# Christien Anholt

Christien Alexis Anholt (born 25 February 1971) is an English stage, television and film actor best known for portraying Nigel Bailey in the television series Relic Hunter.

## Early life

Anholt was born in London. He is the son of Anthony Anholt (19 January 1941 – 26 July 2002) and Sheila Anholt (née Willet), a teacher whom he married in 1964.

## Career

He was working as an assistant in the gardening department at his local B&Q store in Chiswick when he received the news that he had landed the role that began his acting career in 1988 in Reunion. He was then cast as 'Leonard / Jeremy Lands' in the Harold Pinter play Another Time. He went on to play 'Marcelus' alongside Mel Gibson in the Franco Zeffirelli film Hamlet (1990). He starred opposite Kate Beckinsale, Sam Neill and Judy Davis in the Hallmark production One Against the Wind, and alongside Stephen Dorff in The Power of One, directed by John G. Avilsden.
His earlier notable film roles include Peter Emery in Stuart Urban's Preaching to the Perverted (1997). In 2021, Anholt played T. S. Eliot in William Nunez's The Laureate depicting the life of British poet and writer Robert Graves.
Steven Spielberg selected Anholt to play Clive Owen's brother in the TV series pilot Class Of '61. He appeared in the BBC's Money For Nothing. He has been featured in Seventeen opposite Rachel Weisz, in Hard Times opposite Richard E. Grant and Sir Alan Bates, and in The Harpist. This was followed by Preaching to the Perverted, The Ruby Ring, and in George Milton's Appetite. Anholt returned to the West End in Terence Rattigan's In Praise of Love and was cast by Harold Pinter and director David Jones opposite Pinter himself, in The Hothouse.
In 1999 Anholt was cast as Nigel Bailey in Relic Hunter which ran for three seasons. After that Anholt guest starred in two episodes of Adventure Inc, alongside Michael Biehn, and had a cameo in The Conclave. He appeared opposite James Franco and Jean Reno in the World War One drama Flyboys, and can be seen alongside Thora Birch in Dark Corners. In 2007 Anholt appeared in the movie, Ben 10 Race Against Time, in which he played an alien called 'Eon'. In more recent years he appeared in several short movies such as Severed Garden, Ghosted and Meanders.
In 2014 Anholt returned to the stage and since then he has appeared in numerous plays such as Blue Bird, Wastwater, Dog Ends, Montagu, The Two Faces of Agent Lacey, The Trial of Jane Fonda, and Permanence. He also appeared on the small screen in Doctors and Holby City. He also does voice-over work such as in The Rise and Fall of Hitler.

## Other endeavours
### Philanthropy

During the COVID-19 pandemic 2020 UK lockdowns, Anholt took part in Lisa Ross' "Bedtime in Barnes" initiative by the OSO Arts Centre joining local celebrities including Alistair McGowan, Virginia McKenna, Anneka Rice and astronaut Helen Sharman. He was filmed reading four of his favourite children's stories (Pa's Soft Spot by D. A. Ellsworth; One, Two, Three! by Henry Cuyler Bunner; The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear and Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll) to help support the centre's Crisis Kitchen helping provide 10,000 meals for local people in need and the national initiative launched by Theatres Trust to prevent the permanent closure of hundreds of UK theatres.

### Advertising

In 2017, Anholt was chosen for Dubai Properties JBR's advertising campaign shot in Dubai and Abu Dhabi with billboards seen internationally on tourism sites such as on the Sheikh Zayed Road as well as commercials playing worldwide. The original YouTube upload of the commercial has almost 5 million views as of August 2021.

