Michael Enright (actor)

Enright has stated that he grew up in a tough neighbourhood in Manchester, and that when he was eighteen, his father, who had been diagnosed with cancer, committed suicide.[1] A year later, Enright travelled to the United States, initially going to New York on a tourist visa.[1] He overstayed and began to work at various informal economy jobs,[1] later moving to Los Angeles to pursue acting gigs. In the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, he went to Rwanda and volunteered there at an orphanage for some time, before returning to the United States with another tourist visa and overstaying that one as well.[1][3]

Enright was initially cast as a boxer in a soft drink commercial and then appeared as an IRA member on the television series JAG, in 1997.[1]

In the 2000s, he was cast in films including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Old Dogs, as well as several TV series, such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Law & Order: LA, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Cold Case, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, and Castle.[2]

Enright joined the Kurdish YPG to fight against ISIS in January 2015, after watching the execution of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh. He contacted the Kurdish People's Protection Units through a British SAS friend and was told to fly to the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah via Istanbul. According to Enright, he passed physical training in the People's Protection Units and learned to assemble and dismantle a Kalashnikov rifle blindfolded in order to be able to use it at night. Enright was given an AK-47, and fought ISIS on the front lines.[1]

After completing a six-month tour of duty with the YPG, Enright attempted to return to the United States from Mexico via the San Ysidro border crossing south of San Diego, California, but his passport was flagged due to him previously overstaying several tourist visas, as he had lived in the United States for about three decades without authorization.[1] According to Enright, he was kept in a detention facility for six weeks under extreme overcrowded conditions and was then deported to England, but with a verbal offer to be allowed entry if he could help get information on ISIS.[1][4] He went back with the YPG for an extended eighteen-month tour of duty. After helping to liberate Raqqa (the ISIS capital) in 2017, he left Syria and went to the American embassy in Belize to request permission to reenter the United States.[1]

On 23 September 2021, American entertainment company Curiosity Stream released the documentary film Heval, its first-ever feature-length production. The film, produced by Jupiter Entertainment, explores the life of Michael Enright and his time serving with the YPG.[5][6]

• List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
• Foreign volunteers in the People's Protection Units

• Michael Enright at IMDb