Alex Jennings
Alex Jennings | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alexander Michael Jennings 10 May 1957 The Lady in the Van (2015) (2024)The Crown (2016–2017) Victoria (2016–2019) A Very English Scandal (2018) Mr Bates vs The Post Office |
| Spouse | Lesley Moors (m. 2012) |
| Children | 2 |
Alexander Michael Jennings (born 10 May 1957) is an English actor of the stage and screen, who worked extensively with the
He is known for his film work, in particular for his performance as
Jennings won acclaim for his performances in television including for his portrayal of Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, in the Netflix series The Crown acting opposite Claire Foy.[4] He also starred in the ITV series Victoria (2016–2019) opposite Jenna Coleman, as well as Stephen Frears' A Very English Scandal (2018) alongside Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw, and most recently Steve McQueen's Small Axe: Mangrove (2020) starring Letitia Wright.
Early life
Jennings was born in
He trained as an actor for two years at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.[6]
Career
1980s
In the early 1980s, Jennings began his career in regional repertory theatre. In 1985, playing a range of roles including
Jennings' work in television includes appearances in
1990s
His Royal Shakespeare Company roles include the title role in Peer Gynt (for which he won an Olivier Award 1995-06 for Best Actor), the title role in Richard II (opposite Anton Lesser as Henry Bolingbroke), Theseus/Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream (UK, American tour and Broadway),[7] Angelo in Measure for Measure, and the title role in Hamlet.[8]
He also appeared in
2000s
In 2002, he appeared in the
In 2006, Jennings' made his breakthrough film role as
In 2007, he played the role of Garry Essendine in Noël Coward's Present Laughter at the NT.[1] Also in 2007, he portrayed the Rev. Hutton in the BBC miniseries Cranford starring Judi Dench. He also played John Le Mesurier in the one-off BBC drama Hancock and Joan. In 2009, he appeared in The Habit of Art as Benjamin Britten.
In June 2008, he made his debut in the Operetta at the ENO in Robert Carsen's production of Bernstein's Candide, in which he played Voltaire and Doctor Pangloss.
He has recorded the audio versions of the books:
2010s
In 2010, he played Captain Shipshape in the CBeebies second series of
From 2011 to 2014, Jennings played Alan Cowdrey QC in the BBC One legal drama
Jennings portrayed playwright
In 2016, he reprised his role as Professor Henry Higgins in the Australian 60th anniversary production of My Fair Lady, directed by Julie Andrews.[13] On television, from 2016 to 2017, he appeared in the Netflix series The Crown alongside Claire Foy and Jared Harris, as Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, uncle to Queen Elizabeth and great-uncle to Prince Charles (whom Jennings played in The Queen). The series has received widespread acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Jennings also portrayed King Leopold I of Belgium in the ITV/PBS series Victoria (2016–2019) alongside Jenna Coleman.
