Oliver Chris
Oliver Chris | |
|---|---|
| Born | Oliver Graham Chris 2 November 1978 |
| Years active | 2000–present |
Oliver Graham Chris (born 2 November 1978 in Tonbridge, Kent) is an English actor.
Early life
He passed his Eleven plus exam and attended Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys before moving to the Michael Hall Steiner School in his fourth year. He later attended the Central School of Speech and Drama. In 2005 he completed an evening class at Birkbeck College and was subsequently accepted for a degree course in history, politics and philosophy.[1]
Career
He has appeared in several comedy series, including The Office, Green Wing, According to Bex, Nathan Barley, The IT Crowd and Rescue Me. He appeared as the character Boyce in both the first and second series of Green Wing.[2]
In 2004, he re-wrote the lyrics to the Beatles' "Let It Be" to a song about the England football player Wayne Rooney and recorded it in collaboration with the actor Stephen Campbell Moore and a number of other actors and journalists. The song was reprised and re-recorded, with rewritten lyrics, for the 2006 Fifa World Cup and became a hit on YouTube, with 200,000 hits.
He has also orated most of the "Alex Rider" series of audiobooks by Anthony Horowitz, although Dan Stevens replaced him as reader for Snakehead, Crocodile Tears and Scorpia Rising.
In early 2006 he played the role of Captain Leonard in Sharpe's Challenge, starring Sean Bean, while 2007 has seen him in the TV comedy Bonkers, written by Sally Wainwright as well as a drunken Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew at the Wilton's Music Hall.[3][4] In 2006 he also appeared as Christian in "Cyrano de Bergerac" at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. He later appeared in Peter Hall's production of The Portrait of a Lady. He then made his West End debut in late 2008 in Lisa Kron's comedy, Well.[5] In 2010 he appeared alongside Judi Dench in Hall's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.[6]
He was also cast in Ben Miller's feature-length debut comedy film, Huge, which premiered in June 2010.[7] 2011 has seen him appear in two episodes of Silent Witness, whilst also playing one of the leading roles in the National Theatre production of One Man, Two Guvnors alongside James Corden. He also appeared in three series of the BBC Three Comedy Bluestone 42 as Captain Nick Medhurst, first broadcast on 5 March 2013 on BBC Three. The comedy is about a British bomb disposal detachment in Afghanistan. He also played Dr Richard Truscott in the ITV medical drama series Breathless, set in the 1960s, which ran from October 2013.
From 2014 to 2016 he played Prince William in the play King Charles III, appearing in the West End and on Broadway.
Personal life
Chris dated fellow actor Rachael Stirling from 2007 to 2012.[8]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Lorna Doone | Charley Doone | TV film |
| 2001 | The Office | Ricky Howard | 6 episodes |
| 2002 | The Gathering | Brett | |
| Rescue Me | Luke Chatwin | Series regular | |
| The Real Jane Austen | Tom Lefroy | ||
| 2003 | The Other Boleyn Girl | Henry Percy | TV film |
| Casualty | Tim Lasky | 1 episode: "The Point of No Return" | |
| Sweet Medicine | Geoff | Episode 1.8 | |
| Frankenstein: Birth of a Monster | Percy Bysshe Shelley | TV film | |
| 2004 | Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason | Director in Gallery | |
| 2004–2006 | Green Wing | Boyce | 18 episodes |
| 2005 | Nathan Barley | Max Herbert | Series regular |
| According to Bex | Ryan | ||
| 2006 | The IT Crowd | Daniel Carey | 1 episode: 'Fifty-Fifty' |
| Sharpe's Challenge | Leonard | TV film | |
| Tripping Over | Sam | 4 episodes | |
| Corpse | Kevin Brown | Short film | |
| 2007 | Bonkers | Marcus Lewis | Series regular |
| Phineas and Ferb | Mr. Macabre (voice) | "Terrifying Tri-State Trilogy of Terror" | |
| 2008 | Fairy Tales | Vukoosin Ergovich | TV mini-series, 1 episode: 'Rapunzel' |
| Hotel Babylon | David Duncan | Episode 3.1 | |
| 2009 | FM | Matt Kyle | 1 episode: 'Blinded by the Light' |
| 2010 | Huge | Darren | Post-production |
| 2011 | Silent Witness | Dr. James Sabiston | 2 episodes |
| One Man, Two Guvnors | Stanley Stubbers | ||
| 2013 | Bluestone 42 | Captain Nick Medhurst, ATO | Series regular |
| Breathless | Dr. Richard Truscott | ||
| 2015 | The Scandalous Lady W | Viscount Deerhurst | TV film |
References
- ^ Jonathan Sale (10 November 2005). "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Oliver Chris, actor". The Independent. Archived from the original on 20 June 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Perry, Harriet (20 July 2008). "My hols: Oliver Chris". The Times. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Entertainment.timesOnline.co.uk
- ^ Wiltons.org.uk Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Close-up: Oliver Chris The Independent. 28 December 2008
- ^ A Midsummer Night's Dream Theatre Mania. 16 February 2010
- ^ Ben Miller is Huge at EIFF Edinburgh International Film Festival. 16 June 2010
- ^ Oliver Chris on Hating Earnest Actors, Loving Judi Dench & How One Man, Two Guvnors Saved Him, Broadway.com, retrieved 5 July 2012
External links
- Oliver Chris at IMDb
- Use dmy dates from June 2013
- 1978 births
- Living people
- English male television actors
- English male film actors
- English male stage actors
- Alumni of the Central School of Speech and Drama
- Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London
- 21st-century English male actors
- People from Royal Tunbridge Wells
- People educated at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys
- Male actors from Kent
- Waldorf school alumni