Conor is currently starring in the role of Pozzo in a Gare St Lazare/Geffen Playhouse production of Waiting for Godot in L.A., alongside Rainn Wilson and Aasif Mandvi.
He studied theatre at Scoil Stiofain Naofa in Cork prior to attending Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. At the same time, he joined Gare St Lazare Players Chicago and under Bob Meyer’s direction played Joey in The Homecoming by Pinter, Army in Requiem for A Heavyweight by Rod Serling, Karl in Banana For The Boy King by Bob Meyer and Noses in The Three Legged Fool by Anthony Ryan. He and Judy Hegarty Lovett founded Gare St Lazare Players Ireland in 1996 with their production of Beckett’s Molloy. Their subsequent Beckett work has cemented a reputation that places them among the foremost Beckett interpreters.
With Gare St Lazare, Conor has performed over 20 Beckett roles. For The Gate Theatre in Dublin, he performed in Acts Without Words 1 and 2 and played the role of Bem in What Where at the Barbican in London in 1999. He performed the role of Lucky over 60 times in The Gate’s revival 50th anniversary production of Waiting for Godot (2003), directed by Walter Asmus, in Dublin, Beijing and Shanghai. Pat Kiernan directed Conor in Beckett’s A Piece of Monologue for Corcadorca in 2001 and Walter Asmus also directed him in the same play for Rubicon/Gare St Lazare Ireland in 2004. In 2005 he played The Old Man In His Coffin in Fabulous Beast’s The Bull written and directed by Michael Keegan-Dolan. In 2007 he played David in Leaves by Lucy Caldwell directed by Garry Hynes in a Druid/Royal Court production in Galway and London. In 2007 Conor workshopped with Peter Brook for his production 11 and 12.
He declined the offer of a 12-month long engagement in order to concentrate on Gare St Lazare’s touring, and that year he toured to twenty-five cities in ten countries performing six different shows from Gare St Lazare’s repertory.
On television he appeared in Father Ted, Fair City, Fallout, Acceptable Risk, Endeavour, Charlie, Versailles and Belgravia. On the big screen he has appeared in Moll Flanders (1996), Intermission (2000), L’Entente Cordiale (2005), Small Engine Repair (2007), De Gaulle (2020), Ritornello (2020) and I’ll Find You (2022). He has read books and short stories on RTE and BBC Radio and has recorded Beckett’s Molloy and First Love on audio CD.
He has won an Indie Award (Santa Barbara, USA) (The Good Thief) and The Stage Award for Acting Excellence at Edinburgh (Title and Deed). He has been nominated for Best Actor (Moby Dick), Judges Special Prize (First Love & The End), Best Production (How It Is) and Best Ensemble (The Realistic Joneses) at The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards, as well as for Best Actor (First Love) at The Off-West-End Awards (UK) and Best Solo Show (Title and Deed) at the Lucille Lortel Awards (New York).