British series Actors

Gillian Anderson was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Rosemary Alyce (Lane), a computer analyst, and Homer Edward Anderson III, who owned a film post-production company. Gillian started her career as a member of an amateur actor group while at high school. In 1987, her love of the theatre took her to the National Theatre of Great Britain Summer Acting Programme held at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. For several weeks she studied under such NT greats as Peter Chelsom, Bardy Thomas, and Michael Joyce. Afterwards, Anderson returned to the Goodman Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois where she finished her education. Her big break came with The X-Files (1993) as Dana Scully. There, she met her future husband (Clyde Klotz), marrying on January 1st 1994. One month later, Gillian was pregnant. Her daughter, Piper Anderson-Klotz, was born on the 25th September 1994. Her film career started with the movie The Turning (1992) in 1992 and, the following year, she starred in Playing by Heart (1998) with Sean Connery, Ellen Burstyn, Angelina Jolie and Dennis Quaid.

English actor Sam Claflin was born in Ipswich, England, to Susan A. (Clarke), a classroom assistant, and Mark J. Claflin, a finance officer. As a child, he was football-mad, often going to see his favorite team, Norwich City. He was a talented footballer, playing for Norwich schools at city level and Norfolk county level. However, he suffered two broken ankles and at 16 gave up thinking about a footballing career. He took up performing arts and a teacher from Costessey High School was impressed with his performance in a school play, and encouraged him to take up drama. He joined the local youth group at Norwich's Theatre Royal and went on to gain entry to LAMDA drama school in 2006 graduating with a 3 year acting degree in 2009. He is the 3rd eldest of 4 boys, his older brothers Dan and Ben are not involved in drama but his younger brother Joe Claflin commenced at the same drama school in 2009 also doing a 3 year acting degree.

In 2010, Clafin made his debut screen performances in two award-winning series, The Pillars of the Earth (2010) and Any Human Heart (2010). His film debut came playing footballer Duncan Edwards, one of the 'Busby Babes', in United (2011). Clafin then came to the attention of cinemagoers across the world when he was cast as Philip in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011). Various roles followed, including Jack in White Heat (2012) and Prince William in Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). He played Finnick Odair in the sequels The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014), and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015).

Ed Stoppard was born on 16 September 1974 in London, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for The Pianist (2002), Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) and Youth (2015). He is married to Amie Stoppard. They have three children.

Julian Ovenden was born on 29 November 1976 in Sheffield, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Bridgerton (2020), Downton Abbey (2010) and Adult Material (2020). He has been married to Kate Royal since 20 December 2010. They have two children.

Flaminia Cinque was born in Cambridge, England, UK. Flaminia is an actor, known for Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday (2022), Holy Cannelloni (2019) and Leap Year (2010).

Born in London, England, Hayley Elizabeth Atwell has dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and the United States. An only child, Hayley was named after actress Hayley Mills. Her parents, Alison (Cain) and Grant Atwell, both motivational speakers, met at a London workshop of Dale Carnegie's self-help bible "How to Win Friends and Influence People". Her mother is English (with Irish ancestry) and her father is American; he was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and is partly of Native-American descent (his Native American name is Star Touches Earth). Her parents divorced when she was age two. Her father returned to America and Hayley remained with her mother in London, but she spent her summers in Missouri with her father. Hayley's mother saw theater as an important communal experience, so she was introduced to theater from a young age. At age 11, she had memorable trip to see Ralph Fiennes playing Hamlet. She would later work with him on The Duchess (2008).

She went to Sion-Manning Roman Catholic Girl's School in West London where she excelled academically. She took her A-levels at the London Oratory School. She took two years out of her education, traveling with her father and working for a casting director. In 2005, she graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a degree in Acting. Hayley began her career with parts on a few BBC television productions. Her first big break came in the television miniseries, The Line of Beauty (2006). The following year, she got her first film role in How About You (2007). She followed this with Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream (2007). Her breakthrough role came four years later as British agent Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).

Samuel West was born on 19 June 1966 in Hammersmith, London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Van Helsing (2004), Howards End (1992) and Notting Hill (1999).

Emerald Lilly Fennell is an English actress, filmmaker, and writer. She has received many awards and nominations, including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, one Screen Actors Guild Award, and nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. Fennell first gained attention for her roles in period drama films, such as Albert Nobbs (2011), Anna Karenina (2012), The Danish Girl (2015), and Vita and Virginia (2018). She went on to receive wider recognition for her starring roles in the BBC One period drama series Call the Midwife (2013-17) and for her portrayal of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in the Netflix period drama series The Crown (2019-20).

Tom Hollander was born the second child of educated parents, both teachers. He grew up in Oxford, (UK).

