Irish actor James Nesbitt to try his hand in Hollywood

Irish Star ready to try Tinseltown as work dries up in Britain

Published Wednesday, June 10, 2009, 11:28 AM

Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 6:11 PM

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James Nesbitt at the 2009 British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, central London.

Photo by EMPICS Entertainment

James Nesbitt, star of “Bloody Sunday” and “Five Minutes of Heaven” is considering a move to Hollywood, not so much to further his career, but to keep his career moving as the opportunities in Britain are dwindling due to the world economic crisis.

"I was challenged here (Britain), I enjoyed what I was doing but the British TV industry is in a desperate state - not creatively but financially,” Nesbitt told the Radio Times, and he is now considering a move stateside.

"So I've gone with an American agent and, well, we'll see what happens," he continued.

The Ballymena, County Antrim-born Nesbitt, 44, had the chance in the past to work in America, but decided to concentrate on his career in Britain.

"I could have gone there years ago, but the notion of waiting six months to play a baddie in a bad film just wasn't my idea of career utopia," he said.

Another Irish star contemplating a move to Hollywood is RTE TV presenter Caroline Morahan.

The 30-something presenter and actress fronted the Irish fashion show “Off the Rails” for several years and is now the host of the “Podge and Rodge" show in Ireland. She also starred in Irish Soap "Fair City" when she was a teenager, and more recently had a role in the comic play "I Keano."

The brunette recently went to L.A., where she took some acting classes, and seems intent on trying her luck in the movie biz.

Caroline Morahan arrives for the Irish Film and Television Awards at the RDS, in Dublin tonight.

Photo by PA Archive/Press Association Images

The voluptuous Irish celebrity has vowed not bow to the pressures of Hollywood of getting the “perfect" look.

"Now that I'm hoping to get to work in one of the most competitive and superficial places in the world I do have to be fitter, but I won't be doing a Victoria Beckham and going around like Skeletor," Morahan told Woman’s Way magazine in Ireland.