Nigel Lindsay
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Nigel Lindsay is an English actor. As well as many roles in TV and in film, most notably as Barry, the Muslim convert in Chris Morris's feature debut Four Lions (2010), he has worked extensively in theatre, playing Mugsy opposite Ray Winstone and Phil Daniels in the original 1995 National Theatre production of Patrick Marber’s Dealer's Choice; Max in The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard which won three Tonys on Broadway in 2000; Ariel in the 2004 Olivier award winning National Theatre production of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, with Jim Broadbent and David Tennant; Nathan Detroit in Michael Grandage’s Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre in 2005, and Lenny in Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming with Ken Cranham and Danny Dyer at the Almeida Theatre in 2009.
Early life and education
Lindsay was born in St. John’s Wood in London. He attended Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood and the University of Birmingham, where he read English and French. After university he worked in the City for three years as a financial analyst specialising in French and Belgian equities at stockbrokers Savory Milln and Swiss Bank SBC. After performing in a friend’s charity production of Robert Bolt’s The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew, he gave up the City to take a two year course at the Webber Douglas Academy, where he won the Amherst Webber scholarship. His finals show, Charley’s Aunt, was directed by Michael Fry, who gave him his first professional job with his Lincolnshire touring company Great Eastern Stage.
Career
Lindsay's early work was mainly in theatre. One of his first London stage roles saw him play the King of France in King Lear, Max Stafford-Clark’s last production as artistic director at the Royal Court, with Tom Wilkinson as Lear and Andy Serkis as the Fool. At a weekly Monday night poker game organised by the actor Sam West, Lindsay was asked by Patrick Marber to attend a week’s workshop of a play he was devising about poker. This became Dealer's Choice, which premiered at the Cottesloe Theatre in Feb 1995, transferred to the Vaudeville, and won that year’s Evening Standard award for Best Comedy. Other theatre work includes leading roles at the Donmar, the Royal Court and five plays at the Almeida, including Awake and Sing with Stockard Channing and Jodie Whittaker, for which he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor in the What's on Stage Theatregoers' Choice Awards in 2008. He was last seen in the West End at the Duke of York’s Theatre opposite Francesca Annis in the David Eldridge play Under the Blue Sky.
Nigel has had a wide ranging career in film and television. From guest leads in regular series such as Spooks, Silent Witness, Waking the Dead, Midsomer Murders, New Tricks and Between the Lines, to playing Ewan McGregor’s boss Ron Baker in Rogue Trader; the Jewish terrorist Levi in Rome; Sherrif Johnny Behan in the BBC’s Gunfight at the OK Corral; Lt Col Mervyn Gonin in the BAFTA nominated Relief of Belsen with Iain Glen and Jemma Redgrave; and opposite Jack Dee in Simon Nye’s fairground comedy Tunnel of Love. Comedy has been a mainstay of Lindsay's career. He has worked with some of the UK’s best loved comedy stars, including Steve Coogan on I’m Alan Partridge, Armando Iannucci on the Armando Iannucci Shows, Jennifer Saunders as Marcus in two series of Jam and Jerusalem, and again with Chris Morris on Brass Eye.