Draft:Ellis Jones (actor)

Ellis Jones
Ellis Jones
Born	Peter Ellis Jones; Petersfield, Hampshire, England, UK
Occupation(s)	director and actor

Ellis Jones is a British director and actor. In recent years he has been involved in training and directing student actors, for sixteen years as a resident director at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) London, and subsequently as a guest director for other leading drama schools in the UK and abroad, including the Royal Central School and the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and as a consultant to the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He became known for his role as the young apprentice Hal Adden, in the 1970s children's comedy series Pardon My Genie. He went on to appear in many other television productions, such as The Squirrels, 1914 All Out, King Lear and Measure for Measure^[1] Having worked extensively in recent years in theatre training, directing and producing, Ellis Jones recently made a cautious return to performing, as understudy to Kenneth Cranham in London's West End and on tour in Florian Zeller's award-winning play "The Father".

Career

Jones was born in Petersfield, Hampshire, and spent his early years in Cardiff before moving to Hull, where he went to a co-ed grammar school, Kingston High. After graduating from the Drama Department of Manchester University, he worked as an actor, director and writer in theatre, radio and television, and was awarded an Arts Council Associate Director's Bursary in 1984. He has directed at many British regional theatres^{[citation needed]}, and from 1990 to 1993 was Artistic Director of the Century Theatre, Keswick, the precursor of the Theatre by the Lake.

He joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art as Head of Acting in 1993, was the Academy’s Vice Principal from 1998 to 2003, and Creative Director of RADA Enterprises from 2003 to 2009. In 2003 he created a programme of classic plays featuring RADA graduates on board the Cunard ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2 which is still a popular feature of transatlantic crossings. Since leaving RADA Enterprises Ellis Jones has been involved in a range of free-lance projects. He is Lecturer in London Theatre for the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and during 2010-11 was consultant Director of Acting Programmes for Tisch Asia, Singapore. He is also a guest director at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, China,where he directed the first-ever Chinese-language version of an Alan Ayckbourn play, "Taking Steps". In the autumn of 2012 he directed Rodney Ackland's "Absolute Hell" with final-year students at the Royal Central School, London. Since completing the run of "The Father" Ellis directed "Miss Wilson"s Waterloo" (co-written with Martin Wimbush) at the Finborough Theatre London, and subsequently at the Théâtre Le Colombier in south-west France.Current and recent projects include a new training programme for graduates in arts management at the University of Beijing (PKU), and a range of theatre-based projects for ship-board passengers on ocean voyages across the world. He updates his projects and adventures at http://teachyourselfacting.com/category/blog/ There is a pictorial summary of Ellis's acting career at http://familiar-unknown.blogspot.com/2015/01/ellis-jones.html

Acting summary

THEATRE	Role
An Inspector Calls	The Inspector
Abigail’s Party	Laurence
A Midsummer Night’s Dream	Quince
Toad of Toad Hall	Mole
Richard the Third	Clarence
The Country Wife	Sparkish

[1]

TELEVISION & FILM	Role	Director	TV
Cadfael: A Morbid Taste for Bones	Father Ianto	Richard Stroud	ITV
1914 All Out	Dr Napley	David Green	ITV
Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space	Technician	Derek Martinus	BBC
Love Story: Wilfred and Eileen	Bennett	David Green	BBC
Measure for Measure	Elbow	Desmond Davis	BBC
The Squirrels	Burke	Shaun O’Riordan	ITV
King Lear	The Fool	Tony Davenall	ITV
Pardon My Genie	Hal	Daphne Shadwell	ITV

[2]

References

^ "Pardon My Genie".

External links

[1] "Pardon My Genie".

[1]