  
played by aidan turner, screened post here, ct & threading, code thanks to franciska
full name
Rian Patrick MacLean
dob + age
May 13th, 1985 (31)
occupation
Actor
born + raised
Belfast, Northern Ireland
residence
London, UK (rooms with Darcy)
status
Near and far
personality
Taurus / ENFP-T / Type 4
family
Benjamin MacLean, father (56); Saoirse MacLean, mother (50); Liam MacLean, twin brother (31)
(2016) the forest
Rob
(2015) the survivalist
Survivalist
(2012) prometheus
Millburn
(2007) stardust
Young Dunstan Thorn
(2005) doom
Pvt. Mark "The Kid" Dantalian
(2011-) "game of thrones"
Jon Snow
(2014) "black mirror: white christmas"
Joe Potter
When Rian and Liam were born, their mother was only 19 years old. Rian was born first, a fact he still holds over his brother's head to this day, and had a relatively happy childhood in Northern Ireland. He was a rough 'n' tumble child who got into a lot of trouble for following through with every dare thrown his way, for talking too much, and for not conforming to his family's strict religious belief structure. Expelled from St. Mary's CGBS (an all-boys grammar school) at the age of 13, Rian quickly became the black sheep of his immediate family, and his mother sent him to St. Teresa's Primary School, a Catholic school that accepted children of all faiths. He did not get into nearly as much trouble here, but mostly due to his adaptive qualities--he was caught far less.
As a teenager, when he wasn't leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, he was drawn to the world of theatre. Theatre gave him a sense of purpose while still allowing him to keep his individuality. No social group had ever accepted his oddball behavior and wavering moods like the theatre nuts, and he became swept up in the culture of acceptance and constructive criticism. At first, he started with set design, getting to know the behind-the-scenes culture of theatre, but fell in love with acting when he saw a performance of Long Day's Journey into Night. Acting inspired him to work harder at sustaining relationships with others and challenge himself to think in perspectives outside his comfort zone, all while being wildly exhausting and fun. The experience changed his life, and he was immediately hooked. All of his energy was redirected toward art, and his mischievous behavior lessened drastically.
When Rian graduated secondary school, he felt no need to go on to higher education. Instead, he poured all his energy into auditioning and honing his skills as an actor--he took lessons on miming from a woman he met on the internet, worked in dialogue-free projects, took singing lessons, practiced storytelling and poetry reading--whatever variety of new techniques he could find near him. Eventually his hard work paid off, and he landed a role in Doom (2005). This small part gave him just the boost he needed to work even harder, all the while supporting himself on a specialty appliance repair job that paid semi-well. When he was chosen for a part in Stardust (2007), Rian quit his repair job and pinched every penny of profit he gathered from the role, which got him barely noticed. His lucky break came during a massive audition for the part of Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, for which he was only chosen due to his then-youthful features and dark, brooding facial expressions. The role was exactly what he needed, and what he considers his big break in acting. Ever since he was chosen for the role of Jon, his life has completely changed--people began to notice him more, and more roles were thrown his way (though he turned down a good portion of them due to the intense commitment of filming for Game of Thrones), and suddenly people cared about his opinions on trivial matters. For now, he remains largely disconnected from his family, and has replaced them with his castmates, all of whom he is very close to and who have seen him grow.
Rian comes off as rather frantic and odd during interviews, and fluctuates between wildly inappropriate and somewhat withdrawn. The newfound celebrity status and the heartthrob label has been a somewhat confusing experience for him, although he does not consider it undesirable (it does wonders for his ego). His personal life, however, he remains fiercely protective of, though he was rumored to be with an unknown woman in 2012 who appeared briefly in public with him a handful of times. Rian has no problem being upfront and honest with people about his true self and his flaws, but largely desires privacy in his relationships with others and his family life. His sometimes standoffish personality in interviews has gotten him more than a few unfavorable nicknames amongst fans, but anyone who gets to know him realizes very quickly that he is nearly always playing a joke because he finds the whole celebrity circus to be ludicrous. Still, he loves his fans, and has been known to treat them as good friends when they approach him and works very hard to connect with them when he can.
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