Biography

Declan Reynolds grew up in Monaghan, Ireland near border of Northern Ireland. His father was a tradesman with Monaghan County Council and his mother was a shop assistant. He was educated at St Macartan's Secondary School aka "The Sem". His interest in acting began with Monaghan Youth Theatre (MYT) in mid 1990s. He acted in local stage productions in the Garage Theatre with Monaghan Dramatic Society (MDS), Drunk Monkey Theatre Company and Drumlin Players. While finishing school he work two part-time jobs in a local video rental store where his love for movies grew and at night in a local nightclub cloakroom called Applejacks - where his idea began for his directorial debut feature film The Nightclub Days.

Declan attended Queens' University in Belfast where he majored in Psychology, as well as studying Sociology and Anthropology.

He trained with the Irish Army Reserves (FCA) for several years rising to the rank of 3* Private.

Declan was supposed to start in the Gaiety School of Acting 2 year course but decided to study Film Studies at University College, Dublin (UCD) where he was studied script-writing and film production with classmates screenwriter Kevin Jakubowski and Oscar nominated director Steph Green. He began writing his own short films and feature films, developing his first short film Jack (2005) and his directorial debut The Nightclub Days.

In between, he appeared on stage in the Dublin Fringe Festival 2004 with "Seven Deadly Teens" by Orla Dunne and Independent Theatre Workshop.

In 2005, Declan appeared in Podge and Rodge. A Scare at Bedtime (1997) for RTE.

When Grand Pictures came to Monaghan to start filming Nicolas Roeg's Puffball: The Devil's Eyeball (2007) in 2006, Declan was cast in the film as Mr Kingston, the Estate Agent - opposite Kelly Reilly, Miranda Richardson and Donald Sutherland.

In 2007, Declan appeared in long running RTE soap Fair City (1989) when Leo Dowling's wife, Lana, goes missing, he was the last person to see her alive. Declan also appeared in BBC's horse drama Rough Diamond (2006) opposite his younger brother Billy Reynolds on screen with Conor Mullen (Red Rock (2015), Stanley Townsend (24: Live Another Day (2014)) and Lorraine Pilkington (Human Traffic (1999)).

In 2011, Declan travelled to India with the Drumlin Players to perform a Brian Friel play called "The London Vertigo" as part of an international theatre festival.

Declan starred in Eoin Cleland's comedy Free House (2011) for RTE Storyland 2011 and then applied for RTE Storyland 2012 with his own original comedy Trouble Times Three (2012) which was selected for production in the top 12 of the total 86 entries. Trouble Times Three (2012) went on to finish in the top four finalists, receiving 30,000 EUR from RTE (Ireland's State Broadcaster) to make four webisodes.

Declan appeared opposite "Nidge" Tom Vaughan-Lawlor in RTE's critically acclaimed crime drama Love/Hate (2010) in 2012. In that same year, he also appeared in Saving the Titanic (2012) with Ciarán McMenamin.

In 2013, Declan was awarded an Arts & Culture award by Monaghan County Council for his acting achievements to date.

In 2014, Declan was cast in the leading role as hunchback Bailey Farrell in comedy-horror The Gaelic Curse (2016) directed by Jack Conroy (Cinematographer on Oscar Winning Film My Left Foot (1989) and The Field (1990)) which was available on Amazon Prime Video, after which he won Best Actor in a Leading Role at Amsterdam IFF of World Cinema 2018. Declan met his future wife Irish mezzo soprano Norah King on set. They now have two children together.

In 2018, Reynolds starred as Belfast reporter Liam Madden in the period drama Election 18 (2018) set in 1918 about Women's Suffrage and Ireland's 1918 General Election. He has also starred in the TV pilot called TX (2021) which was film on location in Kerry.

In 2023, Declan was cast in King Táine's directorial debut The Wilde Sisters (2024) based on the gruesome death of Oscar Wilde's two illegitimate half-sisters in Monaghan in 1871 opposite his long-time friend Joanne Brennan.

In 2024, Declan was cast as the bank manager in Sunphlowers (2025) opposite Anne McCrudden, supported by Screen Ireland. This film premiered at Galway Film Fleadh 2025 on 10th July 2025.

In summer 2025, Declan was cast opposite Chris Colfer in sci-fi horror film The Restoration at Grayson Manor (2025) with writer / director Glenn McQuaid with Alice Krige which filmed for six weeks in Stradbally Hall, County Laois - also supported by Screen Ireland.

Over his 25 year career, Declan has been fortunate to work with several notable Irish and British directors so far including Nicolas Roeg (Puffball: The Devil's Eyeball (2007)), Paddy Breathnach (11850 TV advert), Ian Power (Credit Union TV advert), David Caffrey (Love/Hate), Brian Durnin (Prepay Power advert) and Glenn McQuaid ( The Restoration at Grayson Manor (2025) ).

Declan has appeared in many TV commercials in several countries such as Eli Lilly's Zepbound (USA), App Zu Rossmann! (Germany), Google B2B (UK) and for EBS Mortgages, PrePay Power, GAA, Strong Roots, Aquafina Water, Carlsberg, Meteor, Sony Playstation 2, Invest in Northern Ireland, 11850 Directory Enquires, Lidl (Northern Ireland), the Irish Independent, the Road Safety Authority (RSA), Alcoholics Anonymous, the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU), the Irish Cancer Society, Lloyds Pharmacy in the Republic of Ireland.