The hardest working band in Dublin, The Commitments!
Released on October 4th, 1991, the Roddy Doyle-penned film made superstars out of its cast on our shores, with some making it big overseas too, and the movie has been turned into a hit musical since.
But whatever happened to the original cast?
Robert Arkins — Jimmy Rabbitte
Another of our fantastic judging panel members is Robert Arkins, a musician, film composer, producer and sometime actor. We are delighted to have Robert be part of our festival. pic.twitter.com/N7YfXHZFWa
— Achill International Film Festival (@AchillFilmFest) February 27, 2022
Drumcondra native Robert Arkins hadn't acted a day in his life before being cast as the band's manager Jimmy. He was originally cast as Deco Cuffe but was recast as Jimmy when the team discovered Andrew Strong.
Since the film, Robert has gone back to music and produced work for a number of commercials, television projects and two short films. He made a brief return to acting in the Filmbase/Dublin Business School-produced feature "The Comeback" in 2018.
Andrew Strong — Deco Cuffe
Another cast member who turned away from an acting career was Deco Cuffe himself, Andrew Strong.
He continued on the music trail after the film was released and toured with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Prince, Lenny Kravitz and Bryan Adams.
He was originally contacted to star in the film by The Corrs' manager, John Hughes, who asked him to go in and sing for director Alex Parker. Parker liked him and after a few follow-up auditions, he got the part.
Andrew recently did an Australian tour where he performed his "Commitments" hits in all of the big cities down under.
Angeline Ball — Imelda Quirke
Angeline Ball.
Her role in "The Commitments" was Angeline's breakout role, and what a way to kick off her life as an actress! Angeline has continued to act since then and has carved quite a career for herself.
She appeared in films such as "The General", "Bloom", and "Albert Nobbs", and also made appearances in the UK-based series "Doc Martin", "Shameless", and a little-known soap opera called "EastEnders".
In 2017, she appeared in RTÉ's "Acceptable Risk" and returned for its spin-off show "Hidden Assets", which was highly praised in 2021, but she sadly did not return to the cast for season two in 2023. She also starred in the dark comedy "Deadly Cuts" which hit Netflix in 2022.
Angeline has also narrated the audiobook for best-seller "Good Sisters", a novel by Irish author Sinéad Moriarty.
Bronagh Gallagher — Bernie McLoughlin
Bronagh's career exploded following her appearance in the film.
A few short years after her turn as Bernie McLoughlin in "The Commitments", she appeared in the cult classic "Pulp Fiction", directed by Quentin Tarantino. She even nabbed a role in "Star Wars"!
From Hollywood blockbusters like "Tristan and Isolde" and "Sherlock Holmes" to Irish fan-favourite "Grabbers", Bronagh has quite the list of credits. She's also appeared in the mini-series "Belgravia" and the comedy-drama "Brassic", an episode of "Derry Girls" and the film "A Bump Along The Way".
Bronagh is also one of Ireland's best-known soul music singers who writes and performs her own pieces, the singer recently sang at the Button Factory in Dublin.
Maria Doyle Kennedy — Natalie Murphy
Maria Doyle Kennedy.
It seems all the ladies from "The Commitments" did pretty well for themselves after the film, with Maria being no exception. Maria's career has gone from strength to strength in the years since, and she even made it as far as Hollywood.
Her credits include "The Tudors", "Dexter", "Downton Abbey", "Jupiter Ascending", "The Conjuring 2", "Sing Street", "Orphan Black" and "Outlander".
More recently, she appeared in RTÉ's "Kin" and Amazon's "Wheel of Time", with the fantasy series clocking up 1.16 billion viewing minutes in the first week. She also nabbed the role of Scottish journalist Tannie Maria in the show "Recipes for Love and Murder".
Maria is also a singer and collaborates with her husband, Kieran Kennedy, in almost all of her work. Their recent compositions include the theme song for the children’s programme "Dizzy Deliveries" and two soundtrack contributions for her series, "Recipes for Love and Murder".
Glen Hansard — Outspan Foster
Glen Hansard.
For those who don't know, Glen went on to become one of Ireland's most successful and most popular musicians. His band The Frames released seven albums before parting ways but that didn't stop Glen.
He went on to win an Oscar for the song "Falling Slowly" from the film "Once", which he also starred in, with the film being turned into a stage musical since. Not too shabby!
His latest album, "All That Was East Is West Of Me Now", dropped in October 2023.
* This article was originally published on Evoke.ie.