James Martin: Having birthday coincide with Oscars is like a Cinderella story

The actor stars in An Irish Goodbye, which is nominated for best short film.
James Martin: Having birthday coincide with the Oscars is like a Cinderella story (Arts Council Northern Ireland/Brian Morrison/PA Wire)
PA Media
Mike Bedigan11 March 2023

The star of short-film An Irish Goodbye says having his birthday coincide with this year’s Oscars ceremony is like “a Cinderella story”.

James Martin is nominated as part of the team behind the project, which is up for best live action short film at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday.

Sunday also marks Martin’s 31st birthday, which he described as “a big day”.

“The timing of it has been just perfect. You know, you can’t plan somebody’s birthday to be on the Oscars,” he told the PA news agency.

“So it’s a big day, (but) I just want to enjoy it really, just enjoy the experience.

“I mean, it’s not every day that you go to LA for the Oscars.”

The film’s co-director Tom Berkeley added: “The fact that it’s the big Irish year. It’s (James’) birthday. Like, it’s a Cinderella story.”

“Yeah it is,” Martin agreed.

Martin’s role in An Irish Goodbye, which sees him play one of two estranged brothers who come together after their mother’s death to fulfil her bucket list, has won him wide acclaim.

Speaking about his experience in the few days since arriving in Los Angeles for the Oscars, he said: “I was just in the airport going down the escalator, and (I heard) ‘well done on An Irish Goodbye!’”

The timing of it has been just perfect. You know, you can’t plan somebody’s birthday to be on the Oscars

An Irish Goodbye star, James Martin

“I’m just thinking to myself, ‘my God this is amazing’”.

If the film wins on Sunday, Martin would make history as the first actor with Down’s Syndrome to claim a statue – having already achieved the equivalent milestone win at the Baftas last month.

“I always say to people, never judge a book by its cover,” he told PA.

“Not just getting a Bafta, but going to LA is a big deal…it’s just nice to be included.”

Martin said the Hollywood names he was most looking forward to meeting at the Oscars were Tom Cruise and Robert De Niro, as well as Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in