His acting credits include The New Avengers (1976), ITV Playhouse (1977), The Eagle of the Ninth (1977), Sweeney 2 (1978), Comfort and Joy (1984), The Singing Detective (1986), A Month in the Country (1987), Minder (1979–1988), Middlemarch (1994), The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries (1993–1994), Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001), The World Is Not Enough (1999), Brideshead Revisited (2008), The Paradise (2012), Luther (2015–2019), Bridget Jones's Baby (2016), Game of Thrones (2012–2016), Mortal Engines (2018), The Protégé (2021), and Liaison (2023).

Malahide was born in Reading, Berkshire, England,[1] the son of Irish immigrants; his mother was a cook, and his father secretary of the bursar at The Nautical College of Pangbourne.

[1] His films include Comfort and Joy (1984),[1] A Month in the Country (1987),[1] and Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001), alongside Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz.

[3] In 1999, he made an appearance in the introduction to the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough,[3] alongside Pierce Brosnan as a Swiss banker named Lachaise working in Bilbao.

[3] In 2023, he played the role of Alison's father Jack Rowdy, in Liaison, in a cast that included Vincent Cassel, Eva Green and Peter Mullan.