Ireland needs to do more to encourage others to go into the arts, actor Domhnall Gleeson has said.
The Ex Machina star has said there are several great artists 'who have never been artists' as they can't afford it.
Gleeson told The Hard Shoulder Ireland is not doing enough to help the sector.
"The truth is that choosing to be in the arts is a mad way to make a living," he said.
"If you were making a choice based purely on the odds of being able to support yourself, the arts would not be the first place to look generally.
"That's a great pity, because... it's a fact a lot of great artists have never been artists as a result".
The Hard Shoulder host Kieran Cuddihy with actor Domhnall Gleeson. Picture by: NewstalkGleeson said he has been lucky in several different ways.
"I was very lucky growing up, I was able to continue living at home into my 20s when I wasn't making a lot of money as an actor," he said.
"I didn't have the pressure of rent saying, 'You have to do this job'.
"My father's an actor, I got insanely lucky in so many different ways that allowed me to continue going when I would not have been able to continue going.
"The fact that I stayed the course is down to so many different things - I also got lucky early on.
"I know lots of talented actors, even my age, who do not make enough money and are not looked after enough or protected enough".
Gleeson said contracts available to actors in Ireland and the UK need to be improved, even when compared to those in the US from the Screen Actors Guild.
"I look at the contracts that I would be under SAG; and even though we need those to be so much better to protect the people in SAG, they are still generally a much better standard of contract that are open to people in the UK and Ireland," he said.
'Their place in Irish society is vital.' Domhnall Gleeson sat down with @kierancuddihy to talk about the important work of @TogetherHospice.
Donate and find out more here: https://t.co/D9cAZdg6Um ☕ pic.twitter.com/pQg4lrLe0k— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) August 2, 2023
The son of actor Brendan Gleeson is also heavily involved with the Bewley’s Big Coffee Morning Social for Hospice - a cause that is close to his heart.
"My father's parents - Patricia and Frank - they both passed away in the hospice in Raheny at different times," he said.
"I saw the journey they went there.
"My grandmother was there for, in the scheme of things, not too long before she passed away.
"My grandad was there for months, actually.
"I saw the difference in quality of life between what we were able to given them at home, and just saw the burden lifted from them after they went in there - and lifted from us - in terms of just the pressure of the concern of the care.
"Just being able to talk to them as your grandad again, and your grandma again, when they're going through the toughest part of one's life, I assume.
"[I] just saw the care of the people at the hospice, how much of themselves they gave to the work and to the people who are living and dying there.
"[I] just thought it was the most beautiful, amazing thing that they were doing - and have wanted to be involved ever since," he added.
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Register to host a coffee morning to support your local Hospice on hospicecoffeemorning.ie or call 0818-995-996 on September 21st - or a date that suits you. If you can not host or attend one, you can make a donation at hospicecoffeemorning.ie/donate.
