Cunningham was born in East Wall, which is an inner city area of the Northside of Dublin. He grew up in Kilmore West with his three sisters and a brother. Cunningham left secondary school at 15 and pursued a career as an electrician. In the 1980s, Cunningham moved to Zimbabwe for three years where he maintained electrical equipment at a safari park and trained Zimbabwean electricians. After returning to Ireland, Cunningham became dissatisfied with his work as an electrician and decided to pursue his interest in acting. He attended acting classes and began to work in local theatre, including Royal Shakespeare Company. He appeared in a production of Studs at The Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, London.
Career
Cunningham's debut film role came in Into the West, where he played a police officer. His on-screen acting continued with roles in War of the Buttons, and A Little Princess, before making his role as Phillotson in Jude. He continued with character roles in Falling for a Dancer, RKO 281, Shooting the Past, When the Sky Falls and Stranded. Cunningham came to international prominence with his role as Captain Ryan in the critically acclaimed, independent horror film, Dog Soldiers. Cunningham starred in well-received films such as The Wind That Shakes the Barley which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival; Hunger; The Escapist ; The Guard ; and Black Butterflies. He also had roles in many high budget British and American films including The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, , Harry Brown, Clash of the Titans, Centurion. On television, he appeared as President Richard Tate in the BBC programme Outcasts. Cunningham was producer Philip Segal’s first choice to portray the Eighth Doctor in the TV movie of Doctor Who, but was vetoed by Fox executives. In 2012, Cunningham joined the main cast for the second season of HBO's Game of Thrones portraying former smuggler Davos Seaworth, and in 2013 he starred in The Numbers Station alongside John Cusack. He was also cast in season 5 of the BBC series Merlin as a sorcerer. He featured in the music video for "High Hopes" by Irish alternative rock bandKodaline from their EP The High Hopes. In April 2013, he appeared in the seventh series of the BBC One series Doctor Who in the episode "Cold War", where he played Captain Zhukov, the commander of a Russian submarine in 1983 facing one of the Ice Warriors. He guest starred in the second season of the VH1 television series Stay Closer, with Sandra Bullock and Jessica Chastain. In 2015, he played the father in Brady Corbet's directorial debut film, The Childhood of a Leader. In February 2020, it was announced that Cunningham would voice Man-At-Arms in the Netflix animated series Masters of the Universe: Revelation.
Personal life
Cunningham resides in Dublin with his wife Colette, with whom he has three children, daughter Ellen and sons Liam Jr. and Sean.
