Fra Fee's Latest Role Inspired by Northern Ireland Upbringing
Fra Fee has rapidly gained recognition in the acting world with diverse roles across stage and screen. He has revealed that his upbringing in Northern Ireland significantly influenced his portrayal in the new drama Unchosen, which centers on a fictional extreme religious cult.
In the series, members of the cult intentionally isolate themselves from modern society and technology, including mobile phones.
"Coming from a place where religion has very, very much informed our society, there were those obvious, sort of, comparisons," Fee explained.
"But this is quite a unique world, it's so, so insular, it's so small and it's separate from modern life, it's quite an extreme version in Unchosen for sure," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme.
Fee described his upbringing as being in a "highly church-governed world."
"Whatever side of the fence you happened to grow up in [Catholic or Protestant], we're all sort of victims of that old school, traditional religious belief system and going to separate religious-based schools and everything," he said.
"Sometimes when I look back I feel a bit saddened by that because it kept my world really small and it wasn't until I left that I met people that were maybe a little bit different or whatever," he added, noting that "thankfully times are changing."
Originally from Dungannon, County Tyrone, Fee now resides in England but expressed a strong affection for Northern Ireland and enjoys returning home.
"Your childhood is your childhood and in your formative years you want to see what's on the other side of the rainbow and that was how I felt about leaving home. I wanted to see what life was like and just be fully myself and authentic in a place that was so, so unfamiliar, like a different world," he said.
"I love being from the north of Ireland and most of my mates are from back home. Belfast is just the best city."
Career Highlights and Roles
Fee's acting portfolio includes notable performances in Les Misérables on both stage and screen, The Ferryman on Broadway, Cabaret on the West End, the Disney+ series Hawkeye, and the sci-fi film Rebel Moon. He has also appeared in Irish films such as the horror-comedy Boys From The County Hell and the modern Irish western thriller Pixie.
Role in Unchosen and Co-Stars
Fee stars in Unchosen alongside well-known actors including Molly Windsor, Asa Butterfield, and Christopher Eccleston.
The Netflix drama follows Rosie (Windsor), who lives with her husband Adam (Butterfield) and their daughter within a secluded Christian sect.
The arrival of escaped prisoner Sam, portrayed by Fee, exposes the hidden realities and restrictions of Rosie's environment, suggesting that the religious community may not have her best interests in mind.
However, Sam's criminal history raises the question of whether the greatest threat comes from the cult or from Sam himself.
Fee expressed his excitement about being cast in the role.
"It's not very often that something comes through that is just so, so brilliantly written and so beautifully nuanced and complex," he said.
"I hadn't figured him out in the beginning at all. On the surface, he's our obvious antagonist in this story, the bad guy, but to reduce it to those terms would do him such an injustice because he's just wonderfully complicated," Fee added.
"It's so easy to paint him in a particular light, but I found myself really falling in love with him, the more that I stayed with him and sort of created this person in my mind."
Unchosen, a six-part series, became available to stream on Netflix from 21 April.