Hollander credits the happy atmosphere of the Dragon School with his childhood introduction to acting. There, encouraged by an influential teacher named Andrew Roberts, he won the title role in "Oliver". His studies continued at Abingdon, as did his pursuit of acting. At about this point, he won a place in the National Youth Theatre, a UK organization for young people in the field of musical theatre, based in London, and later at the Children's Music Theatre. It was during CMT's "The Leaving of Liverpool" (1981) that he came to the attention of BBC television, and subsequently found himself front and center as the young protagonist in a well-regarded John Diamond (1981), based on the popular Leon Garfield adventure novel. He was just fourteen years old.

Other early projects included two roles in Bertholt Brecht's "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" (1985) for the National Youth Theatre, and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for Oxford University Dramatic Society.

Hollander attended Cambridge University at about the same time as his childhood friend Sam Mendes in a visually bold (and well-remembered) staging of "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1988). Other collaborations with Mendes have followed, including work at the West End production of "The Cherry Orchard" (1989, with Judi Dench), and the Chichester Festival Theatre (1989) as well as a Toronto staging of "Kean" (1991) with Derek Jacobi. He also appeared in the Cambridge Footlights Revue (1988).

Upon graduation, Hollander hoped to gain entry to drama school, but found himself disappointed. The oversight did nothing to discourage a successful career already well under way: he garnered an Ian Charleson Award for his turn as Witwould in "The Way of the World" (1992), was nominated again for a "splendidly sinister, manic" performance as "Tartuffe" (1996), and yet again as a finalist for his Khlestakov ("a performance of ideal vigour and impudence"), in Gogol's "The Government Inspector" (1997). Inevitably, Hollander was urged to try films, and appeared in two films as early as 1996. True Blue (1996) (aka "Miracle at Oxford") found him in a small but memorable role as the cox for Oxford's noted 1987 "mutiny crew" that went on to win the that year's boat race against Cambridge, and in a thankless role in Some Mother's Son (1996), a sober drama about an IRA gunman, playing a Thatcher representative.

Hollander's career has featured a number of memorable gay roles. His fans are especially fond of the larger-than-life Darren from Bedrooms and Hallways (1998), a romantic comedy with what one reviewer called the "funniest bedroom scene of the year" involving Hollander's character and Hugo Weaving. The over-the-top Darren was so convincing that some viewers assumed Hollander was gay. "Sometimes I call myself a professional homosexual impersonator," he told an interviewer at the time, quickly adding, "you could say that ...Sir Ian McKellen and Rock Hudson do straight actors." The following year, he would take on a very different kind of "gay" role, playing the notorious "Bosie" (Lord Alfred Douglas) against Liam Neeson's Oscar Wilde in "The Judas Kiss" (1998).

"Martha -- Meet Frank Daniel and Laurence" (aka The Very Thought of You (1998), with Joseph Fiennes and Rufus Sewell, brought accolades for his standout role as Daniel, a difficult music executive. Variety, impressed, noted him for "U.K. legit work" and called him the "undisputed hit of the pic".

2001 brought Gosford Park (2001), Robert Altman's masterfully stylized murder mystery, in which he played the quietly desperate Anthony Meredith against Michael Gambon's callously indifferent paterfamilias. Hollander's name figures in a half dozen or more "Best Ensemble" awards for this complex, multi-storied film.

Considered the character-actor-of-choice for roles with comedic qualities, Hollander has challenged assumptions about his capacity by taking on difficult, troubled characters such as the tightly-wound King George V in Stephen Poliakoff's The Lost Prince (2003) for BBC and the demented fascist dictator Maximillian II in Land of the Blind (2006). Hollander himself is particularly proud of the film Lawless Heart (2001), a slyly humorous, cleverly constructed comedy-drama told from three viewpoints. Hollander's character, the heart of the film, is a decent man, devastated by the death of his partner, and grieving privately as the stories of friends and family unfold around him. A study of desire, loyalty and courage, the film was very well reviewed and much respected.

More recent film work has brought him to the attention of mainstream movie audiences, who now know him as the magnificently petty tyrant Lord Cutler Beckett in the second and third installments of Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). This role brought another kind of achievement: Hollander could now say that he'd been commemorated in collectible action-figure form.

He's worked three times with director Joe Wright, beginning with the prissy, yet strangely likeable Mr. Collins in Pride & Prejudice (2005), as a clueless classical cellist in an unfortunately truncated role in The Soloist (2009), and as Issacs, the German henchman in Hanna (2011).

With In the Loop (2009), Hollander brought a perfectly unbearable, delicate tension to the role of Simon Foster, the earnestly clueless "British Secretary of State for International Development" who says the wrong thing at exactly the wrong moment. The film acted as a kind of companion piece to the critically-acclaimed The Thick of It (2005) on BBC2, Armando Iannucci's furious political satire on the machinations of war and media. Hollander's contribution to the expanded story was apparently so well-received he was "brought back" (but in a different role, entirely) from film to television for a series-ending surprise-appearance in series 3, delighting fans of the show.

