Do we like them?

Do we like Paul Mescal?

Our score: 8 out of 10. A clean record, real charity work and a clear trans-rights statement, with a couple of thin spots we couldn't check.

Mescal grew up in Maynooth, Co Kildare, the son of a schoolteacher and a Garda officer. Sport came first: he played Gaelic football for Kildare at minor and under-21 level before a jaw injury ended that path. He has said acting “crept up on” him, partly because nobody from his area had done it.

From there it was the Lir Academy at Trinity, stage work at the Gate, the Abbey and with Rough Magic, then Normal People in 2020, which made him famous. Aftersun and The Lost Daughter followed, and in 2024 he starred in Gladiator II. He's talked about how hard it is for young Irish actors to see acting as a real career.

Scandals are thin on the ground. We found no court cases, no lawsuits and no allegations from established outlets. The closest thing is a 2024 Graham Norton Show joke about fighting off an attacker, which Saoirse Ronan answered by saying that is what girls have to think about all the time. He later called the topic “massively important” on RTÉ and said she was right.

On the harm test, we found nothing nasty in his words, and nothing on the planet either way. He's not a loud political voice, but he did sign up to the Cinema for Gaza charity auction in 2024, which raised money for Medical Aid for Palestinians. Where you land on that depends on how you read the Gaza conflict, but it was a fundraiser for medical aid.

The big one for this page is June 2026. Ahead of London Trans+ Pride he said he was “incredibly proud” to stand with his trans friends and the wider trans community, and that it was “a moment for respect, safety and recognition”. PinkNews reported it as his first public statement on trans rights, alongside Michaela Coel, Jessie Ware and others.

The gap: we couldn't open reporting on his recent projects and who he works with, so we can't speak to company he keeps. Nothing we did read suggests a problem. On what we found, he's a good bloke who has put his name to the right causes.