spoke of where it all started and how his father dragged him off a rugby pitch to audition for the Christmas production of ‘Oliver’ in the Riverside Theatre.

And he duly landed the part of the Artful Dodger which, he said, was a great way to meet girls.