For years, Glen Hansard was best known as the singer and songwriter of The Frames, an alternative rock band that found considerable critical and commercial success in their native Ireland, but only cult-level popularity in the rest of the world. That changed in 2007, when the musician co-starred in the low-budget romantic drama "Once," which quickly moved from the film festival circuit to mainstream popularity, bringing Hansard's easygoing brand of folk-rock to a wider international audience and winning him and co-star Markéta Irglová an Oscar for Best Original Song for their co-composition "Falling Slowly."