Paul Nicholls (actor)

This article is about the English actor. For other people of the same name, see Paul Nicholls (disambiguation).

Paul Nicholls
Born	Paul Greenhalgh 12 April 1979 (1979-04-12) Bolton, Greater Manchester, England
Television	Joe Wicks (Eastenders) Terry Sydenham (City Central) Terry (Clapham Junction)

Paul Nicholls (born Paul Greenhalgh on 12 April 1979) is an English actor.

Career in TV

Nicholls made his TV debut in 1989, at the age of 10, in Children's Ward. In 1994 he appeared in the BBC children's drama Earthfasts and The Biz, a teenage performing arts drama filmed at Hampton Court. However, it was his character of Joe Wicks in BBC's long-running soap series EastEnders which earned him national attention. He made his first appearance in the series in February 1996 and soon attracted a large fanbase of female teenage viewers, reportedly receiving more mail than all other cast members combined. In 1997 the BBC initiated a fan club to which mail could be directed; membership reached 3500 with newsletters and photo packs provided to subscribers.

Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was being widely featured in numerous posters, pin-ups, and teen/television/pop culture magazines including Attitude, BIG!, Bliss, Gay Times, Heat, Just Seventeen, Live & Kicking, MIZZ, My Guy, Now, OK, Radio Times, Shout, Sky International, Sky magazine, Smash Hits, Sneak, Sugar, TV Hits, TV Times, and What's on TV. Nicholls won the BBC's "Top Man" award (Live and Kicking) and Inside Soap's "Most Fanciable Male" award (1997), won a 1996 Smash Hits award for 'Best TV Actor' and was nominated as 'Most Fanciable Male' in the same Smash Hits awards party in 1996. He was also nominated as "Most Popular Actor" in the UK's National Television Awards (1997). Although he was offered a lucrative long-term Eastenders contract by the BBC and was reportedly the highest-paid teen actor in the United Kingdom at the time, he did not wish to be typecast and left the series in September 1997. Subsequently, the BBC created a role for him as PC Terry Sydenham in the police series City Central which he played from 1998 to 1999, when the character was killed off in a murder storyline.

In 1999, he portrayed Christ in the 3-part BBC contemporary Easter production of The Passion, and in 2008 he portrayed Judas in another BBC Easter series of the same title, for which he grew a full beard. Later television appearances included acting alongside Julie Walters in the 2003 BBC adaptations of The Canterbury Tales (The Wife of Bath), as notorious art thief Adam Rice in the final episode in series 3 of Hustle, as romantic young idealist Gary Scant in the lead role of the 2004 6-part BBC miniseries A Thing Called Love, and as boy band singer Connor Gruff in the Billy Goat episode of the BBC series Fairy Tales (2007). In July 2007, he played the part of Terry in Channel 4's Clapham Junction. This drama depicted 36 hours in the life of several gay men and was amongst several programmes commemorating the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexual practices in England & Wales. He appeared as the character Robert Fielding in Harley Street alongside Suranne Jones in July and August 2008; as Harry Keegan in Secret Diary of a Call Girl alongside Billie Piper; and was recently cast as DS Sam Casey in ITV1 detective series Law & Order UK, replacing Jamie Bamber.

He is currently filming Holby City and his character will be onscreen from May 2012. It is unknown how long he will feature in the medical drama for, but it has been confirmed that he will only be a temporary addition to the cast.

Film

Nicholls' film appearances include World War I drama The Trench (1999), Trevor Bentham's 1999 adaptation of the 1776 romantic comedy play The Clandestine Marriage for which he grew very long hair, Nick Love's Goodbye Charlie Bright (2001), If Only (2004) and a cameo role in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004). He appeared briefly as a street boxer in Nick Love's 1999 short film Love Story. In 2010, he starred in UK feature film Life Just Is, due for release in 2011 (playing 'Bobby' who is in a relationship with 'Jay', played by Jayne Wisener).

Stage

Nicholls appeared in several teenage stage roles, notably as Aladdin in Aladdin - Genie of the Ring at the Central Theatre, Chatham (1996/97) and as Billy Fisher in the 1998 production of Billy Liar at the Bush Theatre, London. His West End debut was in 2000 as Edmund Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's adaptation of Long Day's Journey Into Night at the Lyric. Other London stage appearances include Mrs Steinberg and the Byker Boy at the Bush Theatre (2000), Vincent in Brixton at the Royal National Theatre (2002) and a return to the Lyric in Festen in 2005. He was due to play a leading role in the Donmar Warehouse's 2006 production of Phaedra, but withdrew with a severe throat condition.

Personal life

Nicholls is from Bolton, Greater Manchester, and is the son of Paul and Julie Greenhalgh. He attended Church Road County Primary School and Smithills Secondary School in Bolton, where he achieved seven GCSE passes including an 'A' in Drama. His early acting experience included roles at the Little Theatre, Bolton and he also attended the prestigious Sylvia Young acting school in London for a period.

His teenage sporting and other physical activities included skateboarding, surfing, swimming, basketball and football. He was an accomplished teenage kickboxer and has more recently taken up regular boxing and skydiving. He is a supporter of Bolton Wanderers and played in TV celebrity football matches as a teenager.

On 2 August 2008, Nicholls married his girlfriend of three years, model Chantal Brown, in a ceremony near their home in Hampstead, North London.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1999	The Trench	Pte. Billy Macfarlane
	The Clandestine Marriage	Richard Lovewell
2000	Self Help	Greene	Short Film
2001	Goodbye Charlie Bright	Charlie Bright
2002	High Speed	Ruben	Also known as The Ride and Joy-Rider
2004	If Only	Ian Wyndham
	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Jed
2008	Daylight Robbery	Chubby
	Faintheart	Gary
2011	Life Just Is	Bobby

TV

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1994	Earthfasts	David	Series regular
1995	The Biz	Tim Marshall	Series regular
1996	Out of the Blue	Matt Pearson	1 episode: 2.1
1996–1997	EastEnders	Joe Wicks	Series regular
1998–1999	City Central	PC Terry Sydenham	Series regular
1999	Love Story	Seth
	The Passion	Daniel
2001	Table 12	Ol	1 episode: "Settling Up"
2003	The Canterbury Tales	Jerome	1 episode: "The Wife of Bath"
	Blue Dove	Nick Weston	8 part series
2004	Gunpowder, Treason & Plot	Lord Darnley
	A Thing Called Love	Gary Scant	6 part series
	The Bill	PC Andy Jones	20 Episodes
2006	Hustle	Adam Rice	1 episode: "Law and Corruption"
2007	Agatha Christie's Marple	Ted Latimer	1 episode: "Towards Zero"
	Clapham Junction	Terry	TV Film
2008	Fairy Tales	Connor Gruff	1 episode: "Billy Goat"
	The Passion	Judas	4 part series
	Bonekickers	James	1 episode: "Army of God"
	Harley Street	Dr. Robert Fielding	6 part series
2011	Secret Diary Of A Call Girl	Harry	3 episodes
	Candy Cabs	Tony	3 part series
2011–present	Law & Order UK	DS Sam Casey	Series Regular
2012	Midsomer Murders	Dave Foxely	1 episode: "The Rare Bird"
2012	Holby City	Simon Marshall	Temporary regular

External links

• Paul Nicholls at the Internet Movie Database