Recent work in television has brought him the opportunity to expand on his special capacity for conveying nuanced and contradictory characters. He earned an award for Best Actor at the FIPA International Television Festival for his portrayal of Guy Burgess in Cambridge Spies (2003), and earned praise for the monstrously rude yet oddly endearing Leon in the satire Freezing (2008), with Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern) for BBC. He was unforgettable in an elegantly brief but very moving portrayal of King George III for HBO's John Adams (2008).

2010 brought Hollander to widespread attention with Rev. (2010), which he co-created with James Wood. The show, initially described in what was assumed to be familiar terms ("vicar", "comedy") became something entirely new: "...an exploration of British hypocrisy and a warmly played character piece", wrote Giles Fraser, Canon Chancellor at St Paul's Cathedral in a piece for The Sunday Telegraph. Rev. was much more than it appeared: reviews called it intelligent, realistic and very funny, with a stellar cast headed by Hollander as the sympathetic and very human vicar, Adam Smallbone. The show would garner a BAFTA in 2011 for Best Situation Comedy, among other awards and recognition.

Hollander supports a variety of charitable causes in innovative ways. In 2006 he ran his first race for the Childline Crisis hotline, and in 2007 ran for the Teenage Cancer Trust. He is a long-time supporter of the Helen and Douglas House in Oxford, which provides Hospice care for children, and continues to support charitable organizations by contributing readings and other appearances throughout the year. Hollander is a patron of BIFA, the British Independent Film Awards, and has supported the efforts of the Old Vic's "24 Hour Plays New Voices" Gala, which forwards the cause of young writers for the British stage.

Hollander continues to diversify with voicework roles in radio, reading audiobooks, doing voiceover work and onstage. He appeared in the Old Vic's production of Georges Feydeau's "A Flea in Her Ear" (2010), playing a demanding dual role: the upstanding Victor Emmanuel Chandebise and the lame-brained Poche. Reviews called it "insanity", and his performance "a breathtaking combination of lightning physical precision and shockingly true confusion".

Hollander is in production for series 2 of the winning comedy Rev. (2010).

Holliday Clark Grainger also credited as Holly Grainger, is an English screen and stage actress. Some of her prominent roles are Kate Beckett in the BAFTA award-winning children's series Roger and the Rottentrolls, Lucrezia Borgia in the Showtime series The Borgias, Robin Ellacott in Strike, DI Rachel Carey in the BBC One crime drama The Capture and Estella in Mike Newell's adaptation of Great Expectations.

Frederick Samson Robert Morice Fox is an English actor, director, and producer. His is known for the roles as singer Marilyn in the BBC's Boy George biopic Worried About the Boy (2010), James Leighton-Masters in The Riot Club (2014), Freddie Baxter in Channel 4 hit series Cucumber (2015) and Banana (2015), Commander Pope in historical film Black '47 (2018), Detective Sergeant Wilbur Strauss in the Victorian sitcom Year of the Rabbit (2019), and Jeremy Bamber in the true crime drama series White House Farm (2020).

Tobias was born in London. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1998 and began his acting career in popular UK series such as Foyle's War (2002), Midsomer Murders (1997), and Casualty (1986). He also appeared in the controversial drama A Very Social Secretary (2005). He is best known to international audiences as Marcus Junius Brutus in the television series Rome (2005).

He had a major film role in The Low Down (2000) with Aidan Gillen and featured in the 2006 reboot of the James Bond franchise, Casino Royale (2006). 2007 sees him appearing as William Elliot in ITV's production of Jane Austin's classic book, Persuasion (2007) and as Derrick Sington in the Channel 4 drama The Relief of Belsen (2007).

On TV, he guest starred on seasons 3 and 6 of HBO's Game of Thrones (2011) as Edmure Tully, and starred as Jack Randall and Frank Randall on Starz's Outlander (2014). He has played Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on the Netflix historical drama series The Crown (2016) since its third season.

On stage, his credits include the young teacher Irwin in Alan Bennett's The History Boys and Michael Blakemore's West End production of Three Sisters for which he was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award. He was a critically acclaimed Hamlet in Rupert Goold's Hamlet at the Royal Theatre.

