Irish celebrity Gabriel Byrne revealed recently that he nearly quit acting in order to pursue a career in teaching.

Dublin native Byrne, who is starring in the History Channel’s series ‘Vikings’ which premiers on March 3, admitted that he had lost his attraction to acting for a little while.

In a Q and A with Reuters, Byrne said, “I used to be a teacher, so maybe I would go back to teaching. If not, I would love to be a film critic or an investigative journalist.”

“There was a long time when I didn't enjoy acting so much. When I look back at my early days, when I was just entering the theatre, I was happy, carefree. And then I reached a stage when I got sort of tired, and I lost my enthusiasm for doing it, and I think that happens to quite a few people.”

“But for some reason that I quite can't even explain, I feel like I've gotten my appetite back for it now, and I approach it with a different kind of excitement...I feel like I'm in a very good space in my life.”

Byrne will be appearing in the History Channel’s ‘Vikings’ series as the elder statesman Earl Haraldson who is also locked in a power struggle with the adventurous young Ragnar Lothbrook, (Travis Fimmel) who is looking for new worlds to conquer. 

The new production is a joint Irish/Canadian historical project that explores the world of the mighty Norse warriors.

Watch a preview video for the new series ‘Vikings’ here: