Alexander Hanson (actor)

Last updated

Alexander Hanson
Born
Alexander Harald St John Hanson

(1961-04-28) 28 April 1961 (age 62)
Oslo, Norway
Other namesAlexander Harald St John Hanson-Akins
OccupationActor
Spouse
(m. 1989)
Children2

Alexander Harald St John Hanson-Akins (born 28 April 1961) is a Norwegian-English stage actor who has appeared in numerous plays and musicals in the West End, and also on Broadway.

Contents

Personal life

Alexander Harald St John Hanson was born in Oslo, Norway. His mother, Ellen, was half-French, half-Norwegian, and his father was English. After his parents' divorce, his mother remarried George Akins, a Nottingham businessman. He initially prepared for a career in hotels and catering, but then decided on a career in acting, and entered drama school. [1] Hanson is an alumnus of Guildhall School of Music and Drama. [2] [1]

Hanson has been married since 1989 to actress Samantha Bond, [3] and has two children with her, Molly and Tom. [4] [5]

Career

Hanson appeared in the West End production of An Ideal Husband in November 2010, opposite his wife Samantha Bond. [6] He starred in the West End production of A Little Night Music , and also appeared in the transfer of that production to Broadway in 2009–2010. [7]

Hanson starred in the high-profile West End revival of The Sound of Music in 2006 as Captain Georg Von Trapp. He was brought in to replace Simon Shepherd, who bowed out of the show during previews. [2] Hanson originated the role of Khashoggi in London's We Will Rock You , leaving the production after seven months.

Hanson played Captain Macheath in the Royal National Theatre production of The Villain's Opera , Nick Dear and Stephen Warbeck's updating of The Beggars Opera in 2000. [8] [9]

in 1995, Hanson played Joe Gillis, the male lead in Sunset Boulevard, opposite Elaine Paige and then Petula Clark at the Adelphi Theatre. He played Pilate in the 2012 UK arena tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's popular musical Jesus Christ Superstar , and reprised the role in the 2013 leg of the tour.

In 2013, Hanson was cast in the title role in Stephen Ward the Musical , [10] Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical telling the story of the Profumo scandal.

Theatre

Film and television

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References

  1. 1 2 Jury, Louise. "Man of the moment" The Independent, 4 December 2013
  2. 1 2 Billington, Michael. "A problem like Von Trapp" The Guardian, 18 November 2006
  3. Cavendish, Dominic."An Ideal Husband: sex and shopping with Oscar Wilde" The Telegraph, 27 October 2010
  4. Philby, Charlotte."My Secret Life: Samantha Bond, Actress, 47" The Independent, 13 December 2008.
  5. Wolf, Matt."Samantha Bond on Her Ideal London Role Opposite Real-Life Husband Alexander Hanson" Archived 17 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine broadway.com, 5 January 2011
  6. Probst, Andy."Samantha Bond, Alexander Hanson, et al. Open in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal" theatermania.com, 11 November 2010
  7. Gans, Andrew."Goodbye for "Now": Olivier Nominee Alexander Hanson Departs Broadway's Night Music Sept. 26" Archived 1 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, 26 September 2010
  8. "Archive for 'Villain's Opera'" Archived 13 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine albemarle-london.com, accessed 6 February 2011
  9. Beeny, Stephen.'Villain’s Opera' gaydarnation.com, 27 April 2000
  10. "Casting Announced for World Premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Stephen Ward, Starring Alexander Hanson". playbill.com. Playbill. 6 September 2013. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.