When Ciarán Hinds stepped onto the red carpet at Dublin’s Irish Film & Television Academy Awards, he carried with him five decades of remarkable work—though he admits he rarely thinks about it that way. The Oscar-nominated Belfast actor was honoured with a lifetime achievement award on Friday night, a recognition that seemed to catch even him off guard. “It’s kind of shocking,” he told The Irish News, reflecting on a career that has spanned five decades and touched everything from intimate stage performances to global television phenomena like GAME OF THRONES and celebrated films such as BELFAST, IS THIS THING ON? and TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY.

What’s striking about Hinds is his philosophy toward his own extraordinary journey. He tends not to dwell on the past, preferring instead to remain present and focused on what comes next. “I only worked it out recently that I’ve been doing this for 50 years, because I tend not to look behind,” he explained. “I just look ahead and live in the moment. But when you realise that it’s been 50 years since somebody gave you your first job, it’s kind of shocking, really.” This perspective—a combination of gratitude and forward momentum—seems to define not just how he views his career, but how he has sustained it.

The north Belfast actor’s career began where many find their footing: on stage. He recalls one of his earliest roles with the kind of humility that characterizes his entire approach to his work. He was “the back end” of a pantomime horse in a production of CINDERELLA, a modest beginning that belies the illustrious path that would follow. Yet even with decades of acclaimed performances across theatre, film, and television, Hinds suggests that success in acting has never been something to be predicted or planned. The craft, he suggests, is inherently unpredictable—a reminder that even the most accomplished careers unfold in ways their architects could never have anticipated when they were playing horses at pantomime.