Delaney was born to parents Sheelagh and Michael Delaney. He has three older brothers Philip, Conor and Emmett, and two younger sisters Tracey and Gemma. He attended Colaiste Abbain Secondary School in Adamstown, Co. Wexford. He originally studied engineering before dropping out after four months. He later went on to study at the Beckett Centre in Trinity College, Dublin and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Drama & Theatre Studies in 2001.

He first started acting in theatre, performing in Hamlet, The Yalta Game, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Hollow in the Sand and This Lime Tree Bower. Delaney soon added screen acting to his resume, starring in the 2003 short film An Cuanin, and in 2005 appearing in the Irish television series Pure Mule and The Clinic. He went on to play the lead in the RTE series Legend.

It was in 2006 that he first appeared before international audiences as Irish revolutionary Teddy O'Donovan in Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes the Barley, opposite Cillian Murphy. The film won the Palme D'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and Delaney was nominated for two 2007 Irish Film and Television Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Breakthrough Talent. Delaney was also honored as the Irish Shooting Star for 2007 by the Berlin International Film Festival.

At present, Delaney is a cast member of the Showtime series The Tudors in which he plays Anne Boleyn's brother George alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry VIII; the first season aired in 2007, and the show will return for a second season in 2008.

In late 2007, Delaney appeared on stage at the Tricycle Theatre in the role of a Catholic priest in John Patrick Shanley's play Doubt: A Parable.

• An Cuanin (2003) ... as Duncan
• Pure Mule (2005, TV series) ... as Maurice (two episodes)
• The Clinic (2005, TV series) .... as Andrew McLoughlin (one episode)
• The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) ... as Teddy O'Donovan
• Legend (2006, TV series) ... as Fred 'Fridge' Gogan
• A Lonely Sky (2006) ... as Stan Curtis
• The Tudors (2007-2008, TV series) ... as George Boleyn
• Eden (2007) ... as Eoghan
• Single Handed (2008, TV series) ... as Michael Casey

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