# Nicholas Woodeson

Nicholas Robin Frank Woodeson (born 30 November 1949) is an English film, television and theatre actor, and Drama Desk and Olivier award nominee.

## Early life and education

Woodeson was born in Sudan and grew up in Haifa, Israel. He later moved to England, where he started performing at prep school in Sussex, and Marlborough College. He read English at the University of Sussex,and became involved in student drama productions, where he met Michael Attenborough, Jim Carter, and Andy de la Tour. He also participated in the 1970 National Student Drama Festival. Next was a season in rep at the Lyceum Theatre, Crewe, after deciding not to pursue an academic career. He won a scholarship to RADA (1972–1974).

## Career
### Theatre

Woodeson's first work after drama school was a season at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool (1974–75), in a company that included Jonathan Pryce (artistic director), Julie Walters, Pete Postlethwaite and Bill Nighy. He has worked in regional theatre in the UK and US, at the Hampstead Theatre, the Young Vic and Almeida Theatre in London, and at the Manhattan Theatre Club. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982 and remained there seven years. On Broadway, his work includes Straker in Man and Superman (1978), Piaf (1981), Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls (1995), and Burleigh in Mary Stuart (2009). In 2011, he played Mr Prince in the National Theatre revival of Odets' Rocket to the Moon. He appeared in the West End production of Funny Peculiar (1976), in Good (1982), as Bonesy in Jumpers (2003), as Mussabini in Chariots of Fire (2012), and as Harold Wilson in The Audience (2015). He acted in two productions of Pinter's The Birthday Party playing McCann at the National Theatre in 1994, and Goldberg in the Lyric Hammersmith's 50th centenary production in 2008, and two productions of Pinter's The Homecoming, playing Lenny in the 25th Anniversary West End revival in 1991 and Max at the RSC in 2011.
In 2017, following the death of Tim Pigott-Smith, he took over the role of Willy Loman in the Royal & Derngate tour of Death of a Salesman, for which he was nominated for a UK Theatre Award as Best Actor in a Leading Role.

### Film

Woodeson's first film work was a role in Heaven's Gate, released in 1980. By chance, he spent more time on location in Montana than any other actor in the film. He has also appeared in, among others, The Russia House (1990), The Pelican Brief (1993), Shooting Fish (1997), The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997) Titanic Town (1998), The Avengers (1998), Mad Cows (1999), Topsy-Turvy (1999), Dreaming of Joseph Lees (1999), Amazing Grace (2006), Hannah Arendt (2012), the James Bond film Skyfall (2012), Mr. Turner (2014), The Danish Girl (2015), Race (2016), Disobedience (2017), The Death of Stalin (2017) and The Hustle (2019).
In 2011/2012 he made the short film You Are Me for the Holocaust Survivors' Centre in London.

### Television

Woodeson's first network television work was playing a US marine in A Rumor of War (1980) starring Brad Davis. He played killer Michael Hennessy in the very first episode of Cracker (1993), starring Robbie Coltrane. In 1998 he appeared in Midsomer Murders "Death of a Hollow Man" as Avery Philips. He played SS-Gruppenführer Otto Hoffman in the acclaimed BBC/HBO production Conspiracy (2001), starring Kenneth Branagh, Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth. He portrayed Harman Grisewood, in the 2008 TV programme Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story. He has guest starred on series such as Miami Vice, Midsomer Murders, A Touch of Frost, and Poirot.
In the two 2005–06 HBO/BBC TV series of Rome, he played Posca, the personal slave of Julius Caesar. In 2007, he played Joseph Novak in 'Broken Souls', an episode of Foyle's War. In 2010, he appeared as Alexander Grozin, president of the fictional Eastern European state of Turgisia, in DR television production of Borgen. In 2013, he played William Corcoran, a proponent of Lamarckism, in the episode "Am I not Monstrous?" of Ripper Street. He also appeared in Agatha Christie’s Poirot "Dead Man’s Folly" as Detective Sergeant Hoskins. In 2014, he appeared as Volkov in the American miniseries The Assets, and as Algernon Wyse in a BBC TV adaptation of E. F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia. In 2014, he played Yaakov in "The Eichmann Show" for the BBC. In 2016, Woodeson played the role of Reverend Matthew Denning in the BBC TV series The Living and the Dead. He has also appeared in episodes of New Tricks, George Gently and Holby City. Woodeson played the lawyer, Thoyt in the BBC One 2017 television drama series Taboo.

