Dermot Mulroney and a penguin. (Not pictured: Dermot Mulroney’s freaking cello.) Photo : Randy Pearson ( SeaWorld San Diego via Getty Images )

How the hell did we not know this? Give yourself a pat on the back if this fact was already known to you, but Dermot Mulroney somehow managed to hide from us the news that he’s not only a classically trained cellist, but played it on the score of not one, but two Mission: Impossible films. What?


Look, it’s not beyond the realm of imagining that a professionally handsome man and the guy who played Dirty Steve in Young Guns is a crack musician, we’re just saying it surprised the hell out of us when it was brought to our attention on Twitter this week. Honestly, unless you caught his three-episode stint on Mozart In The Jungle where he wielded his instrument of choice like the old hand he is—and honestly, some of us saw it and just assumed, you know, acting—there’s no reason to suspect he was capable of such a thing.


It’s not just his work scoring images of Tom Cruise running very intently in M:I III and M:I—Ghost Protocol that startled us, either. His cello credits include the music for a 1996 film called God’s Lonely Man, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, for god’s sake. That means he found time in between five film roles and a recurring part on Enlightened in 2013 to play cello for J.J. Abrams’ big outer-space movie. That is badass.

We don’t want to suggest that this officially means Mulroney is winning in the eternal war of cool-guy credits between Dermot Mulroney and Dylan McDermott, but: The ball’s in your your court, McDermott.