I was born on, February 11th, 1974 in Chester: A small, beautiful, historic city in the north west of England, close to Liverpool, Manchester and Wales. From an early age I knew that I was going to be an actor, after my first role on the stage, in a school production of “Toad of Toad Hall” playing “Ratty”, aged 10. I knew this was to be my path in life, so I immediately embarked on my journey, by writing a letter to the director general of the BBC, asking for a job as an actor. He very kindly replied to my letter, with some well chosen words of advice: Join a local theatre group, audition for drama college, gain a three year vocational training at that drama college, find an agent who will represent you and then you will be considered for work professionally. At the time, for a ten year old, this seemed a long process, but undeterred, I followed his instructions to the letter.
After another school production in 1988, playing “Ebenezer Scrooge” in “A Christmas Carol”, I joined the Clwyd Youth Theater Group in North Wales, where I spent four happy years beginning to understand the craft of acting, through performances at Theater Clwyd in North Wales, and a series of residential acting courses (summer camps for young actors). I was in productions such as: “The Mysteries”, “Guys and Dolls”, “Nicholas Nickleby”, “Moliere”, “A Comedy of Errors” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
My love affair with New York began during the summer of 1992, with a touring production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with a cast of young actors from New York and North Wales. We performed in Central Park and at NYU and then toured stately homes in North Wales. Little did I know, at that time, that I would be drawn back to New York on many more occasions in the future. I had by now completed high school and was working in a bank, and at night, as a stagehand, mainly helping to strike and build sets for productions at Theater Clwyd. I also rehearsed and performed in “A Threepenny Opera” and “Road” for the youth theater at Theater Clwyd.
From October 1992 to May 1993, I auditioned for all the recognized, actor-training courses, in London. I travelled many times, to and from London’s top drama colleges, and began to understand the techniques required in an audition, to get the desired effect. After four auditions for the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, I was accepted on to the three-year acting course. There were over 3000 people applying for 30 places on the course, so I was naturally delighted to be heading to London to do what I loved most.
From September 1993 to July 1996, I trained at the Central School Of Speech and Drama, in Swiss Cottage, London, England. (Alumni – Sir Lawrence Olivier and Dame Judi Dench). I began my professional career, acting in a play at the London New Play Festival, playing the “Queen’s Bodyguard” in a production of “An Audience with the Queen”.
My first television appearance was in an episode of “Soldier Soldier” which aired on British television in spring 1997. I appeared in three of four other television shows and my first television commercial, later that year. In late December 1997, I auditioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company and was hired for a production of Cymbeline, which we toured in the summer of 1998 to Washington DC and New York.
From 1998 to 2002, I enjoyed the most successful period of my acting career so far, being hired for Theater, Film, Television and Commercials on a regular basis. I was a regular in a couple of TV series and a soap opera.
During the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Queen’s Jubilee, in England, in the summer of 2002, I met the most beautiful, inspiring, wonderful woman I have ever had the pleasure of being with, Kimberly Hayles. And in the summer of 2003, I was delighted to announce to my family, that I had asked her to marry me, and she had said “yes”. We then decided to move back to her native country together and agreed upon New York as the perfect place to be married and continue our lives together.
During the summer of 2003 post-production on “Still My Brother” continued in the UK and I began working in New York, acting in the Keen Company’s Drama Desk Award winning Off Broadway show, “The Hasty Heart”. Recent commercial work includes radio commercials for “Geico Insurance”, and on camera spots for “Valley National Bank” and “Burger King”.
On January 31st, 2004 in New York City, in front of our friends and family, Kim and I were married, in truly, the greatest day of my life.
The summer of 2006 saw the premiere of “I Love My Suit” at the International Brooklyn Film Festival. It is a black and white silent film in which I play the lead role and helped to produce and write. It was screened again in Denmark at the Kun Kort film platform in Copenhagen in January 2007.
And now, I am very excited to say that “I Love My Suit”, has been bought by Scandinavian Television, to be aired in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark in 2008.
In April of 2009 “I Love My Suit” won the prestigious REEL 13 film festival on PBS (channel 13) in New York. After a week long online vote, the viewers chose the film as their favorite and it was screened as a double bill on the following Saturday night. I really was exciting to see this funny little epic on television, right after Cary Grant in People Will Talk.
In the summer of 2009, I played the role of an Eastern European Crime Boss in the action/ thriller movie, “The Solid”, shot on location in New York. And I was extremely fortunate to be a part of the 50th anniversary production of “A Taste Of Honey” at the historic Cherry Lane Theater for the Lion’s View Theater Company, playing the role of Peter.
In early 2010, a Heineken Beer commercial (that I shot in the winter of 2007!) was sold worldwide. The advertisement is called “Global Party” and features house parties in Rome, Moscow and London.
Other challenges that I faced in 2009 were, the Ironclad Sprint Triathlon on Long Island (completed in 1h 29m 14s) , the Nautica New York City Triathlon (completed in 2h 36m 51s) and the ING New York City Marathon (completed 4h 26m 30s)…
2010 has so far been a great year, with sprint, olympic and half ironman distance triathlons all finished successfully and the 2010 NYC Marathon is around the corner once again (November 7th 2010). Along with more commercials airing in the US including IBM. And lots of writing and collaboration with up and coming artists, filmakers and theater companies in New York.
Right now, I am based in New York, working as an actor and filmmaker, but I split my time between the United Kingdom and the United States, depending on where the most interesting work lies.
