Christopher Eccleston

Christopher Eccleston
Born	16 February 1964 (1964-02-16) Salford, Lancashire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990–present

Christopher Eccleston (/ˈɛkəlstən/; born 16 February 1964) is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. In 2005, he became the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the British television series Doctor Who and in 2007 was the main villain in The Seeker.

Early life

Born into a working class family in the Langworthy area of Pendleton, in Salford. Eccleston is the youngest of three boys born to Elsie and Ronnie Eccleston. His brothers, Alan and Keith, are twins eight years his senior, born in 1956. The family lived in a small terraced house in Blodwell Street until the late 1960s, when they moved to nearby Little Hulton. Eccleston attended Joseph Eastham's High School, Little Hulton, where he became head boy^{[citation needed]} At the age of 19, he was inspired by television dramas such as Boys from the Blackstuff to enter the acting profession. Eccleston completed a two-year Performance Foundation Course at Salford Tech, before going on to train at the Hampstead-based 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 the age of 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 and an episode of Inspector Morse, "Second Time Around", also in 1991. However, it was a regular role in the television series Cracker (1993–94) that made him a recognisable figure in the UK, and after informing TV bosses of his desire to leave the series, his character was killed off in October 1994 as one the victims of serial killer Albie Kinsella (Robert Carlyle), when the killer stabbed him to death after provoking him by molesting his wife in a supermarket.

At around the same time he appeared in Agatha Christie's Poirot, in the episode "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe".

He appeared in the low-budget Danny Boyle 1994 film Shallow Grave, in which he co-starred with 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 starred in an ensemble cast that included acclaimed actors Mark Strong and Gina McKee as well as Daniel Craig.

In 1996, he took the part of Trevor Hicks - a man who lose both of his daughters in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster - in the television drama film Hillsborough, penned by Jimmy McGovern. In real life, he was the best man to Trevor Hicks at his wedding to his second wife in March 2009.

His film career has since taken off with a variety of high-profile but not — except in one or two cases — major roles, including the title role in Jude (1996), Elizabeth (1998), eXistenZ (1999), Gone in 60 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, appearing 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 revealed on BBC's Top Gear that his licence restricts him to vehicles with automatic transmission.

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. Eccleston's most high-profile stage role has been Hamlet in the 2002 production at his favourite theatre, Leeds' West Yorkshire Playhouse. March–April 2004 saw him return to the venue in a new play, Electricity.

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 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)

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 began transmission on 26 March 2005. Eccleston was the first actor to play the role who was born after the series began, albeit by less than three months.

On 30 March 2005, the BBC released a statement, ostensibly from Eccleston, saying that he had decided to leave the role after just one series, because he feared 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 series. The statement had been made after journalists made queries to the press office.

On 11 June 2005, during a BBC radio interview, when asked if he had enjoyed working on Doctor Who, Eccleston responded by saying, "Mixed, but that's a long story." Eccleston's reasons for leaving the role continue to be debated in Britain's newspapers: on 4 October 2005 Alan Davies told The Daily Telegraph that Eccleston had been "overworked" by the BBC, and had left the role because he was "exhausted". Ten days later, Eccleston told The Daily Mirror this was not true, and expressed some irritation at Davies for his comments. In a 2011 interview, Eccleston revealed that he left the show because he "didn't enjoy the environment and the culture that [they], the cast and crew, had to work in", but that he was proud of having played the role.

On 7 November 2008, at the National Theatre to promote his book The Writer's Tale, Russell T Davies said that Eccleston's contract was for a single year because it was uncertain whether the show would continue beyond a single revival series. In retrospect, he says, it has been an enormous success, but at the time there were doubts within the BBC.

Eccleston was voted "Most Popular Actor" at the 2005 National Television Awards for his portrayal of the Doctor.

Recent works (2005 onwards)

On 30 October 2005, Eccleston appeared on stage at the Old Vic theatre and Doctor Who in London in the one-night play Night Sky alongside Navin Chowdhry, Bruno Langley, David Warner, Saffron Burrows and David Baddiel. Eccleston sat on the 2nd Amazonas International Film Festival Film Jury in November 2005. The director Norman Jewison was chairman of the Jury.

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.

In March 2006, Eccleston appeared in the ITV documentary special, Best Ever Muppet Moments as a commentator. In May 2006, he 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.

In August 2006, Eccleston filmed New Orleans, Mon Amour with Elisabeth Moss. The film was directed by Michael Almereyda and shot in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. It was released in 2008 to film festivals in the US and Italy. Late in 2006 he starred in Perfect Parents, an ITV drama written and directed by Joe Ahearne, who had directed him in Doctor Who.

Eccleston joined the cast of the NBC TV series Heroes in the episode "Godsend", which was broadcast on 22 January 2007. Eccleston played a character named Claude who has the power of invisibility, and helps Peter Petrelli with his powers.

Eccleston appeared as The Rider in a film adaptation of Susan Cooper's novel The Dark Is Rising, which opened in the U.S. on 5 October 2007.

Eccleston appeared on the BBC Four World Cinema Award show in February 2008, arguing the merits of five international hits such as The Lives of Others and Pan's Labyrinth with Jonathan Ross and Archie Panjabi. In 2009 Eccleston starred opposite Archie Panjabi in a short film The Happiness Salesman. Eccleston agreed to do the film because of Ms Panjabi and the fact that it was a winner of the prestigious British Short Screenplay Competition (BSSC). He also appeared as the villainous Destro in the live-action G.I. Joe film: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Eccleston also appeared in an episode of The Sarah Silverman Program as the titular cult favourite science fiction hero in a show-within-the-show called "Dr. Laser Rage", possibly in reference to his stint as The Doctor in Doctor Who.

In November 2009, Eccleston was reported to have been cast as John Lennon in a BBC production called Lennon Naked. This BBC Four production aired in the UK on Wednesday 23 June 2010, with Eccleston playing the title role.

In November 2010, Eccleston starred in the first episode of BBC One anthology drama Accused written by Cracker creator Jimmy McGovern. He subsequently won an International Emmy Award for his role.

In May 2011, Eccleston starred as Joseph Bede in The Shadow Line, a seven-part television drama serial for BBC Two, alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor and Stephen Rea.

On Boxing Day 2011, Eccleston played the role of Pod Clock, father of the Clock family in an adaptation of Mary Norton's children's novel The Borrowers for BBC One.

Eccleston will star in BBC One political thriller The Fuse, scheduled to screen in Spring 2012.

Personal life

Eccleston identifies as an atheist. He described his mother as "very religious, a churchgoer. She would often encourage me to go to church as well, but never forced it upon me, which I thought was quite decent of her."

Eccleston was in a relationship with actress Siwan Morris until it ended in 2005.

He is a lifelong supporter of Manchester United, and a regular marathon runner, usually entering a number of races each year. In September 2007, as part of their £9.5m build scheme, Salford's Pendleton College named their new 260-seat theatre 'The Eccleston Theatre' after him.

Eccleston is an avid charity worker and became a Mencap charity ambassador on 28 April 2005. He is also a celebrity supporter of the British Red Cross.

Credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Let Him Have It	Derek Bentley
1992	Death and the Compass	Alonso Zunz
1993	Anchoress	Priest
1994	Shallow Grave	David
1996	Jude	Jude Fawley	Appeared alongside David Tennant, who succeeded Eccleston in Doctor Who
1998	Elizabeth	Duke of Norfolk
	A Price Above Rubies	Sender Horowitz
1999	Heart	Gary Ellis
	eXistenZ	Seminar Leader
	With or Without You	Vincent Boyd
2000	Gone in 60 Seconds	Raymond Calitri
2001	The Others	Charles Stewart
	The Invisible Circus	Wolf
2002	24 Hour Party People	Boethius
	I Am Dina	Leo Zukowskij
	Revengers Tragedy	Vindici
	28 Days Later	Major Henry West
2007	The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising	The Rider
2008	New Orleans, Mon Amour	Dr. Jekyll
2009	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	James McCullen/Destro
	Amelia	Fred Noonan
	The Happiness Salesman	Salesman	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Blood Rights	Dick
	Casualty	Stephen Hills
1991	Inspector Morse	Terrence Mitchell
	Chancer	Radio
	Boon	Mark
1992	Rachel's Dream	Man in Dream
	Poirot (One, Two, Buckle My Shoe)	Frank Carter
	Friday on my Mind	Sean Maddox
	Business with Friends	Angel Morris
1993	Cracker	DCI David Bilborough
1995	Hearts and Minds	Drew Mackenzie
1996	Our Friends in the North	Nicky Hutchinson
	Hillsborough	Trevor Hicks
1999	"Killing Time – The Millennium Poem"	Millennium Man
2000	The Tyre	Salesman
	Wilderness Men	Alexander Von Humboldt
	Clocking Off	Jim Calvert
2001	This Little Piggy	Cabbie
	Strumpet	Stray Man
	Linda Green	Tom Sherry/Neil Sherry
2002	The League of Gentlemen	Dougal Siepp	Series 3, Episode 6: "How the Elephant Got Its Trunk"
	Flesh and Blood	Joe Broughton
	Othello	Ben Jago
	Sunday	General Ford
	The King and Us	Anthony
2003	I Am Kloot – "Proof"	Music video for band
	The Second Coming	Stephen Baxter
2005	Doctor Who	The Doctor	Series 1
2006	Perfect Parents	Stuart
2007	Heroes	Claude
2008	The Sarah Silverman Program	Dr. Lazer Rage
2009	The Happiness Salesman	The Salesman
2010	Lennon Naked	John Lennon
	I Am Kloot: "Northern Skies"		Music video
	Accused	Willy Houlihan
2011	The Shadow Line	Joseph Bede
2011	The Bomb Squad	Narrator
2011	The Borrowers	Pod Clock

