Fans Can’t Believe Cillian Murphy Is 50

Every time Cillian Murphy appears on a red carpet, the conversation shifts almost immediately from his outfit to his face. The cheekbones, the glow, the kind of skin that makes you wonder if time simply works differently for him.

The ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Peaky Blinders’ star has become one of Hollywood’s most talked-about faces, and the answer to his ageless look might be sitting quietly on his dinner plate.

The Plant-Based Shift Most People Missed

Murphy’s relationship with food has a surprisingly long and winding history. He spent about 15 years as a vegetarian, originally cutting out meat during the mad cow disease scare in the mid-1990s, not for ethical reasons but out of sheer practicality.

Then, on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast in 2023, he quietly dropped the news that he had taken things further, announcing he had been “trying the vegan thing,” citing both his health and the planet as his reasons.

Why Going Back to Meat Made Him Feel Worse

Murphy did briefly return to eating meat for his role as Tommy Shelby in ‘Peaky Blinders’, after a trainer warned him he would look like a “skinny Irish fella” without it. His first meal back was a venison steak at his wife’s birthday party, several cocktails in.

But when ‘Peaky Blinders’ wrapped, the experiment ended. He told Marc Maron plainly: “I did have a kind of a relapse and I didn’t feel any better, so I’m back off it again.”

The One Thing He Actually Misses

Murphy has been candid about the single sacrifice of his plant-based lifestyle. It is not a burger or a steak. It is cheese. “I miss cheese terribly,” he admitted, which is perhaps the most relatable thing any Oscar winner has ever said.

After finishing ‘Oppenheimer’, following an extreme weight loss diet for the role, his co-star Emily Blunt noted that he went straight for the cheese board to recover.

The Red Carpet Secret Nobody Guessed

Before the 2024 Oscars, where he took home the Best Actor award, Murphy’s groomer revealed he had been using a CurrentBody LED face mask throughout the entire awards season to prep his skin. Red light therapy, long championed by dermatologists, is known to improve skin tone, firmness, and texture.

Combined with hyaluronic acid serums and vitamin C, his groomer’s stated goal was a “youthful glow” with a cool, effortless finish. Mission very much accomplished.

The Cillian Murphy formula turns out to be less mystery and more discipline: a long-committed plant-based diet, a grooming routine built around serious skincare technology, and the self-awareness to know that going back to meat simply did not make him feel better.

That kind of consistency, quiet and unglamorous as it sounds, tends to show up clearly on a person’s face.