1986–1996 In his senior year in college, Mulroney responded to a sign-up sheet and auditioned in front of
WMA agent Barbara Gale, In his first decade acting, Mulroney appeared in a slew of
drama films often dealing with heavy subject matter:
Sin of Innocence (1986), in which he played a stepbrother romantically involved with his stepsister after their parents marry;
Daddy (1987), in which he played the boyfriend in a couple struggling with teenage parenthood; the Lee Grant sibling family drama
Staying Together (1989);
Unconquered (1989), in which he portrayed
the son of
Richmond Flowers Sr., an opponent of Alabama Governor
George Wallace's segregationist policies;
Longtime Companion (1989), in which he portrayed the first
HIV/AIDS patient to die of the disease in a widely released film;
Where the Day Takes You (1992), in which he plays the leader of a group of teenage runaways trying to survive in the streets of Los Angeles; and supporting roles in the
Emmy Award-nominated
Family Pictures (1993), which dealt with the struggles of raising a child with autism, and
Bastard out of Carolina (1996), which dealt with abuse and molestation. In 1988, Mulroney appeared in the baseball flick
Long Gone, for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie at the
CableACE Awards. In 1989, he appeared in
Survival Quest, during which he met
Catherine Keener. While filming, in 1986, The couple would go on to appear together in four other films:
Living in Oblivion (1995),
Heroine of Hell (1996),
Box of Moonlight (1996) and
Lovely & Amazing (2001). Mulroney's roles in
Samantha (1991) and
Where the Day Takes You (1992) awarded him
Best Actor at the
Seattle International Film Festival. In 1993, he wrote the song "Someone Else's Used Guitar" for Peter Bogdanovich's
The Thing Called Love, in which he also starred. Mulroney also had a cameo in the
Joaquin Phoenix–directed video "Tired of Being Sorry" for
Balthazar Getty's band
Ringside. Mulroney appeared in a number of
western films throughout this period, namely
Young Guns in 1988,
Silent Tongue and
The Last Outlaw in 1993, and
Bad Girls in 1994. The
Sam Shepard-directed
Silent Tongue would mark the second in a series of four collaborations, with the two previously appearing together on screen in
Bright Angel (1990), for which Mulroney won the Jury Special Prize at the
Torino International Festival of Young Cinema. Mulroney co-starred in the
comedy-drama films:
Staying Together (1989);
The Thing Called Love (1993), the second of two collaborations with
River Phoenix before his death; and
There Goes My Baby (1994), originally filmed in 1990. In 2007, Mulroney appeared in the
fifth season of
The Batman as
Green Lantern / Hal Jordan. In 2011, he directed the feature film
Love, Wedding, Marriage. In 2012, Mulroney played the love interest of
Zooey Deschanel, Russell, in the Fox series
New Girl. In 2013, he played the title starring role in the psychotronic horror film
The Rambler, which premiered at the
2013 Sundance Film Festival. He also starred alongside
Lin Shaye,
Angus Sampson, and
Stefanie Scott in the 2015 horror sequel
Insidious: Chapter 3. He is the narrator of
Legends & Lies (2015–2016) executive produced by Bill O'Reilly for Fox News Channel. He also appeared in the hit
Showtime series
Shameless as Sean, a recovering drug addict who runs a restaurant. In 2023, Mulroney starred in the
sixth installment of the
Scream franchise and starred in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe television series
Secret Invasion. ==Musical career==