Richard was born in Bethesda, Maryland, the middle of three sons of Edward, a real estate lawyer, and Charlotte, a cable TV and publishing executive. His parents divorced when he was 12. He dropped out of high school and switched to night school because he could finish sooner with less work. He studied at the City College of New York (CCNY) in 1973. "In college when I tripped and fell over the drama program at the City College of New York, and went and got into the Professional Acting Training Program by fluke, and Earle Gister, who was, uh, had just come from Carnegie-Melon, and was on his way to the Yale School of Drama stopped for a little pit stop at the City College of New York for three years to run the Davis Center for Performing Arts. I was very lucky that he was there." After not bothering to show up for finals though, he headed to Colorado where he cut firewood and lived a hippie life. He returned to New York in 1975 and started studying acting at CCNY and eventually was accepted into their theater program. He initially disliked acting and studied to be a director. He directed several off-Broadway plays, including "Antigone" with a then just-graduated Angela Bassett in 1983. He also met present wife, Sheila Kelley, during auditions for this play. The two married in 1996. In the mid-1980s, Richard says he conquered his fears and decided to take a stab at acting. He got several TV roles, but he was seen by Steven Spielberg in an episode of the TV drama High Incident (1996). Spielberg then cast him in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and his career has been on an upward climb ever since that has led to his co-starring role in The West Wing (1999).

David Matthew Macfadyen was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, to Meinir (Owen), a drama teacher and actress, and Martin Macfadyen, an oil executive. He is of Scottish and Welsh descent. Because of his father's career, he spent at least part of his childhood in Indonesia, before finishing his education back in England and winning a place at RADA in 1992. He won critical acclaim in the UK with his work with the stage company Cheek By Jowl in the 1990s and was well established as a stage actor when he made his first TV appearance in Wuthering Heights (1998). A couple more TV roles followed but it was his role as Tom Quinn, head of Section D, in the hit BBC series MI-5 (2002) that really made his name at home. And, indeed, established his home - he met his wife, Keeley Hawes, while working on the show. A steady stream of TV and film work followed, with his performance as Mr Darcy in Pride & Prejudice (2005) firmly establishing his name worldwide.

One of England's most versatile character actors, Jim Broadbent was born on May 24, 1949, in Lincolnshire, the youngest son of furniture maker Roy Laverick Broadbent and sculptress Doreen "Dee" (Findlay) Broadbent. Jim attended a Quaker boarding school in Reading before successfully applying for a place at an art school. His heart was in acting, though, and he would later transfer to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Following his 1972 graduation, he began his professional career on the stage, performing with the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and as part of the National Theatre of Brent, a two-man troupe which he co-founded. In addition to his theatrical work, Broadbent did steady work on television, working for such directors as Mike Newell and Stephen Frears. Broadbent made his film debut in 1978 with a small part in Jerzy Skolimowski's The Shout (1978). He went on to work with Frears again in The Hit (1984) and with Terry Gilliam in Time Bandits (1981) and Brazil (1985), but it was through his collaboration with Mike Leigh that Broadbent first became known to an international film audience. In 1990 he starred in Leigh's Life Is Sweet (1990), a domestic comedy that cast him as a good-natured cook who dreams of running his own business. Broadbent gained further visibility the following year with substantial roles in Neil Jordan's The Crying Game (1992) and Mike Newell's Enchanted April (1991), and he could subsequently be seen in such diverse fare as Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Widows' Peak (1994), Richard Loncraine's highly acclaimed adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III (1995) and Little Voice (1998), the last of which cast him as a seedy nightclub owner. Appearing primarily as a character actor in these films, Broadbent took center stage for Leigh's Topsy-Turvy (1999), imbuing the mercurial W.S. Gilbert with emotional complexity and comic poignancy. Jim's breakthrough year was 2001, as he starred in three critically and commercially successful films. Many would consider him the definitive supporting actor of that year. First he starred as Bridget's dad (Colin Jones) in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), which propelled Renée Zellweger to an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Next came the multiple Oscar-nominated film (including Best Picture) Moulin Rouge! (2001), for which he won a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA award for his scene-stealing performance as Harold Zidler. Lastly, came the small biopic Iris (2001), for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as devoted husband John Bayley to Judi Dench's Iris Murdoch, the British novelist who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. The film hit home with Jim, since his own mother had passed away from Alzheimer's in 1995.

Jerome Patrick Flynn (born 16 March 1963) is an English actor and singer. He is best known for his roles as Paddy Garvey of the King's Fusiliers in the ITV series Soldier Soldier, Fireman Kenny 'Rambo' Baines in the pilot of London's Burning, Bronn in the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, and Bennet Drake in Ripper Street.

He and his Soldier Soldier co-star Robson Green also performed as Robson & Jerome in the later half of the 1990s. They released a version of "Unchained Melody", which stayed at number 1 for 7 weeks on the UK Chart, selling more than a million copies and becoming the best-selling single of 1995. The duo had two further number 1 singles: "I Believe" and "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted". Their eponymous debut album and the follow-up Take Two both reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart.

