| Christopher Eccleston |
Article Index for Christopher |
Website Links For Christopher |
Information AboutChristopher Eccleston |
Christopher Eccleston (born 16 February 1964 ) is an English Stage , Television and Film Actor . He is well-known for his roles in several high-profile films, and in 2005 became the Ninth Incarnation of The Doctor in '' Doctor Who ''. BIOGRAPHY Early life Eccleston was born in Little Hulton , near Salford , Lancashire and raised in a Working Class family. He considered himself to have been a "poor student" with a love of television and an ambition to play football for his beloved Manchester United . However, at the age of 19, he found himself to be a much better actor than footballer, and was inspired by television dramas such as '' Boys From The Blackstuff ''. Eccleston trained at the Central School Of Speech And Drama . As an actor, his early influences had been Ken Loach 's Kes and Albert Finney 's performance in '' Saturday Night And Sunday Morning '', but he soon found himself performing the classics, including the works of Shakespeare , Chekhov and Molière . At age 25, Eccleston made his professional stage debut in the Bristol Old Vic's production of '' A Streetcar Named Desire ''. Underemployed as an actor for some years after graduating school, Eccleston took a variety of odd jobs at a supermarket, on building sites, and as an artist's model. Career: 1991-2005 Eccleston first came to public attention as Derek Bentley in the 1991 film '' Let Him Have It '', based on true events. However, it was a regular role in the television series '' Cracker '' (1993–94) — culminating in his character's dramatic death in the second series — that made him a recognizable figure in the UK. He appeared in the low-budget Danny Boyle 1994 film '' Shallow Grave '', in which he co-starred up-and-coming actor Ewan McGregor . The same year, he won the part of Nicky Hutchinson in the epic BBC drama serial '' Our Friends In The North '', whose broadcast on BBC Two in 1996 helped make him a household name in the UK. Eccleston would share the screen in the show with Daniel Craig , the sixth and current actor to play James Bond in the movie franchise. His film career has since taken off with a variety of high-profile but not — except in one or two cases — major roles, including parts in '' Jude '' (1996) (where he shared a scene with David Tennant , his successor as the Doctor in '' Doctor Who ''), '' Elizabeth '' (1998), '' EXistenZ '' (1999), '' Gone In Sixty Seconds '' (2000), '' The Others '' (2001), '' 24 Hour Party People '' (2002) and another Danny Boyle film, the horror movie '' 28 Days Later '' (2002). He played a major role as the protagonist of Alex Cox 's 2002 '' Revengers Tragedy '', adapted from Thomas Middleton 's Play of the same name. He has starred alongside two major Hollywood actresses in smaller independent films, playing opposite Renée Zellweger in '' A Price Above Rubies '' (1998) and Cameron Diaz in '' The Invisible Circus '' (2001). Despite starring in the car-heist movie ''Gone in 60 Seconds'', he did not actually take his driving test until January 2004 and is only licenced to drive automatic transmission cars. He has appeared in a variety of television roles, racking up credits in British television dramas of recent years. These have included ''Hearts and Minds'' (1995) for Channel 4, '' Clocking Off '' (2000) and ''Flesh and Blood'' (2002) for the BBC and '' Hillsborough '' (1996), a modern version of '' Othello '' (2002), playing 'Ben Jago', (the Iago character) and the religious telefantasy epic '' The Second Coming '' (2003) for ITV , in which he played Steve Baxter, the son of God. He also finds time for the occasional light-hearted role, however, as his guest appearances in episodes of the comedy drama '' Linda Green '' (2001) and macabre sketch show '' The League Of Gentlemen '' (2002) have shown. On stage, his highest-profile production has been his starring role in '' Hamlet '' at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in 2002. The West Yorkshire Playhouse is a favorite venue of his, and he most recently returned there in the new play ''Electricity'', which ran in March and April 2004. Eccleston has been twice nominated in the Best Actor category at the British Academy Television Awards , the UK's premier television awards ceremony. His first nomination came in 1997 for '' Our Friends In The North '', when he lost out to Nigel Hawthorne (for ''The Fragile Heart''), and he was nominated again in 2004 for '' The Second Coming '', this time being beaten by Bill Nighy (for '' State Of Play ''). He did, however, triumph in the Best Actor categories at the 1997 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards and the Royal Television Society Awards, winning for ''Our Friends in the North''. He won the RTS Best Actor award for a second time in 2003, this time for his performance in ''Flesh and Blood''. In 2005 he received the Most Popular Actor award in the National Television Awards for '' Doctor Who ''. In July 2004 a poll of industry experts, conducted by '' Radio Times '' magazine, voted Eccleston the 19th Most Powerful Person in Television Drama. ''Doctor Who'' (2005) in '' Doctor Who '']] On 20 March 2004 , it was announced