Daniel Day Lewis
Day Lewis won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Christy Brown, giving a performance that was both heart-wrenching and heart-warming at the same time. He had taken the role primarily because it seemed to be physically challenging to such a degree that he was not sure some of the incidents featured in it could actually be done. For example, the opening scene of the movie shows Christy Brown placing a vinyl record on a record player with his foot, and then delicately placing the needle on the record after that. Day Lewis found that although he was ultimately able to perform this movement, he was only able to manipulate his right foot, and not his left. To counter-act this, many of his scenes were shot through a mirror.
Although Day Lewis is a classically trained actor he is considered to be a Method Actor because of the meticulous way in which he immerses himself in a role before and during production. Despite his enormous success, and string of accolades, he is well known for his reluctance to accept the majority of roles that he is offered, and in 2018 retired completely from the acting profession.
Brenda Fricker
One of Ireland's most prominent actresses, Fricker was best-known as a television actress before My Left Foot, having played one of the most popular characters on the BBC Television series Casualty in sixty-five episodes, and leaving the show just months before filming the movie started. She was awarded an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category for her portrayal of Christy Brown's mother, to whom she dedicated her Oscar. She also thanked Brown for being alive.
After her success in this film, Fricker became one of the most in-demand actresses in Hollywood, and was shortly to appear with Matthew McConanaghey and Sandra Bullock in the big screen adaptation of John Grisham's A Time To Kill.
In 1990 she teamed up with Jim Sheridan again to make The Field, with veteran actor Richard Harris.
Ray McAnally
This would prove to be the last movie Ray McAnally ever made; he passed away in June, 1989, shortly after the film's release. His sudden death from a heart attack was unexpected as he had been about to start work on another Jim Sheridan film, The Field, opposite another My Left Foot cast-member, Brenda Fricker. in The Field. He was replaced in the movie by Richard Harris.
McAnally was awarded a BAFTA Award posthumously for his work on My Left Foot, the last in a career filled with awards and accolades for performances that included The Mission in 1986, for which he also scored the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA.
Fiona Shaw
Nowadays, Fiona Shaw is best-known for her role as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter movie franchise but prior to making My Left Foot she was perhaps better known as a stage actress, starring with the Royal Shakespeare Company and receiving a plethora of awards for her outstanding performances. A year after completing this film she won the Olivier Award for Best Actress for a variety of roles she had played that season, including Electra.
Although still a stage actress, Shaw's most current body of work is television-based and includes the cult hit comedy Fleabag, for which she received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Kirsten Sheridan
Playing Christy's younger sister provided Sheridan with her first big screen role, directed by her father, Jim, with whom she later collaborated as a producer. She is currently best-known as a producer, whose credits include Disco Pigs and America, the latter being somewhat of a family affair as her father, Jim, and sister, Naomi, also worked on the production.
