Curated playlist
English male stage actors
- William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare called himself in "perfect health" in his will, then died within a month.
- Jude LawJude Law dropped out of school at 17 to become an actor. It led to an Oscar nomination for The Talented Mr. Ripley.
- Robin Atkin DownesRobin Atkin Downes voiced Cham Syndulla across three separate Star Wars series.
- Ian McKellenIan McKellen came out as gay on BBC radio in 1988, while Parliament weighed Section 28.
- Lord Chamberlain's MenIn 1598, Shakespeare's acting company took apart its own theater and rebuilt it as the Globe.
- Tom HardyTom Hardy put on 42 pounds to play the English prisoner Charles Bronson. Bronson sent him his shaved-off mustache.
- John GielgudJohn Gielgud was arrested months after being knighted. Backstage in Liverpool, he feared he could not face an audience.
- Peter O'ToolePeter O'Toole asked the Academy to wait when it offered him an honorary Oscar. He hoped to win the award outright.
- Orlando BloomOrlando Bloom was named after Orlando Gibbons, an English composer of the 16th century. He was born in Canterbury, Kent, on the 13th of January 1977. Nothing about that start pointed toward a screen career. Some consider him the Errol…
- Tom HiddlestonTom Hiddleston is a British actor who once played Hamlet in a theatre of just 160 seats, with tickets given out by lottery to raise money for RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The run lasted three weeks in September 2017. Millions…
- Robert PattinsonRobert Pattinson is a British actor whose films have earned more than $4.7 billion worldwide. A teacher once advised him to stay out of his school drama club. He was born in London on the 13th of May 1986 and later ranked among the world's…
- Benedict CumberbatchA play titled Benedict Cumberbatch Must Die was meant as a love letter to his fans.
- Laurence OlivierLaurence Olivier's 1948 film Hamlet was the first non-American film to win Best Picture.
- Andrew GarfieldAndrew Garfield, the English and American actor born on the 20th of August 1983, very nearly never acted at all. He had planned to study business. At 16, a friend talked him into taking theatre studies at A-level, because the class was…
- Daniel Day-LewisDaniel Day-Lewis collapsed sobbing during a 1989 Hamlet, in the scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father appears.
- Daniel CraigIn 2021, the English actor Daniel Craig was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It sits at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard, an address that winks at the code number 007. Two days later his final film as that famous spy opened in the…
- Ralph FiennesRalph Fiennes has played a Nazi camp commandant, a dark wizard, a British spymaster and a flirtatious hotel concierge, and audiences have believed every one of them. Born in 1962, the English actor and director carries the full name Ralph…
- Alan RickmanAlan Rickman almost turned down Die Hard. He took the villain role of Hans Gruber anyway.
- Alec GuinnessAlec Guinness privately called Star Wars "fairy-tale rubbish" in letters to friends.
- Michael FlandersOxford refused Michael Flanders re-entry after polio left him in a wheelchair. He became a stage comedian instead.
- Henry CondellHenry Condell helped prepare the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623.
- Christopher LeeSir Christopher Lee was 91 years and 6 months old when his single "Jingle Hell" entered the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart at number 22. Press attention then pushed it up to number 18, which made him the oldest person to have a top 20…
- Tom HollandTom Holland, the English actor, has led films that together have grossed more than $9.9 billion worldwide, according to The Numbers. That total places him among the highest-grossing film actors of all time. In 2019 he appeared on the…
- Ben KingsleyBen Kingsley turned down an offer to become a pop star in 1966. He auditioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company instead.
- Idris ElbaIdris Elba spent a night locked alone in a cell on Robben Island. He did it to prepare to play Nelson Mandela.
- Patrick StewartPatrick Stewart grew a moustache for Macbeth and saw his father's face in the mirror.
- Andy SerkisDoes an actor in a suit covered in tracking dots deserve an Oscar? Andy Serkis became that debate's living proof.
- Rowan AtkinsonRowan Atkinson played one synthesizer note, over and over, at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The moment came during a performance of "Chariots of Fire". Atkinson appeared as Mr. Bean, and the single note soon…
- Daniel RadcliffeDaniel Radcliffe, an English actor born on the 23rd of July 1989, played Harry Potter in all eight films of the series between 2001 and 2011. When he was around 14 or 15, he and his co-stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were offered the…
- William KempeWilliam Kempe morris danced about 110 miles from London to Norwich. The Elizabethan clown did it in 1600.
- Jonathan BaileyJonathan Bailey was five years old when his grandmother took him to see Oliver! in London, and that single outing settled what he wanted to do with his life. His first ever appearance on a stage came in a primary school production of…
- Gary OldmanGary Oldman needed 200 hours in a makeup chair to become Winston Churchill. The transformation also took 14 pounds of silicone rubber. Then came US$20,000 worth of Cuban cigars, which left the actor with nicotine poisoning. Oldman, an…
- Tim CurryTim Curry titled his memoir Vagabond, and Grand Central Publishing released it on the 14th of October 2025. When a fan asked about the title, the English actor and singer offered two reasons. In the 17th and 18th centuries, he said, actors…
- Richard BurbageRichard Burbage first played Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth, yet most people today have never heard his name.
- John HemingesShakespeare's fellow actor John Heminges was formally a grocer. He also managed the theater and edited the First Folio.
- Robert ArminA goldsmith's apprentice from King's Lynn, Robert Armin, is credited with Shakespeare's Touchstone and Feste.
- Simon CallowSimon Callow's acting career began with a fan letter to Laurence Olivier. Olivier wrote back with a box-office job.