# Dean Lennox Kelly

Dean Lennox Kelly (born 30 November 1975) is an English actor and voice over artist. He is known for his television roles as Kev Ball in Shameless and Meredith Rutter in Jamestown.

## Early life

Kelly is from Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where his classmates included Richard Coyle and Oded Fehr. He is the brother of actor Craig Kelly.

## Career

Kelly is best known for his role playing Kev Ball in Channel 4's Shameless. Other television credits include Maisie Raine, Tipping the Velvet, ShakespeaRe-Told and The Worst Week of My Life. He had parts in the films The Lowdown and Mike Bassett: England Manager. In 2006 he took a lead role in BBC One's drama series Sorted, which is about a group of postmen.
On 1 January 2007 he starred in ITV Drama Dead Clever alongside Suranne Jones. He left Shameless after the first episode of the fourth series along with his co-star and on screen girlfriend, Maxine Peake. In 2007, he appeared as William Shakespeare in the episode "The Shakespeare Code" of the BBC One science-fiction series Doctor Who.
In March 2008, he appeared as one of Jesus' disciples, James, in the BBC drama The Passion, a retelling of the last days of Jesus' life. In May, he appeared as Hedley, the landlord of the local pub in BBC drama The Invisibles, a story of two retired crooks returning to Britain from abroad. Hedley then joins the twosome later in the series. In January and February 2009, he appeared in two episodes of Being Human as a werewolf named Tully.
He starred in Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel a comedy sci-fi film with Chris O'Dowd, Marc Wootton and Anna Faris, ITV drama Married Single Other with Ralf Little and Miranda Raison, the BBC mini-series Cranford as a poor man struggling to feed his six children and wife, and in Robin Hood as Robin's father, Malcolm.
In 2002, he starred as Private Willie McNess in the major motion picture Deathwatch, a 2002 European horror film directed by Michael J. Bassett. He narrated a documentary style DVD about the Great Britain national rugby league team during the 2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations, titled League of Their Own. He was also narrator of the first couple of seasons of The Real Hustle.
In 2009 he starred alongside his brother in the ITV1 drama Collision which ran over five consecutive nights in November. In 2010, he played industrialist Christoper Rawson in BBC drama The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister. In 2013 he played Ian, the boyfriend of the title character, in the BBC One drama series Frankie.
In 2013, he took on the role of Danny, a soldier facing his fears in the short film On The Bridge, based on a true story and shot entirely on Waterloo Bridge.
Empire had announced that Kelly would be voicing the role of John Lennon for the then-upcoming 3D remake of Yellow Submarine before the project was cancelled. However, in late 2011, he appeared as the narrator on the interactive Apple iBooks version of Yellow Submarine.
In 2015, he appeared in the BBC TV series Death in Paradise. In 2016, he played Carmichael in Silent Witness. In 2020, he appeared in an episode of Sick of It. He had a recurring role as Pekka Rollins in Shadow and Bone (2021-22).

## Filmography
### Film

| | Title | Character name | Role |
| 1996 | The Levels | Rick | |
| 2000 | The Low Down | Mike | |
| 2001 | H3 | Ciaran | |
| 2001 | Mike Bassett: England Manager | Kevin Tonkinson | |
| 2002 | Deathwatch | Private Willie McNess | |
| 2005 | The Secret Life of Words | Liam | |
| 2005 | Ashes | Father | |
| 2009 | Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel | Pete | |
| 2013 | On the Bridge | Danny | Short film |
| 2019 | Trick or Treat | Dan Kielty | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1998 | Peak Practice | Martin Beasley | 2 episodes |
| 1999 | City Central | Robbie Foster | Episode: “Second Time Around” |
| 1999 | Maisie Raine | DC Chris Mallory | Main role (series 2) |
| 2000 | Border Cafe | Danesy | Miniseries; main role |
| 2001 | The Bill | Robert Slade | Episode: “Eye of the Lens” |
| 2002 | Impact | Scott | Miniseries; main role |
| 2002 | Tipping the Velvet | Tony Reeves | Miniseries; 1 episode |
| 2004–2007, 2011, 2013 | Shameless | Kev Ball | Main role, (series 1–3); recurring (series 4–11; 3 episodes) |
| 2004 | The Worst Week of My Life | Dom | Recurring role; 6 episodes |
| 2005 | The Brief | Michael Westlake | Episode: “Blame” |
| 2005 | ShakespeaRe-Told | Puck | “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” |
| 2006 | Comedy Lab | Lindsay Carol | Episode: “FM” |
| 2006 | Sorted | Dex | Miniseries; main role |
| 2007 | Dead Clever | Ian Bottomley | Television film |
| 2007 | Doctor Who | William Shakespeare | Episode: “The Shakespeare Code” |
| 2007 | Cranford | Job Gregson | 3 episodes |
| 2008 | The Passion | Apostle James | Miniseries: 3 episodes |
| 2008 | The Invisibles | Hadley Huthwaite | Miniseries; main role |
| 2009 | Being Human | Tully | 2 episodes |
| 2009 | Robin Hood | Malcolm | Episode: “Bad Blood” |
| 2009 | Collision | Danny Rampton | Miniseries; main role |
| 2010 | Married Single Other | Dickie | Main role |
| 2010 | The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister | Christopher Rawson | Television film |
| 2011 | Inspector George Gently | Sgt Molloy | Episode: “Goodbye China” |
| 2011 | Moving On | Sam | Episode: “Tour of Duty” |
| 2011 | Animal Cops: Houston | Narrator |
| 2013 | Frankie | Ian Hargrave | Main role |
| 2014 | Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond | Sergeant Dixon | Miniseries; 2 episodes |
| 2015 | Death in Paradise | Jake Peters | Episode: “Hidden Secrets” |
| 2016 | Silent Witness | Carmichael | 2 episodes |
| 2017–2019 | Jamestown | Meredith Rutter | Main role |
| 2020 | Sick of It | Tony | Episode: “Useless Lump” |
| 2021-2023 | Shadow and Bone | Pekka Rollins | Recurring role |
| 2022 | The Walk-In | Jack Renshaw's Father | 3 episodes |
| 2023 | Maryland | Jacob | 3 episodes |
| 2023 | Jamie Johnson FC | Wayne Cooper | |
| 2023 | Brassic | Curtis Plum | |

## Stage

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1997 | The Popular Mechanicals | Snug | Arts Theatre, London |
| 1998 | Oh, What a Lovely War! | Ovrtur | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2011 | This Happy Breed | Frank Gibbons | Theatre Royal, Bath |
| 2012 | Canvas | Alan | Chichester Festival Theatre, Minerva Theatre, Chichester |
| 2014 | A Taste of Honey | Peter | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2015 | The Crucible | John Proctor | Bristol Old Vic, Bristol |