| Nigel Lindsay |
|---|
| Born |
Nigel Lindsay
St John's Wood, London, England |
|---|
| Occupation |
Actor |
|---|
| Years active |
1992–present |
|---|
Nigel Lindsay is an English stage and screen actor. He was nominated for Best British Comedy Performance in Film at the 2011 British Comedy Awards[1] for his performance as Barry, the Muslim convert in Chris Morris's BAFTA winning film Four Lions. Additionally, he played the title role in the original West End run of Shrek the Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
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 studied English and French. After university, he worked 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 at the Royal Court Theatre, with Tom Wilkinson as Lear and Andy Serkis as the Fool. At a weekly Monday night poker game organised by the actor Samuel West, Lindsay was asked by Patrick Marber to attend a week's improvisational workshop of a play he was devising about poker. This became Dealer's Choice, which premiered at the National Theatre in February 1995 with Lindsay as Mugsy and Ray Winstone and Phil Daniels among the original cast. The play transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre, and won that year's Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy and Writers' Guild Award for Best Play. Other theatre work includes: 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 Charlie Maggs in Sucker Punch by Roy Williams at the Royal Court in 2010. Lindsay has appeared in five plays at the Almeida Theatre, including as Lenny in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming with Ken Cranham and Danny Dyer in 2009 and as Moe Axelrod alongside Stockard Channing and Jodie Whittaker in Awake and Sing by Clifford Odets, for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the 2008 Whatsonstage Awards.[2]
Lindsay has appeared in many regular series, including: Spooks, Silent Witness, Waking the Dead, Midsomer Murders, New Tricks and Between the Lines. He played Odo Stevens in the 1997 Channel 4 adaptation of A Dance to the Music of Time; Ewan McGregor's boss Ron Baker in the film Rogue Trader; the Jewish terrorist Levi in Rome; Sheriff Johnny Behan in the BBC's Gunfight at the O.K. Corral; Lt Col Mervyn Gonin in the BAFTA nominated The Relief of Belsen with Iain Glen; and opposite Jack Dee in Simon Nye's fairground comedy Tunnel of Love. He has worked with Steve Coogan on Alan Partridge, with Armando Iannucci on the Armando Iannucci Shows, with Jennifer Saunders in two series of Jam and Jerusalem, and again with Chris Morris on Brass Eye.
Lindsay won the 2011 Whatsonstage Award for Best Supporting Actor as Dr Harry Hyman in Arthur Miller's Broken Glass at the Tricycle Theatre.[3] On 27 February 2012, he finished playing the title role in the original West End production of Shrek the Musical, which opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 14 June 2011 and for which he was nominated for 2012 Laurence Olivier and Whatsonstage.com Awards for Best Actor in a Musical.[4][5][6][7][8] Later theatre work includes playing Bolingbroke opposite David Tennant in the RSC production of Richard II at Stratford and the Barbican; and Jack McCracken in the National Theatre revival of the Alan Ayckbourn play A Small Family Business in the Olivier theatre.
Theatre and filmography
Theatre
Television
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1999 | Rogue Trader | Ron Baker | |
| 2001 | Mike Bassett: England Manager | Mirror Journo | |
| 2003 | Blackball | Targitex Chairman | |
| 2005 | On a Clear Day | Sharp Suit | |
| 2006 | Scoop | Strombel's Co-worker | dir by Woody Allen |
| 2010 | Four Lions | Barry | nominated for British Film Comedy Award |
| 2010 | First Night | Martin Mayes | |
| 2012 | The Date | Short Film | |
| 2013 | Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa | Jason Tresswell | |
| 2013 | Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson | Nigel Maitland | |
| 2013 | Royal Shakespeare Company: Richard II | Bolingbroke | Live worldwide cinema screenings |
| 2014 | Captcha | Short Film | |
| 2014 | National Theatre: A Small Family Business | Jack McCracken | Live worldwide cinema screenings |
| 2014 | The Divorce | Short Film | |
| 2015 | Access All Areas | Mack | in production |
Radio
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1995 | Crossing the Equator | Jack | BBC World Service |
| 1997 | People Like Us | Salesman | Episode "The Photographer"" |
| 2001 | Morphic Resonance | Jim | BBC World Service |
| 2002 | Frederick and Augusta | Frederick | BBC Woman's Hour Play |
| 2003 | The House of Milton Jones | Ian | All six episodes Series One |
| 2005 | The Face of the Enemy | Jerome Angust | BBC Book at Bedtime |
| 2006 | Lucky Numbers | Reading | BBC PM |
| 2007 | A Pin to See the Peepshow | Harry | BBC Play for Today |
| 2008 | The Far West | Reading | BBC PM |
| 2009 | Number Ten | Lewis Smiley MP | BBC Radio 4 |
| 2009 | Alex Tripped on my Fairy | Mark | BBC Play for Today |
| 2012 | The Great Animal Orchestra | Reading | BBC Book of the Week |
| 2012 | Two Minute Hate | Barry | BBC Radio 4 Play |
| 2012 | A Canticle for Leibowitz | Book of the Week | BBC Radio 4 Xtra |
| 2012 | On the Map | Reading | BBC4 Book of the Week |
| 2013 | The Reluctant Spy | Duncan Kavanagh | BBC 3 Part Series |
| 2013 | The Stranger's Will | Charlie | BBC Radio 3 Play |
| 2015 | The Hook | Louis | Radio 4 screenplay season written by Arthur Miller |
| 2015 | The Mermaid of Zennor | Jack | Radio 4 |
References
External links