John Sackville (actor)

Last updated

John Sackville is an English actor, best known for his role as the villainous Robert Frobisher Smythe in the British-American TV series House of Anubis , in which he co-starred with Alexandra Shipp [1] He has worked in theatre, film and television.

Contents

Career

Sackville was born in Norfolk. He was educated at Wells Cathedral School in Somerset and St Andrews University. Afterwards, he trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

On stage he has performed with the National Theatre, the RSC and in the West End. While at the RSC, performing in Michael Attenborough's critically acclaimed Othello with Ray Fearon and Richard McCabe [2] and Volpone , with Guy Henry, he produced, directed and featured in a short film, The Mosquito, The Flea, The Fly, funded by The Other Place.

In 1998 he played the lead role of Kevin in the British premiere of Party at the Arts Theatre. [3] In 2005 he performed as a double-act with Russ Abbot, playing the title role in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime . [4] In 2006 he played William Roper alongside Martin Shaw in A Man for All Seasons at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Both shows were produced by Bill Kenwright. In 2008 he starred as Pope John Paul II in BBC1's Young John Paul II: Witness to Evil. [5]

In 2011, Sackville starred alongside Carla Juri in the feature film Fossil, shot on location in the Dordogne. [6] In 2012 he appeared as Dr David Wilcox in the BBC's The Secret of Crickley Hall , opposite Olivia Cooke. In 2012-13 he played lead regular Robert Frobisher Smythe in the series House of Anubis . In 2014 he played the Reverend John Clarke opposite Anne Archer in The Trial of Jane Fonda in London and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. [7] In the same year Sackville co-starred with Mischa Barton in the film The Hoarder, set in New York. In 2015 he was cast in the new Netflix series The Crown , playing alongside John Lithgow and Jeremy Northam, and as George VI in the BBC's Royal Wives at War opposite Gina McKee.

In 2016 he played the role of Simon Beauclerk in James Gray's The Lost City of Z , working with Charlie Hunnam and Robert Pattinson. He also began filming Season Two of The Crown , working opposite Anton Lesser. In 2017 he was cast as R Davis Halliwell in the new 20th Century Fox series Genius and as the title role in William Wordsworth for English Touring Theatre. [8] He also took the lead role of Julian Anson - "elegantly played by John Sackville" as reviewed by The Guardian's Michael Billington [9] - in a rare revival of N.C. Hunter's A Day by the Sea at Southwark Playhouse.

In 2018 he was cast in the role of Douglas Eden in Joe Hill-Gibbins' production of Absolute Hell at the National Theatre. [10] He was then cast as Robin Day in Misbehaviour , directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, playing opposite Keira Knightley. [11] In 2019 he played Henry VI in the Headlong adaptation of Shakespeare's play Richard III , [12] directed by John Haidar, followed by the role of Thomas Armstrong in Go Bang Your Tambourine at the Finborough Theatre, for which he won Best Male Performance in a Supporting Role in a Play at the Off West End Theatre Awards 2020. [13] He was also nominated for Best European Actor at Amsterdam's New Vision International Film Festival for his role as Harry in Into the Mirror [14] In 2020 he worked with Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor on Steven Knight's film Locked Down , directed by Doug Liman. In 2021 he played Charlie Dyer in the first London revival of Staircase , a part originally performed by Paul Scofield in 1966, in one of the first dramas to explore same-sex relationships at a time when they remained illegal. In 2022 he directed his adaptation of T.S.Eliot's The Waste Land at the Jermyn Street Theatre. [15] He also worked with director Mike Barker, playing Hugh Butterworth in 20th Television's pilot for The Bends [16] In 2023 he played opposite Linda Bassett in Call the Midwife and Russell Tovey in Paul Andrew Williams's Suspect for Disney+

He lives in London.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peggy Ashcroft</span> English actress (1907–1991)

Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft, known professionally as Peggy Ashcroft, was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jermyn Street Theatre</span> Theatre in London, England

Jermyn Street Theatre is a performance venue situated on Jermyn Street, in London's West End. It is an Off West End studio theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forbes Masson</span> Scottish actor and writer (born 1963)

Forbes (Robertson) Masson is a Scottish actor and writer. He is an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his roles in classical theatre, musicals, comedies, and appearances in London's West End. He is also known for his comedy partnership with Alan Cumming. Masson and Cumming wrote The High Life, a Scottish situation comedy in which they play the lead characters, Steve McCracken and Sebastian Flight. Characters McCracken and Flight were heavily based on Victor and Barry, famous Scottish comedy alter-egos of Masson and Cumming. Masson also stars in the 2021 film The Road Dance, set on the Isle of Lewis as the Reverend MacIver.

