Expect to hear plenty about the Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson in the coming weeks and months as his star continues to rise. The son of the acclaimed Brendan has a co-starring role in Unbroken, Angelina Jolie’s movie based on the best-selling biography of the same name, and he’s also been cast in the upcoming Star Wars film.

Unbroken drops on Christmas Day, just in time for Oscar consideration. Gleeson was cast as Phil, who spent 47 days in a life raft with the book’s amazing subject, Louis Zamperini, the Olympian who went on to survive a plane crash and being a POW in a Japanese prison camp during World War II.

Gleeson bonded with the film’s star Jack O’Connell, who told Entertainment Weekly that he played a prank on Gleeson when Jolie gave them permission to ease their strict diets to scarf some junk food.

"I took off all my clothes and waited in his trailer for him, naked with a pizza box. When he came in I opened the box and said, 'Do you want more cheese with that sir?' He just cracked up. I knew he was having to deal with the sight of my balls and everything else being very close to his food,” O’Connell said.

The diets were obviously necessary given that the actors were playing characters stranded at sea. “We tried to make each other laugh,” says Gleeson about the weight loss regime. “We spent a lot of time talking about food and what we’d eventually eat.”

Jolie raved about her Irish star during her press tour for Maleficent earlier this year. “I can’t say enough good things about him. I think he is one of the greatest actors and one of the greatest people,” she said.