Flynn was born in Bromley, Greater London, the son of actor and singer Eric Flynn and drama teacher Fern Flynn. He has a brother and sister, and a half-brother and sister from his father's second marriage. His brother Daniel Flynn is also an actor, and his half-brother Johnny Flynn is a musician and actor. Jerome attended Wilderness school in Sevenoaks and was an excellent rugby player at school.

In 1986 Flynn appeared in the LWT television film London's Burning as firefighter Kenny "Rambo" Baines. When the film spawned a series of the same name in 1988, he was the only member of the main cast who was unable to reprise his role (aside from Gary McDonald, whose own character, Andreas "Ethnic" Lewis, was killed off in the film) due to previous commitments. Also in 1986 he played a minor role as the soldier "Franny" in "The Monocled Mutineer".In 1988 he played the character Freddie in the ITV drama; The Fear which was about the London underworld. He appeared as D.S Eddie Hargreaves for six episodes of the British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) winning police drama, Between The Lines between 1992 and 1994.

Flynn portrayed Corporal Paddy Garvey of the King's Fusiliers in the ITV series Soldier Soldier. The series began in 1990. He acted alongside Robson Green in the series. After Flynn and Green performed Unchained Melody on the program-me, ITV was inundated by people looking to buy the song, and the pair were persuaded by record producer Simon Cowell to record it and release it as a single, a double A-side with White Cliffs of Dover. The single was released under the name Robson & Jerome and reached number one in the UK chart in 1995. It stayed at No.1 for 7 weeks in the UK Singles Chart, selling more than 1.9 million copies and making it the best-selling single of the year, and winning the duo the Music Week Awards in 1996 for best single and best album. The duo had two more number one hits in 1995 and 1996 with "I Believe" and "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" both re-makes of standards, they also produced two number one albums.

Soldier Soldier ended in 1997. Flynn went on to star as Eddie Wallis (alongside singing partner Robson Green) in the comedy-drama Ain't Misbehavin' (1997), and was the star of the short-lived police show Badger in 1999. He played Bobby Charlton in the 1999 film Best. On stage, he played Tommy Cooper in Jus' Like That, a tribute to the comic magician written by John Fisher and directed by Simon Callow.

Having semi-retired from acting and moved to Pembrokeshire, in 2007 Flynn directed and starred in the low budget film Rude Tales. The film was split into a series of short stories centered in the lead character, Jerome Rude, played by Flynn. The film was screened at a small number of independent cinemas in the Pembrokeshire area.

After almost 10 years away from acting, in July 2010 it was confirmed that Flynn would be playing the role of Bronn in the HBO television series Game of Thrones, based on the A Song of Ice and Fire novels of George R. R. Martin.

Flynn provides the voice of Daniel (the hound) in the children's television show Tommy Zoom. He also appeared on the television program-me So You Think You're Royal?, where it was established that through his mother he is a direct descendant of Oliver Cromwell, through his son Henry Cromwell, and also a descendant of Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III of England.

Flynn stars alongside Matthew Macfadyen in four series of Ripper Street for the BBC.

In 2016, he appeared in "Shut Up and Dance", an episode of the anthology series Black Mirror.

In a 2019 interview, Flynn revealed that he'd been cast in Amazon Prime Video's upcoming series adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series in an unannounced role.

Born in Tenafly, New Jersey, U.S.A. on 20th June1975. Adam Rothenberg was born to Gillian and Kenneth Rothenberg. A graduate of New York's Acting studio he has starred in many off-Broadway shows. These include the lead in Second Stage's revival of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (2004), as well as his critically acclaimed role in The Women's Project's Birdy (2003). In a 2008 interview with People Magazine, Rothenberg discussed his work before turning to acting as a garbage man and a fact checker for Mademoiselle. The worst was as a security guard: gruesome 12-hour shifts in front of an elevator. In 2006, Rothenberg played the Scottish storyteller "Chimney Bosch" in the MCC Theater's The Wooden Breeks, directed by Trip Cullman.

David Wilmot is known for Anna Karenina (2012), The Guard (2011) and Intermission (2003).

MyAnna Buring was born 22 September 1979, in Sundsvall, Sweden, as MyAnna Margaretha Buring Rantapää, but grew up in the Middle East. When she turned 16, she moved to Great Britain. She attended secondary school at the American British Academy in Muscat, Oman, and graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2004. She is also the associate director of the MahWaff Theatre Company.

Charlene McKenna was born on 26 March 1984 in Glaslough, County Monaghan, Ireland. She is an actress, known for Raw (2008), Ripper Street (2012) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005). She has been married to Adam Rothenberg since February 2021.

Amanda Hale was born in 1982 in Wales, UK. She is an actress, known for Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Bright Star (2009) and Ripper Street (2012).

