Paul Mescal’s rise to fame has been a family affair, with his parents, Dearbhla and Paul Sr., regularly joining him on red carpets and sharing in his biggest moments.
At a Glance
- Paul Mescal’s parents met while acting in a theater production of Pirates of Penzance
- Dearbhla retired in 2023 after 34 years with Ireland’s national police force
- Paul Sr. returned to acting in 2023 after retiring from teaching
- Dearbhla is now in remission after a 2022 multiple myeloma diagnosis
Why it matters: The Mescal family’s deep ties to performance and resilience through illness offer insight into the actor’s own artistic drive and support system.
A Love Story Born on Stage
Paul Mescal has credited his parents’ meet-cute as the spark that lit his own acting journey. During a Variety Actors on Actors interview with Ariana Grande, he explained that Dearbhla and Paul Sr. first crossed paths while performing in Pirates of Penzance. Paul Sr. played the “pirate king” and Dearbhla was “one of the maids.”
Paul believes that origin story shaped him. “Somewhere in my blood, or in my heart, or head, that the act of being onstage feels like an important place,” he said, adding, “Thank God for that production, because I wouldn’t be here.”
The couple married in 1994 and settled in Maynooth, about 20 miles outside Dublin, where they raised three children: Paul, Donnacha, and Nell.
Pride at the Premiere
In November 2024, Dearbhla and Paul Sr. walked the Dublin red carpet for Gladiator II, watching their son headline a major studio epic. Days later, Dearbhla told Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio that hearing Paul’s name shouted amid Hans Zimmer’s score “was pretty awe-inspiring.”
“I got very emotional, I have to say and he did as well,” she recalled. “It was one of those things where you’re sharing this big moment, kind of like a wedding, but there’s loads of cameras!”
A 34-Year Career in Uniform
While Paul Sr. kept one foot in the theater, Dearbhla built a three-decade career with An Garda Síochána. She joined the national police force at age 20 and retired in May 2023 at 54.
Announcing her exit on Instagram, she wrote: “My life has another change today…I retire from An Garda Síochána after 30yrs. It has been my honour to serve.” She described the next chapter as “for healing, for adventures, for living.”
Paul once told The Irish Times his mother is “a little bit of a hippie” who practices Reiki and uses crystals-traits not typically associated with law enforcement. “You would never look at mum and be like: there’s a guard,” he joked, adding he “never caught any stick” for her profession at school.
Back to the Boards
Paul Sr. first acted at 12 in a parish production directed by his own father. He continued performing through college and after becoming a schoolteacher in 1988, eventually spending a year at Dublin’s Gaiety School of Acting. He stepped away in 2013 to focus on family.
Retirement reopened the curtain. In 2023, he appeared in Are Ya Dancin’?, a 1960s-set musical. He quipped to The Irish Times that there’s “a little bit of a chasm” between his résumé and Paul’s decade of professional credits, yet Paul told The Guardian he’d “love to see him doing it more.”
Health Battle Kept Private
In June 2024, Dearbhla announced she was in remission from multiple myeloma, a bone-marrow cancer diagnosed in 2022. The family kept the illness quiet during the first year of treatment.
“I AM IN REMISSION!!! I am Blessed,” she posted on Instagram. “Yes I will continue to take tablets, have blood tests but I am Dearbhla, just Dearbhla not Dearbhla with Cancer.”
Paul alluded to the struggle after his 2023 Oscar nomination for Aftersun, telling BBC Radio 4, “There’s stuff going on at home that is difficult, and this has given my family a very welcome respite.”
Nell tweeted at the time: “my mum got a haircut today in prep for her chemotherapy and then paul got nominated for an oscar life is so crazy.”
Sibling Support Network
The Mescal children have leaned on one another as their careers blossomed. Singer-songwriter Nell and brother Donnacha joined Paul at Vanity Fair‘s 2023 Young Hollywood party and Nell accompanied him to the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards.
When Paul’s Oscar nomination arrived, Nell shared a screenshot of the family’s ecstatic FaceTime call, capturing the moment he delivered the news.
Anniversary Tribute
Marking 29 years of marriage in 2023, Dearbhla posted a candid tribute to Paul Sr. on Instagram, referencing “a year of highs, lows & everything in between.”
“Paul is who I lean on the most, demand way too much of and who when I most needed him was the one in the room with me,” she wrote. “We have not reached our destination …we have so, so much more to learn and see together.”
The couple, now wed for more than 30 years, show no signs of slowing down-onstage or off.