## Personal life

Woodeson lives in London, but has also lived in the United States.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1980 | Heaven's Gate | Small Man |
| 1990 | The Russia House | Niki Landau |
| 1993 | The Pelican Brief | Stump |
| 1997 | Shooting Fish | Mr. Collyns |
| 1997 | The Man Who Knew Too Little | Sergei |
| 1998 | Titanic Town | Immonger |
| 1998 | The Avengers | Dr. Darling |
| 1999 | Topsy-Turvy | Mr. Seymour |
| 1999 | Mad Cows | Detective Slynne |
| 1999 | Dreaming of Joseph Lees | Mr. Dian |
| 2001 | One of the Hollywood Ten | Ben |
| 2006 | Amazing Grace | Harrison |
| 2009 | Pope Joan | Arighis |
| 2011 | Hysteria | Dr. Richardson |
| 2012 | John Carter | Dalton |
| 2012 | Hannah Arendt | William Shawn |
| 2012 | Skyfall | Dr. Hall |
| 2014 | Mr. Turner | Gentleman Critics |
| 2015 | The Danish Girl | Dr. Buson |
| 2016 | Race | Fred Rubien |
| 2016 | The Limehouse Golem | Toby Dosett |
| 2016 | Letters from Baghdad | George MacMunn |
| 2017 | The Death of Stalin | Boris Bresnavich |
| 2017 | Disobedience | Rabbi Goldfarb |
| 2017 | Paddington 2 | Insurance Company C.E.O. |
| 2018 | Beirut | Herzberg |
| 2019 | The Hustle | Albert |
| 2019 | Jarhead: Law of Return | Minister of Defense |
| 2021 | Firebird | Colonel Kuznetsov |
| 2022 | My Father's Secrets | Old Rabbi |
| 2025 | Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare | Steven |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1980 | Here's Boomer | Theo | Episode: "The Jockey" |
| 1980 | A Rumor of War | Corporal Kazmarak | 2 episodes |
| 1982 | The Hound of the Baskervilles | Sir Henry Baskerville | 4 episodes |
| 1984 | Piaf | Emil | Television film |
| 1985 | Miami Vice | Artie Cross | Episode: "Made for Each Other" |
| 1989 | Blackeyes | Stilk | Episode #1.1 |
| 1990 | Max and Helen | Martin Greenbaum | Television film |
| 1991 | For the Greater Good | Michael Parke-Walsh MP | 3 episodes |
| 1991 | The Wolvis Family | Dr. Graham Wilcockson | 6 episodes |
| 1992 | A Fatal Inversion | Inspector Winder | 2 episodes |
| 1992 | ScreenPlay | Geoff Harris | Episode: "Bad Girl" |
| 1992 | The Life and Times of Henry Pratt | Dr. Hargreaves | Episode #1.3 |
| 1992 | The Blackheath Poisonings | Bertie Williams | 3 episodes |
| 1992, 1994 | Screen Two | Keith / Roland | 2 episodes |
| 1993 | Mr. Wroe's Virgins | Brother Moses | 4 episodes |
| 1993 | Bonjour la Classe | Leslie Piper | 6 episodes |
| 1993 | Performance | Jorgen Tesman | Episode: "Hedda Gabler" |
| 1993 | Cracker | Hennessy | Episode: "The Mad Woman in the Attic: Part 2" |
| 1993 | The Poetry Hall of Fame | John Keats | Television film |
| 1994 | The Chief | Milverton | Episode #4.8 |
| 1995 | Pie in the Sky | Maurice Plummer | Episode: "Brown Bread" |
| 1995 | The Last Englishman | Air Commodore Boyle | Television film |
| 1997 | The Woman in White | Asylum Proprietor | Television film |
| 1998 | Midsomer Murders | Avery Phillips | Episode: "Death of a Hollow Man" |
| 1998 | Animated Epics: Beowulf | Aschere | Television film |
| 1999 | Great Expectations | John Wemmick | Television film |
