Age: 30
male
Paul Colm Michael Mescal (/ˈmɛskəl/ MESS-kəl; born 2 February 1996) is an Irish actor. Born in Maynooth, he studied acting at The Lir Academy and then performed in plays in Dublin theatres. He rose to fame with his role in the miniseries Normal People (2020), earning a BAFTA TV Award and a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award. Mescal progressed to film acting with roles in the psychological dramas The Lost Daughter (2021) and God's Creatures (2022). His starring roles as a troubled father in Aftersun (2022) and a mysterious neighbour in All of Us Strangers (2023) earned him nominations for BAFTA Film Awards in addition to a nomination for an Academy Award for the former. He received a Laurence Olivier Award for his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in a 2022 revival of the play A Streetcar Named Desire. Mescal expanded to big-budget films with a leading role in the historical action film Gladiator II (2024).
After the unexplained suicide of her estranged sister, who was one of many who took their lives after the disaster that was Skye Riley's last concert, marine geologist Eden Voss joins a deep-sea expedition investigating seismic anomalies in the Mariana Trench. When a crew member dies in a horrifyingly familiar manner—self-inflicted, smiling—Eden uncovers chilling connections between the tragedy and her sister’s final, cryptic journal entries. As she descends deeper into the mystery, Eden begins to experience nightmarish visions, witnessing grinning figures lurking in reflections and dreams. She soon learns that the entity behind the Smile curse has evolved since gaining the power to affect so many at a time. Determined to end the demon's reign, Eden risks everything to confront the source in a submerged ruin linked to an ancient civilization that once worshipped a god of madness and smiles. But as reality begins to blur and the smiling presence infiltrates her mind, Eden is forced to question whether she's the cure—or just the next host.
