Martin McDonagh and his brother were born in London, but his parents, who are from Galway, returned to Ireland and left the boys to live in the London flat. McDonagh left school at sixteen and spent five years writing radio scripts and collecting rejection notices until two scripts were taken by radio stations in Australia. He spent eight days writing his first play, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996). By the time that play was first produced in 1997, McDonagh was twenty-seven and had four plays showing simultaneously in London. His plays explore despair and violence and are known for their dark humor. McDonagh cites his influences as television and movies -- particularly of directors David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Terence Malick, and Quentin Tarantino -- and David Mamet's play American Buffalo. The Beauty Queen of Leenane is the first in a trilogy of plays set in Leenane, a remote small town in Connemara, County Galway, north of the Aran Islands, where some of the people still speak Irish. The other two are A Skull in Connemara (1997), a dark play about death and guilt, and The Lonesome West (1997), about the relationship between two brothers. Another trilogy, the Aran Trilogy (1997-98), consists of The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and The Banshees of Inisheer. McDonagh made his feature writing and directing debut with the 2008 crime comedy/drama IN BRUGES, which starred Ralph Fiennes and Colin Farrell.  Best Achievement in Live Action Short Films 2005: SIX SHOOTER 1 nomination, 1 Award