## Personal life

Anholt lives in London.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Director | Role | Notes |
| 1989 | Reunion | Jerry Schatzberg | Hans Strauss, as a young man | a.k.a. L'Ami retrouvé in France & Der wiedergefundene Freund in West Germany. |
| 1990 | Hamlet | Franco Zeffirelli | Marcellus | |
| 1992 | The Power of One | John G. Avildsen | Date at Dinner | |
| 1997 | Preaching to the Perverted | Stuart Urban | Peter Emery | |
| 1997 | The Harpist | Hansjörg Thurn | Ferdinand Rupitsch | a.k.a. Die Harfenspielerin in Germany. |
| 1998 | Appetite (1998 film) | George Milton | Nelson | |
| 2006 | Dark Corners | Ray Gower | David Hamilton | |
| 2006 | Flyboys | Tony Bill | Higgins | |
| 2021 | The Laureate | William Nunez | T. S. Eliot | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Director | Role | Notes |
| 1989 | Doctor Who | Nicholas Mallett | Perkins (The Curse of Fenric: Parts One; Two & Three: 3 episodes) | The Curse of Fenric is the third serial of the 26th season of Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 25 October to 15 November 1989. |
| 1991 | Casualty | Jim Hill | Jude | Season 6 Episode 1: Humpty Dumpty. |
| 1991 | One Against the Wind | Larry Elikann | Maurice Lindell, Mary Lindell's Son | Film on Mary Lindell working for the French Red Cross in Occupied France during World War II also starring Judy Davis, Sam Neill and Kate Beckinsale. |
| 1991 | Press Gang | Lorne Magory | Donald Cooper / The Clown | Season 3 Episode 4: The Last Word & Season 3 Episode 5: The Last Word: Part 2. |
| 1992 | The Blackheath Poisonings | Kenny McBain (creator) & Stuart Orme (director). | Paul Vandervent | Episodes 1, 2 & 3. Mini-series also starring Ian McNeice, Zoë Wanamaker, Judy Parfitt, Patrick Malahide and James Faulkner. |
| 1993 | Screen One | Mike Ockrent | Gary Warrell | Season 5 Episode 6: Money for Nothing. |
| 1993 | Class of '61 | Gregory Hoblit | Terry O'Neil | Film. |
| 1993 | Mama's Back | Ed Bye (director) & Ruby Wax (writer). | David | Film also starring Joan Collins, Michael Gambon and Rupert Everett. |
| 1994 | Seventeen | Sandra Goldbacher | Rachel Weisz's lifeguard love interest. | Short love triangle drama about a 17-year-old girl, the man she fancies, and her older sister who he fancies. |
| 1994 | Hard Times | Peter Barnes | Tom | Episodes 1 & 4. |
| 1996 | Cadfael | Herbert Wise | Meriet Ashby | a.k.a. Mystery!: Cadfael in the United States. Season 2 Episode 2: The Devil's Novice. |
| 1996 | The 10 Percenters | Doug Naylor | Adrian | Season 2 Episode 4: Runner. |
| 1998 | Felicity | Joan Tewkesbury | Paul | Season 1 Episode 5: Spooked. |
| 1997 | The Ruby Ring | Harley Cokeliss | Robert Langley | Film also starring Judy Parfitt, Rutger Hauer, Emily Hamilton and Emma Cunniffe. |
| 1998 | Nightworld: 30 Years to Life | Michael Tuchner | Derek | Film; a.k.a. 30 Years to Life (Canada: English title). |
| 1999 | The Waiting Time | Stuart Orme | Ben Rogers | Film also starring John Thaw, Zara Turner, Mark Pegg, Struan Rodger, Hartmut Becker & Colin Baker. |
| 1999–2002 | Relic Hunter | Various | Nigel Bailey (Lead) | 66 episodes |
| 2001 | The Making of Relic Hunter III | Jay Firestone & Simon MacCorkindale. | Himself | Film: Paramount Domestic Television & CBS Media Ventures broadcast. |
| 2003 | Adventure Inc | Mark Roper | Brother John Worth | Season 1 Episode 12: Angel of St. Edmunds & Season 1 Episode 19: The Last Crusader of San Giovanni; a.k.a. Aventure et associés in Canada. |
| 2007 | Ben 10: Race Against Time | Alex Winter | Eon - Ben Eon - Yami Ben | Television movie |
| 2014 | Doctors | Sasha Ransome | Adam Dobson | Season 16 Episode 86: Love, Honour and Betray. |
| 2017 | Holby City | Tracey Rooney | Evan Smith | Series 19, episode 34: Twist of the Knife. |
| 2022; 2024 | Malory Towers | Various | Mr. Lacey (Gwendoline Lacey's father). | Recurring role |