Damien Molony is an actor of stage, TV and film, best known for his television roles as Hal in BBC 'Being Human', DC Albert Flight in BBC 'Ripper Street', DS Jack Weston in 'Suspects' and Jon in 'GameFace'. He grew up in Johnstown Bridge in Kildare, Ireland, where he was born on February 21 1984 but now lives in London, UK. From 2003 to 2007 he attended Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained a degree in Business and Political Science and began his acting career in 2007 touring Ireland with the Balally Players in 'Riders to the Sea', for which he was nominated as best actor in the One Act Drama Festival. In 2008 he also appeared with the Kildare Youth Theatre in their production 'A Vampire Story.'

Damien attended Drama Centre London 2008-2011, graduating with a BA in acting. While at drama school he performed in several theatre productions and played the male lead in award winning film short 'When The Hurlburly's Done'.

After being spotted in his drama showcase, he was offered the part of Giovanni in John Ford play ''Tis Pity She's a Whore', which ran 7 - 28 May 2011 at the Yorkshire Playhouse. While appearing in the play, he auditioned for and landed his first leading television role in BBC supernatural drama 'Being Human'. Molony appeared in every episode of series 4 in 2012 and series 5 in 2013 as Hal Yorke, an over 500 year old vampire.

In 2012, Damien played the lead in National Theatre production 'Travelling Light', performing as two characters, Motl Mendl and Nate, in a 5 month tour across the UK and a worldwide cinema broadcast with National Theatre Live.

His stage career has gone from strength to strength ever since, appearing in one high profile theatre production after another, including Jason/Workman/Ray in Ander's Lustgarten's politically charged 'If You Don't Let Us Dream We, Won't Let You Sleep' at The Royal Court Theatre, London, 15 February - 9 March 2013 and as Dan O'Brien and multiple roles alongside William Gaminara in 'The Body Of An American' at the Gate Theatre, London 6 January - 8 February and the Royal & Derngate 27 February - 8 March 2014.

Damien returned to the National Theatre in 2015 when he played Spike in Tom Stoppard play 'The Hard Problem' from 28 January - 17 May 2015. The play was also broadcast live to cinemas across the world by NT Live.

Damien's television slate grew when he joined the cast of Victorian BBC drama 'Ripper Street' in Series 2, as Irish Detective Constable Albert Flight. He appeared in 7 of 8 episodes, airing 4 November - 16 December 2013 on BBC One UK and 22 February - 12 April 2014 on BBC America, US. The drama is set in Whitechapel London, in the period immediately following the Jack the Ripper murders.

Molony then landed the role of Detective Sergeant Jack Weston in Channel 5's innovative crime procedural 'Suspects'. Weston is described as having 'killer instinct', 'easy charm' and 'emotional intelligence'. The drama is shot in a documentary style, using fly-on-the-wall filming techniques and the actors improvise the dialogue based on a detailed plot description. Series 1 comprised five episodes, airing 12 February - 12 March 2014, series 2 comprised four episodes, airing 20 - 28 August 2014, Series 3 comprised four episodes, airing 13 -21 January 2015, series 4 comprised four episodes airing 25 November - 16 December 2015. The fifth series aired 2 - 31 August 2016 on Channel 5 UK, featuring a new cast line up, a development to the show's format and Damien's character Jack Weston central to the story line. All five series of 'Suspects' have also reached US audiences via Acorn TV.

Damien's first appearance on Irish TV came in new drama 'Clean Break', playing Danny Dempsey on Irish channel RTÉ One, Autumn 2015.

In the same year he also filmed a TV pilot for Jenji Kohan period drama 'The Devil You Know' playing Robert Putnam, alongside Eddie Izzard. The story is set in 17th century New England and focuses on the Salem witch trials. The pilot is yet to air.

Molony made his big screen debut playing Ross in dark comedy feature film 'Kill Your Friends' alongside Nicolas Hoult. The film toured the international film festival circuit and had a UK release in 2015.

In January 2016 Damien appeared in a new TV role as Anthony in Phoebe Waller- Bridge penned 'Crashing'. The first series of the quirky comedy sitcom was well received by UK and international audiences when it landed on Netflix across the world later in the year.

His second feature film, the dark thriller 'Tiger Raid', world premiered at Tribeca International Film festival 17 April 2016, with a UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 25 June and a UK release 17 October. Damien plays the character Paddy and appears as co-lead alongside Brian Gleeson and Sofia Boutella.

For the latter half of 2016 Damien made a big return to the stage in Sean Mathias's award-winning, record-breaking production of Harold Pinter play 'No Mans Land' . He appeared as the character Foster, alongside Sir Ian McKellen (Spooner), Sir Patrick Stewart (Hirst) and Owen Teale (Briggs). The play toured the UK (Sheffield Lyceum Theatre 3- 13 August, Newcastle Theatre Royal 15 - 20 August, Brighton Theatre Royal 22 - 27 August, Cardiff New Theatre 29 August - 3 September) before a run at Wyndham's Theatre London 8 September - 17 December . A worldwide live cinema broadcast 15 December saw Damien in his third National Theatre Live performance, with encore screenings continuing in 2017.

