Kristian Nairn Biography: In His Own Words – Exclusive Video, News, Photos, Age

Kristian Nairn is an Irish actor and DJ. He is best known for his role as Hodor in Game of Thrones and as John Feeney in Our Flag Means Death.

KRISTIAN NAIRN BIOGRAPHY: AGE, EARLY LIFE, FAMILY, EDUCATION

Kristian Nairn was born on November 25, 1975 (Kristian Nairn’s age: 47) in Lisburn, North Ireland.

Nairn used his earnings from his role in Game of Thrones to buy his mother a house.

In 2014 Nairn came out as gay, stating that he never hid it but instead waited for someone to ask him about his sexuality. He was a frequent DJ for the gay club Kremlin.

KRISTIAN NAIRN BIOGRAPHY: CAREER

Before his time as Hodor in HBO’s Game of Thrones, Nairn was a drag artist and DJ. In an exclusive interview with uInterview, Nairn talked about his background and how it led him to acting.

“Yeah, I started off as a drag artist, I always say that’s what taught me to act because you are definitely playing a character a lot,” Nairn explained. “You are definitely playing someone that’s not yourself. Then I moved into being a DJ and did it for 25 years, and I still do. In fact, in the first season of Game of Thrones I DJ-ed at the same time. I would DJ till 3 a.m. and then be on the set at 6 a.m., that was fun. I’ve moved more into acting now. I do both, really. I just feel lucky to have two jobs that I love, not everyone can say that. I was in Game of Thrones and currently, I’m in Our Flag Means Death. It’s been a crazy, wild journey and I don’t really know how it happened.”

Nairn went on to reveal how he got cast in Game of Thrones and what it was like joining the world never having read the books.

“Yeah, it was through the drag thing, I had this sort of agent, he would send me to auditions,” he said. “One of them was for a movie called Hot Fuzz. It was the same costume director for Game of Thrones, she remembered me four years later. She told me about the part of Hodor, but I didn’t necessarily understand what the part was.”

“I have not read the books,” he continued. “I have skimmed them on set, but I haven’t read them. I told [author] George (R. R.) Martin I haven’t read them. My mother was a huge Game of Thrones fan before I ever got the part so over dinner for the next six months she would tell me more and more of what was coming. She always maintained that something big would happen with Hodor, she was like, ‘I know something is coming, I know something big is going to happen.’ I didn’t know it was going to be his death.”

After his time with Game of Thrones, Nairn had roles in movies like Treasure Trapped (2014), The Four Warriors (2015), Mythica: The Godslayer (2016), The Appearance (2018) and Unwelcome (2023). Nairn’s television guest roles include Ripper Street, The Wil Wheaton Project, The Sideman Show, The Rookie, The Boulet Brother’s Dragula and Our Flag Means Death.

KRISTIAN NAIRN BIOGRAPHY: UNWELCOME

The Irish thriller Unwelcome follows the story of an expecting couple, Jamie (Douglas Booth) and Maya (Hannah John-Kamen) when they move to rural Ireland in hopes of a quiet life. Since their new houses needed repairs, the couple hire the Whelan family who bring their superstitions and violent tendencies with them. 

In an exclusive interview with uInterview founder Erik Meers, Nairn discussed the scariest scene from the movie.

“I just love the scene in the forest, it was such a beautiful atmospheric setting,” Nairn said. “Also playing a character that is very different to myself and doing things that I would never do, I mean that’s one of the most fun things about been an actor, you get to do even the horrible things are kind of fun. We were filming in like a beautiful woodland setting, but it was all sort of smoked up and made super eerie. It kind of made me uncomfortable, the subject matter made me uncomfortable, and I think being uncomfortable is good and I hope that translates on the screen, I’ll be very happy.”

Nairn went on to talk about what makes his character, the eldest of the Whelan children named Eoin, scary.

“I mean with Eoin, he was quite a quiet person but also could be quite explosive,” he explained. “I think that itself is quite scary as they say, that one of the things you fear is the wrath of a quiet man. I think that’s very true, and I think he’s had quite an abusive relationship with his father as well and he’s sort of harboring all that stuff and it sort of brings that to life. You do have to call on experiences that you might not have yourself but it’s all about something about your character, trying to take yourself away from your own personal experiences, and just try and inhabit that space.”

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