Glen Hansard

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Glen Hansard is a musician known for his songwriting for the film and subsequent musical, Once, Hansard quit school at the age of 13 to pursue his dreams of becoming a musician. Beginning with busking on the streets of Dublin, Hansard formed his band, The Frames, in 1990 and began performing across Ireland. He made his film debut in The Commitments in 1991. Hansard became a television presenter in 2003 for Other Voices: Songs from a Room, which featured Irish musicians.

In 2006, Hansard released his first solo record, The Swell Season, which he collaborated with Markéta Irgolvá to create. Hansard and Irgolvá, a multi-instrumentalist and Czech singer, starred in and created the music for the film Once (2007). Hansard won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for his song “Falling Slowly”. In 2011, a musical adaptation of Once ran Off-Broadway featuring the music from the film. Once transferred to Broadway and won a multitude of Tony Awards including Best Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album. Since then, Hansard has continued to write music that has been featured in film and TV.