On Air Now
Early Breakfast with Lindsey Russell 4am - 6:30am
Who is Rob Hegarty in Normal People? And what else has actor Eanna Hardwicke been in?
13 May 2020, 16:24
Who plays Normal People’s Rob Hegarty? How old is actor Eanna Hardwicke? Here’s what we know…
Normal People has taken the whole country by storm.
BBC Three’s adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel tells the story of Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal) as they deal with life’s struggles together.
But how much do we really know about the characters, especially Connell’s school friend Rob Hegarty? Find out everything…
Read More: 5 books similar to Sally Rooney's Normal People that you need to add to your reading list
*Warning: Normal People spoilers ahead*
Watch the trailer for the new Normal People adaptation
Who is Rob Hegarty in Normal People and what happened to him?
Rob is one of Connell’s good friends from school in Normal People. The boys are in the same friendship group and play Gaelic football together.
Read More: Who plays Peggy in Normal People? And what else has actress India Mullen been in?
Tragically, Rob later commits suicide and his body is found in the River Corrib on New Years Day.
It's later revealed that Rob had been drinking a lot in the preceding weeks and seemed "out of sorts".
This devastates Connell and he begins suffering from depression, later seeing a therapist to talk through his mental health struggles.
He tells the therapist about his friendship with Rob, stating: “Rob, my friend who … I wouldn’t say that we clicked on a very deep level or anything but we were friends. I wouldn’t say that we had a lot in common in terms of interests, or anything and definitely not politically but we never really examined that.
“But that stuff didn’t really matter in school, because we were in the same group of friends, so, you know. And he did some stuff that I wouldn’t have been a fan of in terms of, like, with girls, but we were 18, you know, we acted like idiots. I think I felt a bit alienated by that stuff.”
Who plays Rob in Normal People and what else has he been in?
Eanna Hardwicke plays Rob in Normal People.
The 23-year-old actor was born and raised in Cork in the Republic of Ireland and his acting career started when he was just a child.
Read More: Normal people soundtrack: Every song from the series revealed
At the age of 15, he attended to the youth theatre in the School of Music with Regina Crowley.
Speaking about that experience, he previously told The Irish Examiner: “That was a big awakening really, for me, because we were doing plays, we were doing classes, and we were working with teachers who were actors.
“It was fun, and it was playful as it should be. But there was a kind of a rigour to it as well. A couple of people in that year went on to do this professionally.”
Eanna went on to study in Trinity College Dublin’s Lir Academy and landed his first role in his first big movie The Eclipse, which he filmed at the age of 12.
What has Eanna Hardwicke said about Normal People?
Eanna was over the moon to get the role on BBC Three’s Normal People, after admitting he fell in love with the book.
He told the Irish Examiner: “To play something that you feel is unfolding as we speak, or is telling your story, is lovely. It’s a story of anyone who’s moved to Dublin to study as well, you know, and it was the same for me in Cork.
"I remember moving up here and just feeling like I entered into a different world, and that can be so lonely. Hopefully people will look at that experience, the characters moving far from home and feel all the same things - the homesickness, the excitement, the mystery of it.”
Now Read: Normal people series 2: Will there be a second season of the hit drama?
