Jamie Dornan has told of how 'the Irish use humour in the darkest of moments'.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Holywood man discussed home when asked about the movie 'Belfast' - and told how the film is unique.
The 39-year-old, who plays Pa in the movie, who is based on Kenneth Branagh 's father, explained what his understanding of a Belfast man is.
He said: "I come from a long line of men from Belfast, so I luckily have a deep set understanding of men from that part of the world, which you don't often get with a job. It was a lucky one for me in that respect.
"In my opinion, it is someone who works hard, is all about family, who finds humour in everything.
"That is something that is kind of in most people from the island of Ireland anyway, we've learned to use humour to get us through even the darkest of moments, and use it at the darkest of times.
"Sometimes to our detriment maybe but also sometimes it really shocks people where we chose to use humour I think.
"Particularly with Americans I've always found, [they say] 'you're laughing at that?'
"I think they are the elements that go into the stew that makes a Belfast man."
Dornan also discussed how people from other countries of the world see Northern Ireland.
He said: "I left Belfast 20 years ago, I've spent a lot of those 20 years travelling around the world... meeting lots of different interesting, creative, cool people...
"There is often kind of a visceral reaction when you tell people you are from Belfast.
"A lot of people can't really believe it, they have this idea that it is just like the Gaza strip or something."
He added: "When you see the news footage from that time [the 90s] and you read back, and you remember back at what was going on for almost consistently the whole 30 years, it was bleak. It really was...
"When you are there... you get used to it, in a sad way.
"But now when you look back and see the footage that was being beamed across the world, no wonder people have that idea of what Belfast is.
"They are just seeing rioting in the streets, people throwing petrol bombs at each other, bombs going off, people dying... That is what the news was from home.
"But if you are there, you know that much of the reality is very different from that. We've seen great films that have tackled the Troubles... they are all very politicised views."
The father-of-three believes that a movie such as Kenneth Branagh's semi-autobiographical 'Belfast' "hasn't been done before".
Jamie explained: "We haven't seen it through the eyes of regular people. Normal hardworking families who have just been caught up in the middle of all this, who didn't go looking for it, didn't instigate it, weren't trying to get involved in a way or picking sides.
"There is a big majority of people at home - that was their experience of it.
"Seeing it from the innocent eyes of a 9 year old... that is important and is an important message for people to see. That was always my understanding of it...
"There are people who just didn't want it and wanted peace. This captures that."
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