### Shorts

| Year | Title | Director | Role | Notes |
| 2015 | Severed Garden | Gonçalo Almeida | Frank | Also features Elisa Lasowski & Jean Baptiste Fillon. |
| 2016 | Ghosted | Neville Pierce | Nigel | Also features Alice Lowe & Ray Panthaki. |
| 2018 | Meanders | Tereza Srbova | The Ultimate Lover | Also features Hannah Dean & Rupert Ratcliffe. |
| 2020 | Newton's Third | Katie Blamires | Leon Newton | Also features Etta Fusi & Jamie McKie. |

### Voice

| Year | Title | Director | Role | Notes |
| 2016 | Hitler: The Rise and Fall | Stan Griffin | Narrator | Season 1 Episode1: The Opportunist. |
| 2017 | Nightmare on Everest | Karen McGann & John Smithson (creative director). | Narrator | Documentary film about the people trapped in the Himalayas following the earthquake which struck Nepal in 2015. |
| 2019 | World's Greatest Palaces (Documentary Series). | Sky - Woodcut Media Productions, United Kingdom. | Narrator | 10 episodes; titles as follow: - Lukshmi Vilas Palace. - Royal Palace of Stockholm. - Peles Castle. - Château de Fontainebleau. - Edinburgh Castle. - Neuschwanstein Castle. - Kensington Palace. - Royal Palace of Caserta. - Schönbrunn Palace. - Hampton Court Palace. |

## Theatre
### Actor

| Year | Title | Author | Director | Role | Venues & Notes |
| 1989 | Another Time | Ronald Harwood | Elijah Moshinsky | Leonard "Len" Lands as a young man and Jeremy | Wyndham's Theatre, London |
| 1995 | The Hothouse | Harold Pinter | David Jones | Lamb | Chichester Festival Theatre, Minerva Studio and Comedy Theatre, London |
| 2015 | Bluebird | Simon Stephens | Tony nominated actor Amanda Root. | Played two different characters. | Tabard Theatre, London. The cast also includes Selina Giles and Mark Griffin. |
| 2016 | The Two Faces of Agent Lacey | Selina Giles | Simon Fellows | Billy Lean | Arts Theatre London. Two Shillings & Sixpence Productions. |
| 2016 | The Trial of Jane Fonda | Terry Jastrow | Joe Harmston | Buzzy Banks | Park Theatre, London. Anne Archer plays Jane Fonda. Others cast members include Martin Fisher, Alex Gaumond, Paul Herzberg, Ako Mitchell and Mark Rose. Set: Sean Cavanagh; costume: Roberto Surace and lighting: Tony Simpson. |
| 2017 | Montagu | Greg Freeman | Ken McClymont | Montagu | Tabard Theatre, London. |
| 2021 | The Soldier's Tale | Music by Igor Stravinsky and Libretto by Charles Ferdinand Ramuz. | Barnes Festival Orchestra and James Day conductor. | Devil | Barnes Music Festival, St Mary's Church, Barnes. Shows respected COVID-19 pandemic Government regulations. |

### Director

| Year | Title | Author | Role | Venues & Notes |
| 2016 | Wastwater | Simon Stephens | Actor & Director | Tabard Theatre. The rotating cast included Selina Giles, Mark Griffin, Tom Holloway and Phillipa Peak. Two Shillings & Sixpence Productions. |