'The Current War', a biographical historical film about the 'war of currents' between electrical pioneers Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), world premiered at Toronto International Film Festival September 2017, with Molony appearing as the character Bourke Cockran. After a long delay due to the Weinstein scandal, the film was eventually released worldwide in the second half of 2019.

Damien was also back on stage in September 2017 in 'King Lear' at Chichester Festival Theatre, appearing with Ian McKellen (in the titular role) for the second time.

In his next TV role, Damien starred alongside Roisin Conaty in her new comedy series 'GameFace', airing on UK TV 12 October to 9 November 2017, shortly followed by releases on international VoD platforms in the US, Australia and new Zealand. The show was renewed for a second series in 2018, airing in the UK on Channel 4 from 17 July 2019.

2018 saw Molony in four major BBC Radio productions, as Giovanni in a BBC Radio 3 adaption of John Ford play ''Tis Pity She's A Whore' , as Tristan Frey in BBC Radio 3's production of award winning play 'The Effect' by Lucy Prebble, as Judas in a week long BBC Radio 4 Easter drama 'Judas' by Lucy Gannon and as Hardy Walsh in BBC Radio 4 serial World War 1 drama 'Home Front'.

In October 2018 Damien starred in his first ever web series 'Right Now', Rob Cawsey's new comedy based on Grindr hook-ups.

Also in 2018, Molony joined the cast of new Sky comedy drama 'Brassic', as the character Dylan, alongside Michelle Keegan and Joe Gilgun. The first series of the comedy, co-created and written by Danny Brocklehurst and Gilgun premiered 22 August 2019 in the UK, series 2 was announced on the same day.

In 2019 Damien also starred in two short films; the animated stop motion 'The Fabric Of You', voicing the character Michael, alongside Ian Glenn as Isaac, which premiered at Edinburgh Film Festival, and 'Keep Breathing', inspired by the 'Me Too' movement, alongside Emmeline Hartley. Both films had a worldwide release online in 2021.

The same year Damien was announced as cast in the second series of BBC / Sister legal drama 'The Split' as new character Tyler Donaghue. The series aired in the UK 11 May 2020 on BBC One and 15 May 2020 in The US on SundanceTV.

Also in May 2020 Damien appeared in the second series of 'Brassic' in the UK, with series 3 announced before the premiere. Filming for 'Brassic' 3 was delayed due to the pandemic, and is due for a release in the UK on 6 October 2021, with a longer 8 episode series.

A month later, 'The Split' series 3 was announced as the final series of the legal drama, with Damien confirmed to reprise his role as Tyler Donaghue. Production began in June 2021.

July 2021 brought news of Damien being cast in Channel 4 drama anthology series 'On The Edge', he will appear in the third series in a film called 'Cradled', described as a "gut-wrenching horror".

Claire Elizabeth Foy (born 16 April 1984) is an English actress. She studied acting at the Liverpool John Moores University and the Oxford School of Drama and made her screen debut in the pilot of the supernatural comedy series Being Human, in 2008. Following her professional stage debut at the Royal National Theatre, she played the title role in the BBC One miniseries Little Dorrit (2008), and made her film debut in the American historical fantasy drama Season of the Witch (2011). Following leading roles in the television series The Promise (2011) and Crossbones (2014), Foy received praise for portraying the ill-fated queen Anne Boleyn in the miniseries Wolf Hall (2015).

Foy gained international recognition for portraying the young Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix series The Crown (2016-2017), for which she won a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, among other awards. In 2018, she starred in Steven Soderbergh's psychological thriller Unsane and portrayed Janet Shearon, wife of astronaut Neil Armstrong, in Damien Chazelle's biopic First Man. For the latter, she was nominated for the BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

Foy was born in Stockport. She has said that her mother, Caroline, comes from "a massive Irish family". Her maternal grandparents were from Dublin and Kildare, respectively. She grew up in Manchester and Leeds, the youngest of three children. Her family later moved to Longwick, Buckinghamshire, for her father's job as a salesman for Rank Xerox. Her parents divorced when she was eight.

Foy attended Aylesbury High School, a girls' grammar school, from the age of twelve; she then attended Liverpool John Moores University, studying drama and screen studies. She also trained in a one-year course at the Oxford School of Drama. She graduated in 2007 and moved to Peckham to share a house "with five friends from drama school".

Emma Pierson was born on 30 April 1981 in Plymouth, Devon, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for Guest House Paradiso (1999), Absolutely Anything (2015) and The Last King (2003).

