Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he began his career as a member of Dublin's Focus Theatre, and played many roles on the stage and on Irish television.

[8] Rea starred in Enda Walsh's 2014 play Ballyturk and portrayed Jordan in Out of the Dark,[9] in which he co-stars alongside Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman and Alejandro Furth.

[10][11] Rea came to international attention when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Irish film-maker Neil Jordan's film The Crying Game in 1992.

[12][13] He is a frequent collaborator with Jordan, starring in his other films Interview with the Vampire (1994), Michael Collins (1996), The End of the Affair (1999), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), and Greta (2018).

[citation needed] In 2023, Rea appeared as Frank, husband to Eileen (played by Kathy Bates) in the film The Miracle Club.

[18] From 1983 to 2003 Rea was married to Dolours Price, a former Provisional Irish Republican Army bomber and hunger striker who later became a critic of Sinn Féin.

[22][23] Before the marriage, Price attended a performance of Rea's at the Court Theatre in London in 1973, the night before she participated in a car bombing which injured 200 people.