Jimmy Murphy

Who is Jimmy Murphy?

Jimmy Murphy is an Irish playwright living in Dublin. He is a former writer in residence at NUI Maynooth, a member of the Abbey Theatre’s Honorary Advisory Council, a recipient of three Bursaries in literature from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon and was elected a member of Aosdána in 2004.

Murphy was born to Irish parents in Salford, Manchester. When he was six, his family returned to Dublin, settling in the South inner-city district of Islandbridge. He first went to school in nearby Inchicore, attending the Oblate Fathers’ primary school there, then moved to Ballyfermot, a working-class heartland of suburban Dublin, in his teens. There, he attended secondary school at St. John’s De La Salle College. Having failed the Intermediate Certificate, a now-defunct state examination, he left school to pursue an apprenticeship in painting and decorating, taking his Junior and Senior Irish trade certificates and the City and Guilds of London exams in Dublin Institute of Technology, Bolton Street. He lives in Dublin with his wife Mary and children Chloe and Oisín.