Ringo Starr Actor Unveils His Mop-Top Beatles Transformation
The BAFTA-winning actor is almost unrecognizable as the famous drummer.
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Irish actor Barry Keoghan will soon step into the suede boots of legendary Beatles drummer Ringo Starr—and his floppy new hairstyle fits the part.
On January 28, the Irish actor unveiled his shaggy hair transformation at the European Gala Screening for his new film, CRIME 101.
Keoghan, 33, will play Starr in Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes’s multipart biopic, The Beatles—A Four-Film Cinematic Event, set to release in April 2028. Each film in the interconnected series will focus on one Beatles member, detailing their journeys individually and as a group.
Ringo Starr, left, and Barry Keoghan, right.
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Rather than his typical short haircut, Keoghan arrived on the red carpet with a thick brown mop-top that covered his eyebrows, imitating Starr’s in the 1960s.
Keoghan’s hairstyle evoked the Beatles drummer (and many emo singers) with a deep, swoopy side part. The Banshees of Inisherin star paired the grown-out coiff with an all-leather outfit and a scarf from Mains, which he puzzlingly pulled over the bottom half of his face at one point.
Keoghan wore a full leather set from MAINS at the UK screening of "Crime 101" in London, England.
Mike Marsland/WireImage
While The Beatles underwent many aesthetic changes, the mop-top style served as a signature look for John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr when the band first came to fame.
Mendes announced casting for the biopic in March 2025. Lennon will be played by The Iron Claw actor Harris Dickinson, 29; McCartney by Gladiator star Paul Mescal, 29; and Harrison by Game of Thrones actor Joseph Quinn, 32.
The Beatles in 1965. George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr.
Bettmann/Bettmann Archive
Following Keoghan’s breakout role in the 2017 thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer, the BAFTA winner appeared in several high-profile series and films, including Netflix’s lauded miniseries, Chernobyl, Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic Dunkirk, and the Marvel film Eternals.
Younger audiences, however, may know Keoghan as Oliver Quick, who drank Jacob Elordi’s bathwater in Saltburn, and for reportedly dating pop singer Sabrina Carpenter from 2023 to 2024.
Barry Keoghan at the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" in New York City.
Kevin Mazur/MG25/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Keoghan appeared to hint at his upcoming role in his outfit for the 2025 Met Gala.
He wore a military-inspired outfit with an upright collar that resembled the outfits on The Beatles’ eighth studio album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Although the custom-made Valentino design’s fabric was darker than The Beatles’ vibrant 1967 outfits, its style and structure evoked the iconic cover.