Pat O'Connor was born in Ardmore, Waterford, one of the six children of a small town businessman. Pat was educated by the Christian Brothers. He left school at the age of seventeen and, fed up with studying, made his way to England. There he took odd jobs in insurance and a wine cellar, as a navvy and digging the Victoria line.
Just over a year later Pat went to California and enrolled for a B.A. course that included film studies at U.C.L.A, but family commitments meant Pat had to return home. His second trip to America was to attend the Ryerson Institute in Toronto, and he graduated in film and television studies in 1969.
O'Connor got his first television job as a trainee producer director with RTE in 1970. During the next six years, he established himself as one of the leading political documentary makers in Ireland. He also made programmes in Russia, Spain, Portugal and England.O'Connor switched to the drama department in 1976.
After an introductory period on 'The Riordans' , he made six dramas on location, among them 'Mobile Homes' (1978), 'Miracles and Miss Langan'(1979) and 'Gale Dale'.
Next came 'Winter Music' (1981), a play by Eugene McCabe, which was entered by RTE for the Prix Italia. As his reputation spread, he was asked to make the BBC/RTE co-production, 'The Ballroom of Romance', written by William Trevor. It won the Silver Drama Award at the New York Festival, the BAFTA Award for the Best Single Play, the Jacob's Award for Best Director and was the runner up at the Prix Italia.
Pat O'Connor then decided to go freelance. His first two projects were 'Night in Tunisia' (1982) for Channel 4 from a Neil Jordan script, and 'One of Ourselves' (1982) a second joint venture for BBC/RTE.
Pat gradually moved into the world of cinema drama. His first film was 'Cal' (1984), which he followed with 'A Month In The Country' (1986) two years later.
Pat O'Connors other credits include 'Stars and Bars'(1988), 'The January Man'(1989), 'Fools of Fortune'(1990), 'Zelda'(1994), 'Circle of Friends' (1996), 'Inventing the Abbotts'(1997) and most recently 'Dancing at Lughnasa'(1998), 'Sweet November' (2001).