Peter Elliott (British actor)

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Peter Elliott (born 1956) is a British actor best known for playing apes and other non-human characters in film and television.

Early life

Elliott grew up in

Method actor at East 15 Acting School.[2] His interests as an early-career performer were in highly physical forms of acting, doing acrobatics, martial arts, and boxing.[3]

Acting career

Elliott's specialization in ape roles began in 1978, when he auditioned for the film

Dino de Laurentiis decided to produce the sequel King Kong Lives in 1986, Elliott came back to the screen under the giant ape's suit created and worn by Rick Baker for the first movie
instead of him.

Elliott went on to be cast in numerous prominent Hollywood ape roles in the 1980s and 1990s, including Simba in Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and the title roles in Missing Link (1988) and Buddy (1997).[4] Film workers and journalists have frequently nicknamed Elliott the industry's "primary primate".[3][1][5]

Movement directing work

Elliott's later career has mixed acting work with jobs as a movement director, movement-based drama teacher, and animal-role choreographer.

Birmingham Stage Company's theatrical adaptations of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (2004) and Michael Morpurgo's Kensuke's Kingdom (2005).[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wroe, Simon (20 November 2008), "Peter Elliott - People say he's monkeying around", Camden New Journal
  2. ^ a b Jahme, Carole (14 October 2010), "How to act like an ape", The Guardian
  3. ^
    Birmingham Live
    , 25 November 2011
  4. ^ a b c d e Liptak, Nick (23 January 2011), "Apeman", The New Yorker
  5. ^ a b Campbell, Christopher (8 August 2011), "Andy Serkis Deserves a Special Achievement Academy Award, and So Does Peter Elliott", IndieWire

External links