Radio and narration

• Room of Leaves (Frank) (1998)
• Pig Paradise (Jack) (1998)
• Some Fantastic Place (Narrator) (2001)
• Bayeux Tapestry (Harold) (2001)
• The Importance of Being Morrissey (Narrator) (2002)
• Iliad (Achilles) (2002)
• Cromwell – Warts and All (Narrator) (2003)
• Life Half Spent (Roger) (2004)
• Crossing the Dark Sea (Squaddie) (2005)
• Sacred Nation (Narrator) (2005)
• Born to be Different (Narrator) (2005)
• A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Brian) (2005)
• E=mc² (Narrator) (2005)
• Dubai Dreams (Narrator) (2005)
• Wanted: New Mum and Dad (Narrator) (2005)
• Children in Need (Narrator) (2005)
• This Sceptred Isle (Various Characters) (2005)
• The 1970s: That Was The Decade That was (Narrator) (2006)
• The Devil's Christmas (Narrator) (2008)
• Wounded (Narrator) (2009)

Theatre

• A Streetcar Named Desire (Pablo Gonzallez) (1988) – Bristol Old Vic
• Woyzeck (Woyzeck) – Birmingham Rep
• The Wonder – Gate Theatre
• Doña Rosita the Spinster – Bristol Old Vic
• Bent (1990) – National Theatre
• Abingdon Square (1990) – National Theatre/Shared Experience
• Aide-Memoire (1990) – Royal Court Theatre
• Encounters – National Theatre Studio
• Waiting At The Water's Edge (Will) (1993) – Bush Theatre
• Miss Julie (Jean) (2000) – Haymarket Theatre
• Hamlet (Hamlet) (2002) – West Yorkshire Playhouse
• Electricity (Jakey) (2004) – West Yorkshire Playhouse
• A Doll's House (Neil Kelman) (2009) – Donmar Warehouse

Awards

Film & television: awards and nominations

• 1997 – Nominated Golden Satellite Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for Jude
• 1997 – Won Broadcasting Press Guild Award Best Actor for Our Friends in the North
• 1997 – Nominated BAFTA Television Award Best Actor for Our Friends in the North
• 2003 – Won Royal Television Society Award Best Actor for Flesh and Blood
• 2004 – Nominated BAFTA Television Award Best Actor for The Second Coming
• 2005 – Won TV Quick and TV Choice Award Best Actor for Doctor Who
• 2005 – Won National Television Awards Most Popular Actor for Doctor Who
• 2005 – Nominated Broadcasting Press Guild Award Best Actor for Doctor Who
• 2006 – Nominated BAFTA Cymru Best Actor Award for Doctor Who
• 2007 – Nominated twice SyFy Genre Awards Best Special Guest/Television for 'Claude' in Heroes
• 2011 – Won International Emmy Award Best Actor for Accused

External links

• Christopher Eccleston at the Internet Movie Database
• Christopher Eccleston at AllRovi
• Christopher Eccleston at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• The Guardian Unlimited Interview – Home Truths (15 January 2000)
• The Independent Interview – You've got to laugh (2 November 2002)
• BBC Drama Faces: Christopher Eccleston