In 2018, he played Liberal MP
In 2019, he played Andrew Aldridge, a Conservative MP, in the American TV miniseries Four Weddings and a Funeral.[16]
2020s
In 2020, Jennings appeared in the
Work
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | War Requiem | Blinded Soldier | |
| 1996 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Theseus/Oberon | |
| 1997 | The Wings of the Dove | Lord Mark | |
| 2002 | The Four Feathers | Colonel Hamilton | |
| 2004 | Five Children and It | Father | |
| 2004 | Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason |
Horatio | |
| 2006 | Babel | Ken Clifford | |
| 2006 | The Queen | Prince Charles |
|
| 2008 | The Disappeared | Adrian Ballan | |
| 2010 | Words of the Blitz | George Orwell | |
| 2013 | Trap for Cinderella | Chance | |
| 2013 | Belle | Lord Ashford | |
| 2014 | Castles in the Sky | Henry Tizard | |
| 2015 | The Lady in the Van | Alan Bennett | |
| 2016 | Denial | Sir Charles Gray | |
| 2021 | Munich – The Edge of War | Sir Horace Wilson | |
| 2021 | Operation Mincemeat | John Masterman | |
| 2022 | Your Christmas or Mine? | Humphrey Hughes | |
| 2023 | Your Christmas or Mine 2 | Humphrey Hughes |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Smiley's People | P.C. Hall | "Episode No. 1.1" |
| 1986 | Kit Curran | PC Woods | Episode: "A Sick Society" |
| 1988 | The Franchise Affair | Nevil Bennet | 6 episodes |
| 1989 | The Return of Shelley |
Jeremy | Episode: "The Gospel According to Shelley" |
| 1990 | Inspector Morse | Victor Preece | Episode: "The Sins of the Fathers" |
| 1990 | Alfonso Bonzo | Alfonso Bonzo | 6 episodes |
| 1991 | Ashenden | John Ashenden | 4 episodes |
| 1991 | Bye Bye Columbus | King Ferdinand | Television movie |
| 1992 | Screenplay |
Byron | Episode: "Dread Poets' Society" |
| 1993 | Alleyn Mysteries |
Sebastian Parish | Episode: "Death at the Bar" |
| 1994 | Hard Times | Bitzer | Episode: "Episode No. 1.1" |
| 1997 | Liberty! The American Revolution | King George III | 6 episodes |
| 1999 | The Hunley | Lt. Alexander | Television movie |
| 2000 | Too Much Sun | Julian Edgbaston-Bowles | 6 episodes |
| 2001 | Bad Blood | Joe Harker | Television movie |
| 2002 | Great Britons |
Churchill | Voice; Episode: "Sir Winston Churchill" |
| 2004 | London | Stephen Spender | Television movie |
| 2005 | A Very Social Secretary | Alastair Campbell | Television movie |
| 2005 | Riot at the Rite | Sergei Diaghilev | Television movie |
| 2005 | Agatha Christie's Poirot | Dr Roberts | Episode: "Cards on the Table" |
| 2006 | Spooks | James Allan | Episode: "Episode No. 5.4" |
| 2006 | The State Within | James Sinclair | 6 episodes |
| 2007 | Waking the Dead | James Andrews | 2 episodes |
| 2008 | 10 Days to War | Vincent | Episode: "Failure Is Not an Option" |
| 2008 | Fairy Tales | Roger Bateman | Episode: "Rapunzel" |
| 2008 | Hancock & Joan |
John Le Mesurier | Television movie |
| 2008 | The 39 Steps | Captain Kell | Television movie, BBC |
| 2009 | The Last Days of Lehman Brothers | Timothy Geithner | Television movie |
| 2009 | Agatha Christie's Marple | Inspector Curry | Episode: "They Do It with Mirrors" |
| 2007–2009 | Cranford | Reverend Hutton | 7 episodes |
| 2009–2010 | Whitechapel | Commander Anderson | 5 episodes |
| 2010 | Masterpiece Classic | Captain Kell | Episode: "The 39 Steps" |
| 2010 | Grandpa in My Pocket | Captain Shipshape | Episode: "Captain Shipshape and a Fish Called Bryan" |
| 2010 | On Expenses | Andrew Walker | Television movie |
| 2012 | Being Human | Griffin | Episode: "Eve of the War" |
| 2012 | Lewis | Rev Conor Hawes | Episode: "The Soul of Genius" |
| 2012 | New Tricks | Prof. Blake | Episode: "Body of Evidence" |
| 2011–2014 | Silk | Alan Cowdrey, QC | 13 episodes |
| 2012 | We'll Take Manhattan | John Parsons | Television movie |
| 2013 | The Lady Vanishes | The Professor | Television movie |
| 2015 | Churchill's Secret | Anthony Eden | Television movie, PBS |
| 2015 | Foyle's War | Clive Ord-Smith | Episode: "Trespass" |
| 2016–2019 | Victoria | King Leopold I | 9 episodes |
| 2016–2017, 2022 | The Crown | Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor | Main role ( Season 5 )
|
| 2017 | The Halcyon | Lord Hamilton | Episode: #1.1 |
