All about Glen Hansard’s family — and his long history with “Once” costar Markéta Irglová

Brianna ZiglerWed, July 29, 2026 at 7:51 PM UTC

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Glen Hansard in November 2019Credit: Luciano Viti/GettyKey Points -

Irish musician Glen Hansard passed away on July 29 at age 56.

Hansard got his start in the band the Frames before finding international fame after appearing in the film The Commitments.

He is survived by his wife Maire Saaritsa, and their son, Christy.

On July 29, Irish singer-songwriter and actor Glen Hansard passed away at the age of 56 after a tragic motorcycle accident. He is survived by his wife, Maire Saaritsa, and their son, Christy.

Hansard started out busking on the streets of Dublin as a teenage musician before forming the rock band the Frames in 1990. He then gained international attention by appearing in the 1991 film The Commitments. Reflecting on his sudden rise to fame, he told Ireland’s Raidió Teilifís Éireannin 2016 that the film’s success “did a number” on him and some of his costars.

“I witnessed not only myself, but my dear friends, kind of go off their rocker a little bit after the experience, after the American [release],” he admitted at the time.

Hansard would receive further acclaim for his performance in the Irish musical-drama Once (2006), in which he costarred alongside his Swell Season bandmate and then-girlfriend Markéta Irglová. Their original song for the film, “Falling Slowly,” won Best Original Song at the 80th Academy Awards and received a Grammy nomination. Hansard also contributed to the music for the 2016 film Sing Street.

After his relationship with Irglová ended in 2009, the two continued making music together as the Swell Season until as recently as 2025. Hansard married poet Saaritsa in December 2022, and they had welcomed son Christy just two months prior.

As we mourn Hansard’s passing, get to know his family, including his wife, son, and his close creative collaborator.

His wife is a Finnish poet

Glen Hansard in a backstage portrait at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome on Nov. 12, 2019Credit: Luciano Viti/Getty

Maire Saaritsa is a Finnish poet, and there is not much public information about her. In 2019, she participated in the Lahti International Writers’ Reunion, and her profile page notes that she had translated a poetry collection by Michael O’Loughlin, titled Runoja, into Finnish.

On an appearance on Ireland’s The Late Late Show in December 2022, Hansard revealed that he had decided to marry Saaritsa after his mother passed away in July 2020. They officially wed two weeks after the interview.

They share one child, a son named Christy

Glen Hansard performing at Michael Dorf Presents: The Music Of Van Morrison at Carnegie Hall on March 21, 2019 in New York CityCredit: Bobby Bank/Getty

In October 2022, Hansard welcomed his first child, Christy, at the age of 52. Following the birth of his son, Hansard spoke effusively to The Sunday World (via The Standard) about how it felt to finally become a dad.

“It’s the most incredible thing that has ever happened to me,” he said. “You would imagine anyone would say that…that’s exactly how it feels, it’s the most abstract and beautiful. Suddenly you realise that everything is secondary, one’s life, one’s career, one’s thoughts.”

Hansard dated his Once costar Markéta Irglová for two years

Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard in ‘Once’Credit: Fox Searchlight/ Everett Collection

Hansard’s most famous relationship was with Czech-Icelandic musician Markéta Irglová, whom he began dating while promoting their 2007 movie Once. In the film, the two portray struggling musicians living in Dublin.

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Hansard opened up about their romance in an interview with Entertainment Weekly around the film’s release, saying, “I think we fell in love a couple of years ago, but nothing happened until recently. To be honest with you, I felt that even back then this girl had become so prominent in my life that she would probably be the girl I’d marry one day.”

However, the two had already known each other for years — Irglová’s father had helped to organize a show for Hansard’s band, the Frames, in the Czech Republic. Irglová and Hansard developed their own relationship, and she credited him as being crucial to her development as an artist.

“I learned everything from him,” she explained in a 2011 interview on Radio Prague International. “And once I had extracted those teachings from him I started developing something of my own afterwards. But at the beginning he was the biggest inspiration that there could have been.”

The two broke up after dating for about two years. Speaking about the split to The Sydney Morning Herald, Mansard said, “It did become a real relationship. I think it was just a very natural part of what we were doing together. We had made the film. We had gone through so much with the Oscar. Of course, we fell into each other’s arms. It was a very necessary part of our friendship but I think we both concluded that that wasn’t what we really wanted to do. So we’re not together now. We’re just really good friends.”

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Hansard and Irglová made music together until just before his death

Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I., on July 27, 2025Credit: Douglas Mason/Getty

Despite parting ways romantically, Hansard and Irglová continued to make music together through the years as the folk rock band the Swell Season, which formed in 2005 (though they didn’t formally adopt the name until 2008).

Together, they released three albums: The Swell Season in 2006, Strict Joy in 2009, and Forward in 2025.

Speaking with Radio Prague International about reuniting with Hansard for Forward, Irglová said, “It was kind of one little step after another. The first impulse was live shows, when we played together and we saw that people were really excited to see us play still, even though so much time had passed, and that there was demand for Swell Season shows.”

She continued, “We agreed to do more shows and I really wanted to bring new music as well as [laughs] the beautiful older songs from Once, which we love as much as people do. But it just felt nice to bring it a little bit into the present and that we still have something new to offer.”

In a 2009 joint interview with EW about their post-breakup album, Strict Joy, Hansard said, “The crux of the whole thing is, we make good music together. I’ve always impressed her with a guitar in my hand. I just wasn’t as good in bed. No, I’m kidding.”

on Entertainment Weekly

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”