Michael Patrick Dies at 35: Remembering the Game of Thrones Actor’s Brave Battle with Motor Neurone Disease

Michael Patrick, the Irish actor and writer who transformed his terminal diagnosis into groundbreaking art, has died at age 35. The Belfast native passed away on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at NI Hospice after a three-year battle with motor neurone disease (MND), leaving behind a legacy of courage, creativity, and boundary-breaking performances that changed how disability is represented on stage and screen .

Best known to international audiences for his appearance in HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” Michael Patrick was far more than a single role. He was a Cambridge-educated physicist turned actor, a celebrated writer of autobiographical drama, and the first disabled actor to play Richard III on the island of Ireland—a performance that won him the Stage Award at London’s Royal Opera House in 2025 .

His death, announced by his wife Naomi on social media, has sent shockwaves through the theatre community on both sides of the Irish Sea. “Mick was an inspiration to everyone who was privileged enough to come into contact with him,” she wrote. “He lived a life as full as any human can live. Joy, abundance of spirit, infectious laughter. A titan of a ginger haired man” .

The Final Years: Art in the Face of Mortality

Diagnosis and Defiance

Michael Patrick received his MND diagnosis on February 1, 2023—a cruel irony given that his father had died of the same disease when Michael was a young boy . Rather than retreat from public life, he chose to document his experience with unflinching honesty and dark humor.

In February 2025, he made a fateful decision: declining a tracheotomy that would have extended his life through artificial breathing assistance, choosing instead to maximize his remaining time outside hospital walls . His neurologist had warned that 2025 would likely be his final year.

My Right Foot: A Masterclass in Resilience

The result was “My Right Foot,” a 70-minute solo show performed at the 2025 Dublin Theatre Festival that The Irish Times called “a masterclass in humour, honesty and resilience” . The autobiographical piece chronicled his MND journey with the same wit that characterized his earlier work, refusing sentimentality while confronting mortality head-on.

This was Michael Patrick’s final stage performance—a fitting conclusion to a career built on transforming personal pain into universal art.

Career Highlights: From Cambridge to the Stage

Early Life and Education

Born Michael Campbell in 1991, he adopted the stage name Michael Patrick after his time at Churchill College, Cambridge, where he studied physics . It was there he met his creative partner Oisín Kearney, and together they ran the university’s Irish Society, directing and acting in productions including Frank McGuinness’s “Someone to Watch Over Me” .

Despite his scientific background, Patrick spent most of his Cambridge years performing with the prestigious Footlights comedy troupe and the National Youth Theatre . After graduation, he trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, completing the transformation from physicist to professional actor .

My Left Nut: The Breakthrough

In 2017, Michael Patrick and Kearney co-wrote “My Left Nut,” a semi-autobiographical solo show based on Patrick’s teenage experience with a medical condition (not MND, but a testicular issue) and the absence of his father . The play was nominated for Best Show Under One Hour at the Dublin Fringe and won a Summerhall Lustrum Award at the Edinburgh Fringe .

BBC Northern Ireland adapted “My Left Nut” into a three-part series in 2020, with Patrick co-writing but not starring—at 30, he was deemed too old to play his 15-year-old self . The series established him as a significant voice in Irish television writing.

Shakespeare and Disability Representation

Michael Patrick’s most historically significant performance came in 2024 at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, where he played the title role in “The Tragedy of Richard III”—becoming the first disabled actor to play the role on the island of Ireland . The production, which featured Patrick using a wheelchair, reimagined Shakespeare’s disabled villain-hero through the lens of authentic lived experience.

The performance won him the judges’ prize at the 2025 Stage Awards at London’s Royal Opera House, cementing his status as a pioneer for disabled actors in classical theatre .