| 2018 | A Very English Scandal | Peter Bessell | 3 episodes |
| 2018 | Unforgotten | Tim Finch | 6 episodes |
| 2019 | Four Weddings and a Funeral | Andrew Aldridge | Miniseries, Hulu |
| 2019 | Gold Digger | Ted Day | 6 episodes |
| 2020 | Small Axe | Judge Clarke | Episode: "Mangrove" |
| 2022 | This Is Going to Hurt | Nigel Lockhart | 7 episodes[18] |
| 2022 | The Undeclared War | David Neal | 5 episodes |
| 2023 | Unforgotten | season 3 | |
| 2024 | Mr Bates vs The Post Office | James Arbuthnot | 4 episodes |
| TBA | A Very Royal Scandal | Sir Edward Young
|
In production[19] |
Theatre
Filmed Theatrical Events
- 1999: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as Butler
- 2010: National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art as Henry / Benjamin Britten
- 2011: National Theatre Live: Collaborators as Mikhail Bulgakov
- 2013: National Theatre Live: 50 Years on Stage as Henry Higgins
- 2019: National Theatre Live: Hansard as Robin Hesketh
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Olivier Award |
Best Comedy Performance |
Too Clever by Half |
Won | [2] |
| 1996 | Best Actor |
Peer Gynt | Won | ||
| 2003 | Best Actor in a Musical |
My Fair Lady | Won | ||
| 2019 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Unforgotten | Nominated |
References
- ^ a b c d e Costa, Maddy (19 September 2007). "'I wanted to be Fred Astaire'". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- ^ a b c "Alex Jennings takes on Willy Wonka role". BBC News. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- The Stage. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- ^ Lawson, Richard (7 December 2017). "The Crown Season 2 Review: A Stately Soap Opera We Just Can't Resist". Vanity Fair.
- ^ Rosenthal, Daniel (2 October 2013). "National Histories: Nancy Carroll and Alex Jennings". Royal National Theatre. Archived from the original on 8 November 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- ^ a b Evans, Lloyd (21 June 2014). "Alex Jennings interview: the new Willy Wonka on Roald Dahl's 'child killer'". The Spectator. Retrieved 31 October 2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b "Who's Who in the Cast: Who's Who – Alex Jennings; A Midsummer Night's Dream – Opening Night: March 31, 1996". Playbill. 31 March 1996. Retrieved 31 October 2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Jennings, Alex (22 October 2011). "5 days in the life of ... Alex Jennings". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- ^ "Radio and audio book companies", in Lloyd Trott, ed., Actors and Performers Yearbook 2016, pp. 353–354
- ^ Mitford, Oliver (17 February 2014). "Alex Jennings to take over from Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka". Best of Theatre. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
- ^ "BBC One – Silk – Alan Cowdrey". BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 7 January 2020.
- ^ Telegraph Film (27 May 2015). "The Lady in the Van: Maggie Smith as you've never seen her". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- ^ "Alex Jennings is Henry Higgins in 'My Fair Lady'". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 19 August 2016.
- ^ Mangan, Lucy (20 May 2018). "A Very English Scandal review: funny and confident – like Jeremy Thorpe". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
- ^ "A Very English Scandal: Miniseries". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
- ^ "Four Weddings and a Funeral". IMDb.
- ^ "Small Axe: Mangrove". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
- ^ Kanter, Jake (24 June 2021). "'This Is Going To Hurt': Harriet Walter, Alex Jennings Join BBC/AMC Series; First Look At Lead Ben Whishaw". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ^ Otterson, Joe (20 November 2023). "Michael Sheen, Ruth Wilson to Star in 'A Very Royal Scandal' Amazon Series Based on Prince Andrew Interview With Emily Maitlis". Variety. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
- ^ "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- ^ Lukowski, Andrzej (4 September 2019). "'Hansard' review". Time Out. London.
External links
- Alex Jennings at IMDb
- Alex Jennings at the Internet Broadway Database
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