Umbrella Academy’s dysfunctional superheroic family has returned to Netflix, as the show’s second season dropped last week on the streaming platform. With the likes of Ellen Page and Mary J. Blige playing lead roles, there’s one familiar face you may recognise if you grew up watching Misfits on Channel 4: Robert Sheehan.
Sheehan is no stranger to science-fiction roles, as he previously starred as the immortal Nathan Young on the Channel 4 show. His new outing on Umbrella Academy, a show based on the comic books of the same name by My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way, sees him step into the shoes of Klaus Hargreeves - otherwise known as Number Four.
Speaking recently to the Evening Standard, he said of his role, “Comedy and tragedy are all wrapped up in the same person, you know? You can choose to be that feeling, or you can choose to laugh about it. And I think when you're used to being kind of thrust into traumatic situations as often as Klaus did with his father growing up, you have to laugh at it.”
From his character on The Umbrella Academy to why he left Misfits at the height of its fame, here’s everything to know about Robert Sheehan below.
Who is Robert Sheehan?
Robert Sheehan is an Irish actor currently starring on Netflix’s show The Umbrella Academy, in which he plays a superpowered character called Klaus Hargreeves.
In previous years, he has also starred in feature films and shows including Mortal Engines, Love/Hate and Fortitude. Within the UK however, he is perhaps best known for his role as the arrogant Nathan Young in the sci-fi television show Misfits.
How old is Robert Sheehan?
Robert is currently 31 years old. His birthday is on January 7 and he was born in 1988.
Does Robert Sheehan have Instagram?
He does and he goes by the handle @rozzymikes. However he doesn’t post very often and only has just 25 posts on the platform at the moment, which include behind the scenes moments with his Umbrella Academy castmates and various outfit photos.
Is Robert Sheehan Irish?
Robert Sheehan is Irish and is from Portlaoise. In recent years however, his work on the Netflix series and feature film Mortal Engines has kept him away from his home country. Speaking to the Evening Standard, Sheehan talked about why he believes so many talented actors come out of Ireland.
“I met Prince William quite recently and he asked me why Ireland produces actors, writers and producers. I explained that all of the fabric of society of Ireland, even from the pre-Christian era, was the power of the spoken word...All of that is deep within our cultural psyche,” he said, hailing the success of Normal People and actor Paul Mescal.
“I think Irish people are good at laughing at adversity. We use laughter to soothe the wound of adversity, because culturally and historically, we’ve been through it."
He revealed that he has in the past struggled with homesickness, saying to the Irish Independent, “I do tend to start yearning for [Ireland] if I am away for too long.”
He also proved just how Irish he was in a quick video with Netflix titled The Great Debate: Irish Edition. He was asked to make some very difficult decisions including who the greatest Irish person is ("Richard Harris the actor, the greatest storyteller that ever lived"), whether he preferred Guinness or Murphy's Stout ("Guinness") and even took the time out to tell off the team who put the teleprompter together for spelling Lyons tea wrong, lovingly calling them "a bunch of British morons".
Netflix issued an apology in the video for the typo, which read, "An English person did write [the questions] up and that is our bad. Sorry Robert, sorry Ireland."
More controversially however, he was asked which city he preferred - Dublin or Cork. He said, "I'm going to elicit a few screeches now from home. I think Cork. Cork, that's right - screw you Dublin. Cork, that's the real epicenter of Irishness, down there - not ye Dubs."
His comments were so controversial that the Irish Examiner wound up writing a piece titled Robert Sheehan has only gone and made half the country unhappy.
What is The Umbrella Academy about and when does it air?
Robert plays a character called Klaus Hargreeves, who was assigned the name Number Four when he joined the Umbrella Academy. Like Robert’s Misfits character Nathan, Klaus has a knack for irritating those closest to him with his acerbic wit and cavalier attitude, as well as his drug addiction, which has driven away those closest to him.
He also has the power to communicate with the dead and is frequently visited by the ghost of his brother Ben Hargreeves, who tries in vain to keep him overcome his addiction and appeals to his conscience.
Who did Robert Sheehan play in Misfits?
Robert played a character called Nathan Young, an overly cocky juvenile delinquent who is forced to do community service. While there, Nathan winds up meeting a number of fellow teen outcasts who are granted superpowers after being struck by lightning.
He was one of the main characters and while he frequently got under the skin of his fellow young offenders, his snarky wit made him a fast favourite on the Channel 4 show.
Sheehan left the show after just two seasons in 2011. He told Digital Spy about departing early, “I left Misfits to go off and do other stuff, completely unspecific. I just left because a rolling stone gathers no moss, as they say, and I just wanted to p*ss off and do other things, you know? It’s nice that the show’s successful but it doesn’t mean complete blind and unadmonished loyalty.”
More recently, he said to the Evening Standard that he wasn't keen to revisit his role in the series if a reboot came along. "It’s slightly troublesome, all your ‘nostalgia culture’ [and] the past looming larger than the future all the time. You know, old Oscar Wilde goes 'Life unchanged, his life wasted' – I might be paraphrasing. We've all moved on and it's been over 10 years.”
