Born in London of Irish parents, Lenny later grew up in Waterford city in the South east of Ireland. After a stint as a fisherman, he then moved to Dublin to pursue a career as an artist but an offer to play Lord Byron in Howard Brenton’s Bloody Poetry diverted him onto the path of an actor.
He studied acting in Bull Alley VEC for three years and then became a member of The Focus Theatre, at the time Ireland’s only Stanislavski theatre performing in several plays including Tennessee William’s Talk To Me Like the Rain and Let Me listen directed by Mary Moynihan for the founder Deirdre O’Connel’s memorial.
In the late 90’she co-founded Wallfly Theatre Company producing and acting in several plays for the Dublin Fringe and Irish tours. He then returned to Bull Alley as a director/teacher, directing August Strindberg’s Miss Julie and The Father and Plenty, by David Hare. Stage appearances at this time Include Duke Senior in As You Like It directed by Andy Hines, Menelaus in Trojan Women directed by Michael Scott, Vershinin in Three Sisters directed by Rayla Tadjimitova, the Captain in The Father directed by Tim McDonnell and the IRA Officer in The Hostage directed by Ronan Wilmot.
Lenny’s first film role was in Damien O’Donnell’s breakthrough short film 35 Aside. He has since appeared in John Lynch’s Nightrain, Ordinary Decent Criminal with Kevin Spacey, The Castle opposite Patrick McGoohan, The Tudors, Vikings, Stardust and a role the soap Fair City.
In the early 2000’s, he was a swash buckling John Jameson in Jameson Whiskey’s first US TV ad campaign and starred in two ads that both won best TV commercial at the Clio Awards in subsequent years. Fifteen years earlier he starred in Guinness’ first US TV ad which also won best TV commercial at the Clios.
Recent TV roles incude as Roger Casement in RTE’s 1916 Commemoration series and as Harry Gordon, American film producer in The Baker directed by Fyodor Stukov. Recent theatre includes King Lear in Mill Productions King Lear directed by Geoff O’Keefe and as Joe in The Hall, directed by Jim Nolan. In 2018 he directed Savage Love by Sam Shepard for the Imagine Arts Festival Waterford and has been performing some of his own short plays, stories and songs at venues in London and Ireland.