Neil Jackson

English actor Neil Jackson.

Movie Still: The Passage.

File:Neil Jackson actor, Alexander Premiere.jpg

Alexander Premiere.

Neil Jackson (born March 5, 1976 in Luton, England) is an English actor and writer who has appeared in several television series and films, but is probably best-known for his role on Blade: The Series. Height: 6' 1" (1,84 m).

Biography

Early life

Neil was born the second of four sons to Eve and Dennis Jackson, at home, in Luton, Bedfordshire. At the age of seven the family moved to a neighboring village, Barton Le-Clay, where they lived until Neil left for University aged eighteen. Neil was always an adventurous child, participating in many school sports. He competed for both his school and county in rugby, swimming and tennis.

Neil was introduced to acting when he studied Drama at GCSE level in Harlington Upper School. His teacher, Nigel Williams, saw Neil's potential, placing him in several of the school plays including Annie, Little Shop of Horrors, Hard Times, and West Side Story. Neil also acted in National Youth Theatre as a teenager before moving to Cardiff to study sport at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC).

Here Neil started competitve boxing after learning of the British Univeristies Boxing Championships, an inter-university competition held throughout the whole of Britain. Neil entered and won the gold at light-middle weight. He went on to successfully defend his title two years later at middle weight. Neil's boxing earnt him a scholarship to stay on at UWIC and study for his Masters degree, graduating in 1998. Neil then left Cardiff for London in pursuit of an acting career.

Career

Unsure of how to now get into acting, Neil wrote a musical and entered it into a National competition for new writers. It came third and gained attention from producers in London including Michael Armstrong. Neil later enrolled in Michael Armstrong's Acting Academy, graduating 2001.

Neil's first professional acting job was a UK National touring production of Strindberg's classic "Miss Julie", in which Neil understudied the lead character, Jean. A role he took over in the West End production later that year.

Neil's big break came when Oliver Stone cast him as Perdiccas in Alexander. Neil recalls having a black eye and three stitches in his eyebrow when he first met Oliver Stone. A fact Neil jokes must have assisted him as Stone cast him on the spot for the movie.

Filmography

Trivia

Neil Jackson is a former amateur boxing champion and was a personal trainer before he began acting.
Neil has two university degrees - a BA Hons and and MSc. Both in Sports Science.
Neil worked as a doorman to pay his way through university.
Neil has written two unpublished novels.
Neil wrote The Passage, starring himself and Stephen Dorff, after his experiences in Morocco shooting Alexander.
Neil has two other scripts he has written in current development.

External links

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