Gabriel Byrne cuts a very solemn figure, as he walks into the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan to talk to HQ.

It's just two weeks since he received a prestigious Emmy nomination for his role as the troubled psychotherapist Paul Weston in the HBO series In Treatment -- and although naturally delighted with the nomination, he seems more preoccupied with the negative economic news from Ireland. "I just got in from Dublin last night," he tells me. "I was over doing some work with the Irish Hospice Foundation and I'm so angry at the state of the health service and how many people are suffering because of it."

He looks tired and pale and seems to have lost weight, but is mentally alert and agile.

Since moving the US more than 30 years ago, carving out a distinguished film and television career, he has actively sought a role as a cultural bridge between Ireland and America. So, he is also troubled by the proposed cuts to Ireland's cultural bodies in the McCarthy report, including the abolition of the Irish Film Board and Culture Ireland. But he is wary of being drawn on the topic, sensitive that many people at home will be more concerned by cuts to health, education and welfare, than they will be to the arts.

But when asked to talk about his much-praised interpretation of the complicated analyst on In Treatment, Byrne is eloquent and thoughtful, eager to give detailed and considered answers to every question, and not reticent in drawing on his own life experience and mistakes.

"When I started, I was a bit resistant of the whole notion of therapy. You know how, in Europe, there's this idea that therapy is some kind of 'New Agey' American thing, even though it originated in Europe with Freud and Jung in the 19th century," he says.

"But now, when I look over the narrative of my life, I begin to understand how deeply affected I was by my culture, my religion, my upbringing and by my immigration into this country." On paper, the notion of a TV show set in a therapist's office with just two people interacting, listening and speaking, may not have sounded that promising, but Byrne infuses the show with his rich theatrical experience, making it compelling viewing.

"To truly listen and be listened to is a form of prayer. What is it that makes one thing compelling to listen to and another thing boring? Therapists I've talked to have told me how listening to someone in real time really tests the therapist and I am aware that listening in a dramatic situation is a really different thing. But, of course, doing this kind of work as an actor, recording this show over five months does make you think about yourself. Not that I needed to do any more introspective!" he laughs, lightening the mood briefly.

In spite of his great professional success in a myriad of movies, such as the Coen brothers' Miller's Crossing and The Usual Suspects, there is a haunted, melancholy quality to Gabriel Byrne. The divorced father of two teenage children, from his marriage to Ellen Barkin, seems to be in the midst of two worlds, straddling but not occupying either. He has recently spoken of his experience of clerical sexual abuse as a young boy in Dublin and it is as though, at 52, he is taking stock of his life so far, with bittersweet feelings.

"When you get to a certain age, you get to appreciate who your father and mother were. I remember when my mother died and I was standing with my brother. My father had been dead five years and my brother, who's 53, turned to me and said, 'we're orphans now'."

Being a parent has challenged him, but he mocks how his children, Jack Daniel (20) and Romey Marion (17) roll their eyes at him and say 'whatever, Dad'.

"I think they think I'm a bit of an eejit, like all children are entitled to think of their parents. I know it sounds corny, but they've taught me far more than I've taught them.

"I wish I was further along the road of self-knowledge, but I'm trying. Surviving is a thing to be proud of. I'm still hopeful about life, about myself and I'm no longer seeking to be constantly happy, because I don't believe in such a thing. I think it's delusional.

"I remember an interview with the director John Frankenheimer, where he said he had a better second half of his life than the first half; that he lived better. I'm kind of on that road and it's about facing up to and accepting who you are. I'm not there 100%."

- Patricia Danaher