Screen Work: Game of Thrones and Beyond

HBO and International Recognition

While Michael Patrick’s heart remained in theatre, he built an impressive screen resume. His “Game of Thrones” appearance in Season 6 (2016) introduced him to global audiences, though he appeared in numerous other productions :

• “This Town” (2024): Three-episode arc in the BBC drama from “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight
• “Blue Lights” (2024): BBC Northern Ireland police drama
• “Blasts from The Past”: RTÉ children’s comedy series
• “Bernard Dunne’s Mythical Heroes”: RTÉ series in leading role
• “The Spectacular”: Dutch series featuring Patrick as an MI5 agent
• “Soft Border Patrol”: BBC Northern Ireland comedy
• “Krypton”: Syfy Superman prequel series

His screen work demonstrated remarkable range—from children’s comedy to political drama to science fiction—while his voice work for BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio 4 showcased his versatility as a performer .

The Writing Partnership: Michael & Oisín

A Creative Marriage

Michael Patrick’s professional partnership with Oisín Kearney, forged at Cambridge, produced some of the most distinctive Irish theatre and television of recent years. Their collaborative website, michaelandoisin.com, showcases projects that blend personal narrative with social commentary .

Their radio series “Bitter Pill,” a five-part drama that began airing on BBC Radio 4 in February 2023—coinciding with Patrick’s MND diagnosis announcement—demonstrated their ability to channel difficult experiences into compelling fiction .

Unfinished Work

At the time of his death, Michael Patrick and Kearney had several projects in development. Their unique creative voice—simultaneously Irish and universal, comedic and profound—leaves a void in contemporary theatre that will be difficult to fill.

Personal Life: Marriage and Family

Naomi and Love in the Time of Illness

Michael Patrick married Naomi in September 2023, shortly after his MND diagnosis but while he was still mobile and able to perform . The wedding took place in Italy, where the couple “ate our body weight in pasta and cured meats”—a typically self-deprecating description from a man who refused to let disease define his joy .

Naomi’s announcement of his death emphasized not his illness but his life: “Joy, abundance of spirit, infectious laughter.” Their marriage, though brief, represented a defiance of MND’s attempt to isolate and diminish him.

The Father’s Shadow

Michael Patrick’s work was haunted by his father’s death from MND—a shadow he confronted directly in “My Left Nut” and indirectly throughout his career. To die of the same disease that took his father, at nearly the same age, represents a tragic symmetry that he transformed into art rather than succumbing to despair.

Legacy: Changing Representation Forever

For Disabled Actors

Michael Patrick’s Richard III performance broke barriers that will remain broken. By proving that disabled actors can play disabled characters with authenticity and complexity, he challenged casting conventions that have historically excluded disabled performers from roles matching their own experiences.

For Terminal Illness Narratives

His public MND journey—documented through performances, interviews, and social media—offered a template for living fully while dying. He refused to become a “tragic figure” or “inspirational porn” subject, maintaining his edge, his humor, and his artistic standards throughout.

For Irish Theatre

Belfast and Dublin have lost one of their most distinctive voices. Michael Patrick’s ability to move between commercial television and experimental theatre, between comedy and tragedy, between Northern Irish and international contexts, made him a rare unifying figure in a divided cultural landscape.

Funeral and Memorial

April 13, 2026

Michael Patrick’s funeral will take place at 11 a.m. on Monday, April 13, 2026, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Carryduff, County Down . The service will undoubtedly draw figures from across Irish theatre, television, and the disability rights community.

Lasting Tribute

The most fitting memorial to Michael Patrick would be continued production of his plays, continued casting of disabled actors in disabled roles, and continued willingness to confront difficult subjects with humor and honesty—the qualities that defined his too-brief career.

Conclusion: A Life Fully Lived

Michael Patrick was given 35 years and a death sentence at 32. He responded by writing his best work, giving his best performances, and loving fully. From “My Left Nut” to “My Right Foot,” from Cambridge physics labs to the Royal Opera House stage, he demonstrated that a life with disability and a life with terminal illness can still be a life of abundance, creativity, and joy.

His wife’s description captures him best: “A titan of a ginger haired man.” Michael Patrick was indeed titanic—not in spite of his MND, but in how he refused to let it diminish him.

Rest in peace, Mick. The stage is darker without you.