- The new year is a time for looking back and reflection and this New York Times article by theatrical critic Matt Wolf was published 13 years ago on New Years Day 1995; the article profiled 5 up-and-coming British actors: Rufus Sewell, Linus Roache, Jeremy Northam, Sam West and…
“Damian Lewis A Novice On the Rise –
Damian Lewis is, at 23, the youngest of the lot and a 1993 graduate of London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Nonetheless, he played an acclaimed Hamlet over the summer in Regent’s Park — and took himself out of consideration for a role in “Carrington” to do it.
London critics have been impressed with what they describe as his “flaming red hair” and “heroic bones.” Before “Hamlet,” he was a dashing Horace in Moliere’s “School for Wives” in London; other stage credits include Romeo and the well-heeled young psychopath in Patrick Hamilton’s “Rope,” both in Birmingham. Jonathan Kent, who directed “The School for Wives,” says, “Damian has a sort of flair and panache rare for a British actor.”
Mr. Lewis has an impressive resume for a Londoner who has been performing professionally for only about a year. And he has already been noticed by Hollywood.
“I’m at that stage when American producers come over to look at a handful of talent,” Mr. Lewis says. He recalls, for example, “being shoved in and out of a room” during a general meeting to consider the casting of “First Knight,” starring Sean Connery, Richard Gere and Julia Ormond; Mr. Lewis was not offered a part.
Doesn’t his red hair make him stand out in the crowd? “I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not,” he says. “Some theater designers look at me and faint. They design the show around my hair.”
That apparently posed no such problem for Mr. Fiennes and Mr. Kent. Last month Mr. Lewis was chosen to play Laertes to Mr. Fiennes’s Hamlet in the much-anticipated Almeida production, directed by Mr. Kent. It opens in London in February and moves to Broadway in April.”
- This recent Remote Access article about Law and Order draws comparisons between the careers of two of the actors discussed in the above article by Matt Wolf, Linus Roache and Damian Lewis – both now starring in US television dramatic programs.
- Click here and here to enjoy examples of Helen McCrory’s voice talent in commercials and narration.