that Eccleston was to play the Ninth Incarnation of The Doctor in the revival of the legendary BBC Science Fiction Television series '' Doctor Who '', which started airing in March 2005. The series Executive Producer and Writer Russell T. Davies has said that Eccleston was always the first choice for the part. Despite this, the British Tabloid Press ran reports that Bill Nighy had been offered the role first, but declined (and in the 2005 documentary series '' Doctor Who Confidential '', Davies said that he "wouldn't have thought Chris {Link without Title} would be interested"). Eccleston was the first actor to play the Doctor on television in nine years (since Paul McGann in 1996) and the first actor to play him in an ongoing series in 16 years (since Sylvester McCoy in 1989). He was also the first actor to play the Doctor who was actually born ''after'' the beginning of the original television series. (He was born two weeks after the famous First Dalek Story was first broadcast in the UK). The new ''Doctor Who'' series premiered on 26 March 2005 , receiving considerable praise for its opening story and special effects. Given the high ratings which the first episode had enjoyed (over 10 million), the BBC immediately announced that ''Doctor Who'' would be commissioned for another series and a Christmas special. However, on 30 March 2005 , the BBC released a statement, ostensibly from Eccleston, saying that he had decided to leave the role after just one season, owing to fears of becoming Typecast . On 4 April, the BBC revealed that Eccleston's "statement" was falsely attributed and released without his consent. The BBC admitted that they had broken an agreement made in January not to disclose publicly that he only intended to do one season. The statement had been made after journalists made queries to the press office.1 Eccleston's three-month tenure makes him either the shortest or second-shortest serving Doctor to date, depending on how one counts Paul McGann 's Eighth Doctor . (McGann appeared once, but was not "replaced" for nine years on screen, as no '' Doctor Who '' series was made at that time. Eccleston appeared in the role thirteen times, but his successor, David Tennant , appeared at the end of Eccleston's final episode, " The Parting Of The Ways ".) On 2005 Alan Davies told '' The Daily Telegraph '' that Eccleston had been "overworked" by the BBC, and had left the role because he was "exhausted".2 Ten days later, Eccleston told '' The Daily Mirror '' this was not true, and expressed some irritation at Davies for his comments.3 Eccleston was voted "Most Popular Actor" at the 2005 , 2005 After the Doctor In June 2005, it was announced at the 2005 In December 2005, Eccleston traveled to Indonesia 's Aceh province for the BBC Breakfast news programme, examining how survivors of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami were rebuilding their lives.4 On 20 December 2005 , it was announced that Eccleston would lead the cast as playwright, poet and spy Christopher Marlowe in Peter Whelan ’s '' The School Of Night ''. Directed by Bill Alexander, ''The School of Night'' was due to preview from 16 February 2006 , but on January 6 the production was cancelled without a full explanation. In May 2006, Eccleston appeared as the narrator in a production of '' Romeo And Juliet '' at The Lowry theatre in his home city of Salford. The theatre company with which he performed, Celebrity Pig (of which he is patron), is made up of Learning Disabled actors. Late in 2006 he starred in ''Perfect Parents'', an ITV drama written and directed by Ahearne.5 In May 2006 it was reported that Eccleston was in advanced negotiations to star in a Sky One revival of the seminal 1960s drama series '' The Prisoner '', as Number Six , the character originally played by series creator Patrick McGoohan . Eccleston's agent has since categorically denied these rumours.6 In August 2006, Eccleston starred in '' New Orleans, Mon Amour '' with Elisabeth Moss . The film was directed by Michael Almereyda , and shot in post- Hurricane Katrina New Orleans . Eccleston joined the cast of the NBC TV series '' Heroes '', in the episode '' Godsend '' which aired on 22 January 2007 . Eccleston plays a character named Claude who can become Invisible , and helps Peter Petrelli with his powers.7 Eccleston will also appear as "The Rider" in a film adaptation of Susan Cooper's novel The Dark Is Rising which opens in the U.S. on October 5, 2007. Personal life Eccleston is a life long supporter of , 2005 Eccleston does a lot of charity work and became a Mencap charity ambassador on 28 April 2005 . Mencap newsletter, pdf His height is 187cm, or 6'2". He is unmarried but recently ended a relationship with the actress , though was raised by a devoutly Church -going mother.http://www.celebatheists.com/index.php?title=Christopher_Eccleston Eccleston is a keen marathon runner and usually enters a number of competitions each year. ''Guardian'' article January 15 2000 He appeared on BBC's '' Top Gear '' on which it was revealed that he only has a licence to drive Automatic cars. BBC ''Top Gear'' site FILMOGRAPHY ''.]] TELEVISION RADIO AND NARRATION
THEATRE
FILM & TELEVISION: AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|