Antony Sher

Sir Antony Sher KBE
Born	(1949-06-14) 14 June 1949 Cape Town, South Africa
Citizenship	British
Alma mater	Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor, writer and theatre director
Years active	1972–present
Organization	Royal National Theatre Royal Shakespeare Company
Notable work(s)	I.D. (2003) Primo (2004)
Home town	Sea Point
Spouse(s)	Gregory Doran (m. 2005)
Parents	Emmanuel and Margery Sher
Relatives	Ronald Harwood (cousin)
Awards	2 Laurence Olivier Awards 1 Screen Actors Guild Award 1 Drama Desk Award 1 Evening Standard Award

Sir Antony Sher, KBE (born 14 June 1949) is a South African-born British actor, writer and theatre director.

Early life

Sher was born into a Lithuanian-Jewish family in Cape Town, South Africa, the son of Emmanuel and Margery Sher, who worked in business. He grew up in the suburb of Sea Point and is a cousin of playwright Ronald Harwood. Sher, however, has worked mainly in the United Kingdom and is now a British citizen.

In 1968, after completing his compulsory military service, he left for London to audition at the Central School of Speech and Drama and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), but was unsuccessful. He instead studied at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art from 1969 to 1971. After training, and some early performances with the theatre group Gay Sweatshop, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982.

Career

In the 1970s, Sher was part of a group of young actors and writers working at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre. Comprising figures such as writers Alan Bleasdale and Willy Russell and fellow actors Trevor Eve, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Pryce and Julie Walters, Sher has summed up the work of the company with the phrase "anarchy ruled".

With the Royal Shakespeare Company, Sher took the title role in Tartuffe and played the Fool in King Lear. His big break arrived in 1984, when he performed the title role in Richard III and won the Laurence Olivier Award. Since then he has played the lead in such productions as Tamburlaine, Cyrano de Bergerac, Stanley and Macbeth. He has also played Johnnie in Athol Fugard's Hello and Goodbye, Iago in Othello, Malvolio in Twelfth Night and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Sher received his second Laurence Olivier Award in 1997 for his performance as the eponymous Stanley Spencer in Stanley.

He also has several film credits to his name, including Yanks (1979), Superman II (1980), Shadey (1985) and Erik the Viking (1989). Sher starred as the Chief Weasel in the 1996 film adaptation of The Wind in the Willows and as Benjamin Disraeli in the 1997 film Mrs Brown.

Sher's television appearances include the mini-series The History Man (1981) and The Jury (2002). In 2003, he played the central character in an adaptation of the J. G. Ballard short story, "The Enormous Space", filmed as Home and broadcast on BBC Four. In Hornblower (1999), he played the role of French royalist Colonel de Moncoutant, Marquis de Muzillac, in the episode "The Frogs and the Lobsters". More recent credits include a cameo in the British comedy film Three and Out (2008) and the role of Akiba in the television play God on Trial (2008).

Other work

Sher's books include the memoirs Woza Shakespeare: Titus Andronicus in South Africa (with Gregory Doran, 1997), Year of the King (1985), Beside Myself (2002), Characters (1990) and Primo Time (2005). His novels are Middlepost (1989), Cheap Lives (1995), The Indoor Boy (1996) and The Feast (1999).

Sher has also written several plays, including I.D. (2003) and Primo (2004). The latter was adapted as a film in 2005. In 2008, The Giant, the first of his plays in which Sher did not feature, was performed at the Hampstead Theatre. The main characters are Michelangelo (at the time of his creation of David), Leonardo da Vinci and Vito, their mutual apprentice.

In 2005, Sher directed Breakfast With Mugabe at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. The production moved to the Soho Theatre in April 2006 and the Duchess Theatre one month later. In 2007, he made a crime documentary for Channel 4, titled Murder Most Foul, about his native South Africa. It examines the double murder of actor Brett Goldin and fashion designer Richard Bloom. In 2011, Sher appeared in the BBC TV series The Shadow Line in the role of Glickman.

Personal life

In 2005, Sher and his partner – director Gregory Doran, with whom he frequently collaborates professionally – became one of the first gay couples to enter into a civil partnership in the UK.

