Background and career
Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor. He achieved worldwide fame playing James Bond in four James Bond films from 1995 to 2002: GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002). He has also received two Golden Globes nominations for the television series Nancy Astor (1982) and the film The Matador (2005).
After leaving school at 16, Brosnan trained in commercial illustration before attending the Drama Centre London for three years. Following a stage acting career, he rose to popularity in the television series Remington Steele (1982–1987). After the show concluded, Brosnan appeared in films, including The Fourth Protocol (1987), his break-out roles were in The Lawnmower Man (1992) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). Post-Bond, Brosnan top-lined other major films including Dante's Peak (1997) and the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) and has starred in The Ghost Writer (2010), Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), The November Man (2014), Mamma Mia! (2008) and its sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018), and Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020). In 2022, Brosnan played Dr. Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate in the DC Extended Universe film Black Adam. Additionally, Brosnan narrated the 2008 Thomas & Friends film The Great Discovery. In 2025, he starred in the movie The Thursday Murder Club and in Guy Ritchie's crime drama series MobLand.
In 1996, he and American film producer Beau St. Clair founded the production company Irish DreamTime. He is also known for charitable work and environmental activism. In 1997, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry. In 2020, he was listed at No. 15 on The Irish Times' list of the greatest Irish film actors.
Pierce Brendan Brosnan was born on 16 May 1953 in Drogheda, County Louth, the only child of May Smith and Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter. For 11 years, he lived in Navan, County Meath, and said in 1999 that he considers it to be his hometown. His father abandoned the family when Brosnan was an infant. When he was four years old, his mother moved to London to work as a nurse. From then on, he was largely brought up by his maternal grandparents, Philip and Kathleen Smith. After their deaths, he lived with an aunt and then an uncle, but was subsequently sent to live in a boarding house run by a woman named Eileen. He later said, "Childhood was fairly solitary. I never knew my father. He left when I was an infant. [...] To be Irish Catholic in the 1950s, and have a marriage which was not there, a father who was not there [...] the mother, the wife suffered greatly. My mother was very courageous. She took the bold steps to go away and be a nurse in England. Basically wanting a better life for her and myself. My mother came home once a year, twice a year."
How Pierce Brosnan makes money
Clair founded the production company Irish DreamTime. The first, 1995's GoldenEye, grossed US$350 million worldwide, the fourth-highest worldwide gross of any film in 1995, making it the most successful Bond film since Moonraker (1979), adjusted for inflation.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (2026-01-14), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