Orlando Wells is an English actor and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Burke (actor)</span> English actor

Tom Burke is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Athos in the 2014–2016 BBC TV series The Musketeers, Dolokhov in the 2016 BBC literary-adaptation miniseries War & Peace, the eponymous character Cormoran Strike in the BBC series Strike and Orson Welles in the 2020 film Mank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Campbell Moore</span> British actor (born 1979)

Stephen Campbell Moore is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys and the film based on it. Since 2019, he has starred in the sci-fi television series War of the Worlds.

The White Carnation is a 1953 play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff. Its premiere production had a cast led by Ralph Richardson, but it was not revived until a 2013 Finborough Theatre production featuring Aden Gillett and Benjamin Whitrow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rupert Goold</span> English theatre director

Rupert Goold is an English director who works primarily in theatre. He is the artistic director of the Almeida Theatre, and was the artistic director of Headlong Theatre Company (2005–2013).

Jack Laskey is an English actor best known for his theatre work and his role as DS Jakes in the ITV drama series Endeavour. He is the third son of Michael Laskey, a poet. Laskey trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

Richard McCabe is a Scottish actor who has specialised in classical theatre. He is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

Chris New is an English film and stage actor best known for his starring role in the 2011 film Weekend. New made his screen writing and directorial debut in 2013 with the short film Ticking. He co-wrote the 2014 independent film Chicken, and co-wrote and directed the 2014 independent film A Smallholding.

Alex Waldmann is an English actor from London. He is married to director Amelia Sears.

<i>House of Anubis</i> Nickelodeon television series

House of Anubis is a mystery television series developed for Nickelodeon based on the Dutch–Belgian television series Het Huis Anubis. The series was created by Hans Bourlon and Gert Verhulst and premiered on Nickelodeon on 1 January 2011 in the United States and on 25 February 2011 in the United Kingdom. The series is the first series from the network to be filmed outside the United States and the first telenovela-format series for the network. The show aired from 1 January 2011 to 17 June 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Gaumond</span> Canadian/British actor

Alex Gaumond is a Canadian actor, singer, songwriter and filmmaker best known for his involvement in West End theatre. He plays series regular gendarme Caron, the chief of police in Sainte Victoire, in the Channel 5 television series The Madame Blanc Mysteries, starring Sally Lindsay.

Simon Godwin is an English theatre director based in Washington, DC, where he is currently serving as artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Previously he was based in London, serving as associate director of London's National Theatre, associate director of the Royal Court Theatre and associate director at Bristol Old Vic.

Natalie Abrahami is a British theatre, film and opera director. She was Associate Director and Genesis Fellow at the Young Vic in London 2013-16 and Associate Artist at Hull Truck Theatre. From 2007–12 she was joint Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre with Carrie Cracknell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Bhattacharjee</span> English actor

Gautam Paul Bhattacharjee was a British actor who worked on stage, film and television.

Pippa Nixon is an English actress. She trained at Manchester School of Theatre.

Claire Benedict is a British actress known for her work in classical productions on the British stage, but best known for portraying the principal character Mma Ramotswe in the continuing radio adaptations of The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. She won a Time Out Award for Best Performance for her portrayal of Sophia Adams in Errol John's Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, directed by Maya Angelou. She lives in Todmorden in the Pennines.

Emily Barber is an English stage, television and film actress having had roles in Endeavour and The Royals (2018), Call The Midwife and Backdraft 2 (2019), The Alienist (2020), and Bridgerton in 2022.

References

  1. "House of Surprise". IMDb. 21 March 2013.
  2. "Great performances in a thrilling production". The Daily Telegraph . 10 January 2000. Archived from the original on 27 February 2016.
  3. Dominic Cavendish (22 September 1998). "The Independent recommends: Theatre" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  4. "Lord Arthur Savile's Crime (tour) Review". What's On Stage. 28 February 2005. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  5. "Young John Paul II - Witness to Evil". BBC. 12 April 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  6. "DVD Review of Fossil". Cine Vue. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  7. "Edinburgh Festival 2014: The Trial of Jane Fonda, Assembly Rooms, review: 'laboured'". The Daily Telegraph . 5 August 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  8. "William Wordsworth – A new play by Nicholas Pierpan". 27 February 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  9. "It's theatre, but not as we know it, review: 'Michael Billington compares two plays written 64 years apart'". Country Life . 18 October 2017.
  10. "Absolute Hell | Royal National Theatre". 10 October 2017.
  11. "Misbehaviour". IMDb. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  12. https://www.headlong.co.uk/productions/richard-iii/people.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. "Off West End Theatre Awards 2020: the winners in full". 9 March 2020.
  14. "International NVIFF Nominees". 4 August 2019.
  15. "1922: The Waste Land by T.S Eliot | Jermyn Street Theatre".
  16. "The Bends". IMDb. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2022.