Andrew Kennedy Irvine (born 14 June 1942), known as Andy Irvine, is a British-born, Irish-based folk musician, singer-songwriter, and a founding member of such popular bands as Sweeney's Men, Planxty, Patrick Street, Mozaik, LAPD and Usher's Island. He plays the mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, harmonica and hurdy-gurdy. Irvine has been influential in folk music for over five decades, during which he recorded a large repertoire of songs and tunes he assembled from books, old recordings and folk-song collectors rooted in the Irish, English, Scottish, Eastern European, Australian and American old-time and folk traditions. Imbued with a sense of social justice, Irvine often selects or writes songs that are based on historical events and presented from the victim's perspective.
Andy Irvine was born in St John's Wood, northwest London on 14 June 1942 to an Irish mother from Lisburn, County Antrim, and a Scottish father from Glasgow. His mother, Felice Lascelles, had been a musical comedy actress and Irvine would later say that "she may have given up the stage, but she never stopped acting!". As a child, Irvine was given opportunities to appear on stage, TV and in films. In the summer holidays of 1950, when he was eight years old, his first role was to play Jimmy in the film A Tale of Five Cities. At thirteen, he starred as Nokie (short for Pinocchio) in the ITV children's series Round at the Redways and joined a school for child actors. He made his stage debut in the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton and, at fourteen, received rave reviews for his performance as Morgan in the ITV Television Playhouse drama The Magpies, adapted from a Henry James short story. The same year, he was Eric Brandt in Escape to Happiness, for the Armchair Theatre programme and also played John Logie Baird as a boy in the film A Voice in Vision. In early 1958, Irvine featured as Archie Almond in five episodes of Run to Earth. Aged fifteen, he played Lord Heybrook in French Without Tears, for the Saturday Playhouse TV series and, soon after, was one of the 'Pygmies' in Brouhaha, with Peter Sellers as the Sultan. Irvine then played Raymond opposite Laurence Harvey in Room at the Top and, although his scene was cut from the final release, he still appears briefly in the film, handing a bottle of champagne to Harvey during a wedding scene. In late 1959, he featured as Lanky Graham in Ask for King Billy and, in early 1960, he played a schoolboy in A Holiday Abroad for ITV Television Playhouse. Later that year, at eighteen, Irvine performed as Dan in three episodes of Sheep's Clothing, after which he was offered a two-year contract with the BBC's Repertory company ('The Rep'), where he befriended the poet Louis MacNeice who worked there as a writer for over twenty years. As Irvine recalled much later: However, Irvine would give up acting in his early twenties, after moving to Dublin at the end of his time with the 'Rep'.

Q: Where was he born?
A: St John's Wood, northwest London

Q: Who were his parents?
A: an Irish mother from Lisburn, County Antrim, and a Scottish father from Glasgow.

Q: Did he have siblings?
A: unknown

Q: Where did he go to school?
A: unknown

Q: How did he get into acting?
A: His mother, Felice Lascelles, had been a musical comedy actress
What were notable roles when he was a child?
his first role was to play Jimmy in the film A Tale of Five Cities. At thirteen, he starred as Nokie (short for Pinocchio) in the ITV children's series Round at the Redways his first role was to play Jimmy in the film A Tale of Five Cities. In the summer holidays of 1950, when he was eight years old, his first role was to play Jimmy in the film A Tale of Five Cities. In the summer holidays of 1950, when he was eight years old, his first role was to play Jimmy in the film A Tale of Five Cities.
In the summer holidays of 1950, when he was eight years old, his first role was to play Jimmy in the film A Tale of Five Cities.