| 2000 | The Mrs Bradley Mysteries | John Forrester | Episode: "The Rising of the Moon" |
| 2000 | Conspiracy | Otto Hofmann | Television film |
| 2001 | Waking the Dead | Reece Dickson | 2 episodes |
| 2002 | Animated Tales of the World | Greengrocer / Leader of Primitives | Episode: "The Crown and Sceptre" |
| 2002 | Helen West | Brian Redwood | 3 episodes |
| 2003 | A Touch of Frost | Anton Caldwell | Episode: "Held in Trust" |
| 2004 | The Last Detective | Gerald Leyman | Episode: "Christine" |
| 2005 | Doc Martin | Victor | Episode: "Blood Is Thicker" |
| 2005–2007 | Rome | Posca | 17 episodes |
| 2006 | Eleventh Hour | Martin Callan | Episode: "Containment" |
| 2007 | Rough Diamond | Russian Ambassador | Episode: "Old Gold" |
| 2008 | Foyle's War | Josef Novak | Episode: "Broken Souls" |
| 2008 | Poppy Shakespeare | Professor | Television film |
| 2008 | Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story | Harman Grisewood | Television film |
| 2009 | Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980 | Michael Warren | Television film |
| 2010 | Borgen | Alexander Grozin | Episode: "Statsbesøg" |
| 2011 | The Hour | Professor Beckett | 2 episodes |
| 2011 | Shameless | Isaac | Episode: "Frank Gallagher: Sent By God" |
| 2012 | Silk | Professor Stephen Nyman | Episode #2.4 |
| 2012 | Secret State | Lord Justice Holbeck | Episode #1.2 |
| 2012 | Loving Miss Hatto | Erich | Television film |
| 2013 | It's Kevin | Various | Episode #1.6 |
| 2013 | Agatha Christie's Poirot | Detective Sergeant Hoskins | Episode: "Dead Man's Folly" |
| 2013 | Ripper Street | Dr. William Corcoran | Episode: "Am I Not Monstrous?" |
| 2013 | The Escape Artist | George Balfour QC | 3 episodes |
| 2013 | Moonfleet | Bailiff | 2 episodes |
| 2014 | The Assets | Volkov | 2 episodes |
| 2014 | The Honourable Woman | Judah Ben-Shahar | 4 episodes |
| 2014 | New Tricks | Viktor Proust | Episode: "The English Defence" |
| 2014 | Mapp & Lucia | Algernon Wyse | 3 episodes |
| 2014 | Borgia | Alonso Pimental | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | The Eichmann Show | Yaakov Jonilowicz | Television film |
| 2015 | Inspector George Gently | Norman | Episode: "Breathe in the Air" |
| 2016 | The Living and the Dead | Matthew Denning | 6 episodes |
| 2016 | Friday Night Dinner | Rabbi | Episode: "The Funeral" |
| 2016–2017 | Holby City | Artem Chernik | 3 episodes |
| 2017 | Delicious | Allen Billington | Episode: "Funeral Plans" |
| 2017 | Taboo | Robert Thoyt | 5 episodes |
| 2017 | Will | Phillip Henslowe | 3 episodes |
| 2019 | Baptiste | Peter | Episode: "Shell" |
| 2020 | Quiz | Nicholas Hilliard QC | 2 episodes |
| 2021 | Silent Witness | Derek Galton | 2 episodes |
| 2023 | A Paris Proposal | Jacques Laurent | Television film |
| 2024 | Father Brown | Bernard Ross | Episode: "The Dead of Night" |
| 2024 | Beyond Paradise | Father Brian | Episode: "#2.4" |
| 2024 | Casualty | Dr. Jack Clayton | Episode: "Ghosts" |
| 2024 | The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | Diarmid | Episode: "Elven Kings Under the Sky" |