Acting chameleon Sir Tom Courtenay, along with Sir Alan Bates and Albert Finney, became a front-runner in an up-and-coming company of rebel upstarts who created quite a stir in British "kitchen sink" cinema during the early '60s. An undying love for the theatre, however, had Courtenay channeling a different course from the aforementioned greats and he never, by his own choosing, attained comparable cinematic stardom.

The gaunt and glum, fair-haired actor was born Thomas Daniel Courtenay into modest surroundings on February 25, 1937, in Hull, East Yorkshire, England, the son of Thomas Henry Courtenay, a ship painter, and his wife, Anne Eliza (née Quest). Graduating from Kingston High School there, he trained in drama at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. His reputation as an actor grew almost immediately with his professional debut in 1960 as Konstantin in "The Seagull" at the Old Vic. Following tours in Scotland and London with the play, Tom performed in "Henry IV, Part I" and "Twelfth Night" (also at the Old Vic) before assuming the title role of Billy from Albert Finney in the critically acclaimed drama "Billy Liar" at the Cambridge Theatre in 1961. The story, which tells of a Yorkshire man who creates a fantasy world to shield himself from his mundane middle-class woes, was the initial spark in Tom's rise to fame.

The recognition he received landed him squarely into the heap of things as a new wave of "angry young men" were taking over British cinema during the swinging '60s. Singled out for his earlier stage work at RADA, he was eventually handed the title role in the war film Private Potter (1963), but it was his second movie that clinched stardom. Winning the role of Colin Smith in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Courtenay invested everything he had in this bruising portrayal of youthful desolation and rebellion. As a reform school truant whose solitary sentencing for robbing a bakery leads to a reawakening and subsequent recognition as a long distance runner, he was awarded a "Promising Newcomer" award from the British Film Academy, It was Courtenay then, and not Finney, who recreated his stage triumph as Billy Fisher in the stark film version of Billy Liar (1963). British Film Academy nominations came his way for this and for his fourth movie role in King & Country (1964). Vivid contributions to the films King Rat (1965), the ever-popular Doctor Zhivago (1965), which earned him his first Oscar nomination, and The Night of the Generals (1967) followed.

Despite all this cinematic glory, Courtenay did not enjoy the process of movie-making and reverted to his first passion -- the theatre -- beginning in 1966. Displaying his versatility with roles in such classic works as "The Cherry Orchard," "Macbeth" (as Malcolm), "Charley's Aunt," "The Playboy of the Western World," "Hamlet," "She Stoops to Conquer," "Peer Gynt" and "Arms and the Man," he still found scattered work in films, including The Day the Fish Came Out (1967), A Dandy in Aspic (1968) and Otley (1969), but none matched his earlier brilliance. In 1971 he took a self-imposed, decade-long sabbatical from filming.

Forming a sturdy association with the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester that would last over a decade, he continued to impress with lead roles in "The Rivals" and "The Prince of Homburg". Following his huge success as the libidinous Norman in "The Norman Conquests" in London, he made his Broadway debut with "Otherwise Engaged" (1977) and earned a Tony nomination and Drama League Award in the process. It was his second Tony-nominated triumph in "The Dresser" in 1980-1981, however, that lured Courtenay back to films when he was asked to recreate the role for the large screen. The Dresser (1983) co-starred Tom as the mincing personal assistant to an appallingly self-destructive stage star played by Albert Finney (Paul Rogers played the role with Tom on Broadway) who struggles to get the actor through a rigorous performance of "King Lear". Both British actors received Oscar nominations but lost the 1984 "Best Actor" award to American Robert Duvall.

Since then Tom has appeared on occasion in TV and film roles -- usually in support. A few standouts include the films Let Him Have It (1991), Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999), Last Orders (2001) and Nicholas Nickleby (2002), as well as the TV mini-series A Rather English Marriage (1998), for which he earned a British Television Award, Little Dorrit (2008) and the series Unforgotten (2015) for which he won a BAFTA award.

Over the years Sir Tom has excelled in solo stage shows as well. As a chronic alcoholic in "Moscow Stations," he won the 1994 London Critics Circle Theatre and London Evening Standard Theatre awards for "Best Actor." In 2002, he wrote the one-man show "Pretending To Be Me," based on the letters and writings of poet Philip Larkin. In the past decade he has continued to distinguish himself on both the classical ("King Lear," "Uncle Vanya") and contemporary ("Art") stages.

Courtenay's marriage to actress Cheryl Kennedy lasted about a decade (from 1973 to 1982). In 1988 he married Isabel Crossley, a stage manager at the Royal Exchange Theatre in London. He has no children from either marriage. In 1999, Sir Tom Courtenay was awarded an honorary doctorate from Hull University and in 2000 published his memoir "Dear Tom: Letters From Home", which earned strong reviews. Knighthood came a year after that.