His first major onscreen appearance was in his first collaboration with Meadows in "A Room for Romeo Brass" (1999) in which he played the small-town disturbed character Morell. He gained recognition for his first lead role as love-struck misfit Alfie in Paweł Pawlikowski’s "Last Resort" (2000) , which won him the Best Actor award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. After gaining recognition for these debut roles, Considine came to prominence through the early 2000’s for strong leading performances in both "In America" (2003) and "My Summer of Love" (2004), and supporting parts in "Doctor Sleep" (2002) and in cult film "24 Hour Party People" (2002). Wide acclaim and recognition came with his breakthrough role as Richard in Meadows' revenge film "Dead Man's Shoes" (2004), a film he co-wrote and for which he won the Best British Actor Award at the 2005 Empire Award for Best British Actor and received a nomination for the British Independent Film Award for Best Actor.