Credits

Theatre

• 1972-74: Various roles at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
• 1974: Ringo Starr in Willy Russell's John Paul George Ringo and Bert at the Everyman Theatre, where it opened in May 1974. Transferred to the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London in August.
• 1982: Mike Leigh's Goosepimples in the West End
• 1982: The Fool in King Lear at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Transferred to the Barbican Centre in 1983.
• 1984: Richard III with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Transferred to the Barbican Centre in 1985.
• 1985: Torch Song Trilogy at the Albery Theatre, London
• 1987: Shylock in The Merchant of Venice with the RSC
• 1987: Henry Irving in Happy Birthday, Sir Larry at the Royal National Theatre, London (Laurence Olivier 80th birthday tribute)
• 1990: Singer with the RSC
• 1991: The Trial and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the National Theatre
• 1994-95: Titus Andronicus at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg. Transferred to the National Theatre and for a UK tour.
• 1997: Stanley at the National Theatre
• 1997: Cyrano de Bergerac at the Lyric Theatre
• 1998-99: The Winter's Tale at the Barbican Centre with the RSC
• 1999: Macbeth at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, with the RSC
• 2000-01: Macbeth and The Winter's Tale with the RSC
• 2002: RSC's Jacobean season transfers to the West End
• 2003: I.D. at the Almeida Theatre, London
• 2004: Primo at the Cottesloe Theatre, Royal National Theatre, London
• 2007: Kean in Kean at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford. Transferred to the Apollo Theatre, London in May.
• 2008: Prospero in The Tempest at the Baxter Theatre, Cape Town; Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon; and on tour in Richmond, Leeds, Bath, Nottingham and Sheffield
• 2010: Tomas Stockmann in An Enemy of the People at the Sheffield Crucible
• 2013: Wilhelm Voigt in The Captain of Köpenick at the Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre, London

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
1976	The Madness	Militia man/Young man in café
1978	ITV Playhouse	Morris
1979	Collision Course	Tasic
	Play for Today	Nathan
	One Fine Day	Mr Alpert
	Yanks	G.I. at cinema
1980	Superman II	Bell Boy
1985	Shadey	Oilver Shadey
1989	Erik the Viking	Loki
1990	Screenplay	David Samuels
1992	The Comic Strip Presents...	Scum editor
1993	Screen Two	Genghis Cohn
1994	Shakespeare: The Animated Tales	Richard III
1995	One Foot in the Grave	Mr Prothrow
	The Young Poisoner's Handbook	Dr Ernest Zeigler
	Look at the State We're In!	The Don
1996	The Wind in the Willows	Chief Weasel
	Indian Summer	Jack
1997	Mrs Brown	Benjamin Disraeli
	The Moonstone	Sergeant Cuff
1998	Shakespeare in Love	Dr Moth
1999	The Winter's Tale	Leontes, King of Sicilia
2000	The Miracle Maker	Ben Azra (voice)
2001	Macbeth	Macbeth
2004	Murphy's Law	Frank Jeremy
	Churchill: The Hollywood Years	Adolf Hitler
2005	A Higher Agency	Chef
	Great Performances	Primo Levi
	Primo	Primo Levi
2008	Three and Out	Maurice
	Masterpiece Contemporary
2010	The Wolfman	Dr Hoenneger

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	The History Man	Howard Kirk	Episodes: "Part 1: October 2nd 1972" "Part 2: October 3nd 1972 (A.M.)" "Part 3: October 3nd 1972 (P.M.)" "Gross Moral Turpitude"
1999	Hornblower: "The Frogs and the Lobsters"	Colonel Moncoutant
2002	The Jury	Gerald Lewis QC
2003	Home	Gerald Ballantyne
2007	The Company	Ezra ben Ezra, the Rabbi
2008	God on Trial	Akiba
2011	The Shadow Line	Peter Glickman	Episodes: "Episode #1.5" "Episode #1.6"

Awards and Nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1985	Laurence Olivier Award	Best Actor	Richard III	Won
	Evening Standard Award	Best Actor		Won
1997	Laurence Olivier Award	Best Actor in a Play	Stanley	Won
1998	Chlotrudis Award	Best Supporting Actor	Indian Summer	Nominated
1998	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Shakespeare in Love	Won
2006	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding One-Person Show	Primo	Won
2008	BAFTA TV Award	Best Actor		Nominated

Honours

• 1998: Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Liverpool
• 1998: Peter Sellers Award for Comedy
• 2000: Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) for services to theatre
• 2007: Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Warwick
• 2010: Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Cape Town

External links

• Antony Sher at the Internet Broadway Database
• Antony Sher at the Internet Movie Database
• Article in The Spectator