Celebrated actor, producer, and two-time Emmy nominee Aidan Quinn will receive the Magners Irish Film Festival's prestigious Excellence Award on Thursday, November 8, at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA. The Excellence Award acknowledges an individual’s contributions and talent to the Irish film and television industries.

To celebrate this year’s honoree, the Magners Irish Film Festival will screen “Song for A Raggy Boy”, featuring one of Mr. Quinn’s most acclaimed performances, on Thursday, November 8th at 7:00pm. A retrospective of Mr. Quinn’s career will be shown before he takes the stage to accept his award.

Born in Brooklyn to Irish parents, Quinn spent his childhood alternating between Ireland and the United States. It was in Ireland at the age of 19 that he decided to be an actor. Stage work in the late 70s and early 80s gradually gave way to roles in such films as Reckless (1984), Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) and The Mission (1986) as well an Emmy-nominated performance in the TV miniseries An Early Frost.

Since then Quinn has alternated roles in high-profile Hollywood films such as Legends of the Fall (1994) and Music of the Heart (1999) with smaller Irish films such as The Playboys (1992), This is My Father (which he also produced) and Song for a Raggy Boy (2005). He has also been featured in a variety of TV work including Two Of Us (2000), Empire Falls (2005), The Book of Daniel (2006) and, most recently, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007) for which he earned his second Emmy nomination.