O'Byrne first attracted notice for his performances in the Martin McDonagh plays The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996) as Pato Dooley (for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play) and The Lonesome West (1997). He is known for taking on serious and dramatic roles, such as a serial killer in Frozen (1998) (for which he won a Tony Award) and a priest accused of child molestation in Doubt: A Parable (2004), for which he received a Tony Award nomination. O'Byrne also appeared as a priest in the 2004 film Million Dollar Baby. In May 2007, O'Byrne was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance as Alexander Herzen in Tom Stoppard's 2002 trilogy The Coast of Utopia. He appeared in the play by John Patrick Shanley Outside Mullingar on Broadway in 2014, and received a nomination for the 2014 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Actor In A Play.