Colin Salmon

Colin Salmon
Colin Roy Salmon (born 6 December 1961) is an English actor. He is known for playing Charles Robinson in three James Bond films and James "One" Shade in the Resident Evil film series. He has had roles on many television series such as Doctor Who, Merlin, Arrow, and The Musketeers. He also played General Zod on the Syfy series Krypton and provided his voice and likeness as Agent Carson in the PlayStation VR video game Blood & Truth. In 2023, he joined the BBC soap opera EastEnders as George Knight.
Early life
Colin Roy Salmon was born on 6 December 1961 in Bethnal Green, London, England, the son of Sylvia Ivy Brudenell Salmon, a nurse. He is of Jamaican descent. He grew up in Luton and attended Ashcroft High School.
On leaving school, Salmon became the drummer in the punk rock band the Friction, which he formed along with three friends from high school. The band released a 7-inch EP, a live cassette, a cassette-EP and performed regularly around Luton in 1979 and 1980. Salmon briefly worked with another band, the Tee Vees, and was also a singer and trumpeter in Luton-based band Catch in the mid-1980s. He plays trumpet and has his own jazz quartet, playing at venues such as the Dorchester Grill Room and at events such as the Cheltenham Jazz Festival.
Speaking about his quartet to Pete Lewis of the magazine Blues & Soul, in an interview prior to their performance at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival in May 2008, Salmon stated:
Career
Salmon is known for his role as Charles Robinson, a character in the James Bond films Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day. He made his feature debut in 1992 as Sgt. Robert Oswald in the British mini-series Prime Suspect 2. Salmon also played Note Makoti in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and David Tyrel in the Sky One UK television series Hex. He appears as himself in the sixth episode of the BBC Three comedy, Little Miss Jocelyn.
In 2006 he appeared in the eighth series of the ITV drama Bad Girls as Senior Medical Officer Dr. Rowan Dunlop. He played Dr. Moon in two episodes ("Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead") of the fourth series of the long running science fiction television series Doctor Who. (Subsequently, there were rumours that he would take on the coveted lead role of The Doctor in 2008 after David Tennant, but the role went to Matt Smith.) In 2020, writer Steven Moffat stated he envisioned Salmon's character as a future incarnation of the Doctor.
Salmon has also recorded the role of Kerr Avon in the new audio series of Blake's 7. Salmon played James "One" Shade in the film Resident Evil (2002) and reprised the role as a clone version in the 2012 sequel Resident Evil: Retribution. Salmon also played Oonu, squad leader of the Skybax in the 2002 mini-series Dinotopia. His other film credits include Captives (1994), Frantz Fanon: Black Skin White Mask (a documentary directed by Isaac Julien in which Salmon plays the French psychiatrist, philosopher and revolutionary, Frantz Fanon) (1996), The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998), Fanny and Elvis (1999) and My Kingdom (2001).
In 2007, Salmon appeared in the season finale of the ITV2 series Secret Diary of a Call Girl, playing a client of the protagonist, a call girl named Hannah Baxter. In the 2008 film Clubbed, a film about nightclub bouncers in Coventry in the 1980s, Salmon plays one of the main characters, Louis. In 2009, Salmon appeared in the UK version of the popular American drama Law & Order, as barrister Doug Greer in the episodes "Buried" and "Community Service". In 2012, Salmon appeared in Death in Paradise, as killer/businessman Leon Hamilton/Vincent Carter. He starred in the thriller film Exam, directed by Stuart Hazeldine.
Salmon was one of the celebrity contestants on the tenth series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with professional dancer Kristina Rihanoff. He was eliminated as a result of the "dance-off" in Week 5, in which he competed against Richard Arnold. In 2015, he played a fictional version of himself in the Netflix series Master of None, alongside Aziz Ansari's main character. On 9 May 2015, Salmon gave a reading at VE Day 70: A Party to Remember in Horse Guards Parade, London. In 2018, he portrayed the role of Chudleigh Pomeroy in Mortal Engines.
In 2023 Salmon has joined EastEnders as George Knight, a newly introduced co-owner of the Queen Vic.
Personal life
Salmon is a patron of the African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust and the Richard House Children's Hospice and an ambassador for The Prince's Trust. He is also the chairman of governors at St Anne's Nursery. He is involved in the Notting Hill Carnival and is the dance captain of the Fox Carnival Band.
Salmon married visual artist Fiona Hawthorne in 1988 and the couple have four children.
In September 2010, Salmon was invited by his friend Samuel L. Jackson to Switzerland for Shooting Stars Benefits 2010 Golf Tournaments. The golf competition raised money for the Samuel L. Jackson Foundation and the Swiss Red Cross to go towards a new hospital in Takéo Province, one of Cambodia's poorest provinces. In 2009 he became a co-founder of Cage Cricket with Trevor McArdle.
In an August 2021 interview, Salmon spoke about how becoming ill with COVID-19 had affected him and his family, praising doctors for having saved his life.
Filmography
Film
Television
Voice work
References
External links
1961 births
Living people
20th-century English male actors
21st-century English male actors
Actors from Luton
Black British male actors
English male film actors
English male soap opera actors
English male stage actors
English male television actors
English male voice actors
English people of Jamaican descent
Male actors from Bedfordshire
Male actors from London
People educated at Ashcroft High School
People from Bethnal Green