One of the movie industry’s hottest properties Paul Mescal last year paid himself a dividend of €100,000 from his own TV and movie firm.
New accounts filed by the actor’s Castle Dawson Pictures Ltd show that the firm declared and paid its owner a dividend of €99,861 in the 12 months to the end of October last.
The accounts show that Mescal’s meteoric rise in acting became even more lucrative last year as the Co Kildare’s man performance in Aftersun earned him an Oscar nomination.
The movie firm’s accounts show that the company last year recorded post tax profits of €165,659.
This is a 66 per cent increase on the profits of €99,861 made in its first 10 months in business in 2021.
Mescal - who signed off on the accounts on July 7th - became a star on both sides of the Atlantic with his award-winning portrayal of Connell Waldron in the lockdown hit drama, Normal People in April and May 2020.
Last year was a busy one for the Trinity Lir Academy graduate where he won a Laurence Olivier award for his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in a revival of the play A Streetcar Named Desire.
This year, the 27-year old has been busy filming the Ridley Scott directed Gladiator 2 which will make Mescal one of the best known movie stars in the world when it is released towards the end of next year.
Mescal has a 100 per cent shareholding in the company and the accounts show that at the end of October last, its current assets - made up of cash and moneys owed by debtors - totalled €179,473.
Profits
The firm had accumulated profits of €165,759 at the end of last year.
Seeking to capitalise on his status, the former Kildare minor football captain incorporated Castle Dawson Pictures Ltd on November 23rd, 2020.
The company due to its small size is not required to disclose the revenues it recorded during the year. The accounts also don't reveal the pay, if any, to Mescal during the year.
Mescal’s career has been on a skywards trajectory since his debut screen performance in Normal People and the in demand Mescal has also starred in the recently released Carmen where he plays the male lead in the modern-day reimagining of famous opera.
Normal People reportedly gave BBC Three its best ever week on the iPlayer while it also set new viewing records on the RTÉ Player.
Such was the impact Mescal had on TV viewers that he made O’Neills shorts one of the most sought after fashion items of 2020 and 2021 after sporting them on-screen and off-screen in 2020.
