Rufus Sewell

Rufus Frederik Sewell (; born 29 October 1967) is an English actor. In film, he has appeared in Kenneth Branagh's rendition of Hamlet (1996) playing Fortinbras, The Woodlanders, Dangerous Beauty, Dark City, A Knight's Tale, The Illusionist, Tristan and Isolde, and Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence. On television, he starred as an Italian detective in the BBC's television series Zen (2011) and also appeared in the mini-series The Pillars of the Earth (2010). In 1993 he played the hero, Will Ladislaw, in the BBC's adaptation of George Eliot's Middlemarch. In 2003, he appeared in the lead role in Charles II: The Power and The Passion. He starred in the CBS drama Eleventh Hour which was cancelled in April 2009."Rufus Sewell biography." CBS.com. On stage, he originated the role of Septimus Hodge in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the role of Jan in Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll; the latter earned him an Olivier Award and a Tony Award nomination.
==Early life==
Sewell was born in Twickenham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London, the son of William, an Australian animator, and Jo Sewell, a Welsh artist and waitress.Rufus Sewell Biography (1967–)Rufus Sewell Biography – Yahoo! Movies His father worked on the "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" segment of animation for The Beatles' Yellow Submarine film. His parents divorced when Sewell was five, and his mother worked to support her two sons. His father died when Sewell was 10. Sewell has said that he was a difficult teenager.
Sewell was educated at Orleans Park School, a state comprehensive school in Twickenham, which he left in 1984, followed by West Thames College, where a drama teacher sent him to audition for drama school. He later enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
==Career==
After graduating, Sewell was set up with an agent by Judi Dench who had directed him in a play while at the Central School of Speech and Drama. His breakthrough year was in 1993, in which he starred as the nasty Tim in Michael Winner's film Dirty Weekend. Winner chose him after seeing him in a play at the Criterion Theatre.Winner Takes All: A Life of Sorts by Michael Winner, p.269. Also in 1993 Sewell starred in the BBC serial of George Eliot's Middlemarch and on stage in Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia at The Royal National Theatre (Lyttelton). His film work includes 1995's Cold Comfort Farm, directed by John Schlesinger, the lead role of John Murdoch in the science fiction film Dark City in 1998, Amazing Grace, The Illusionist and Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy The Holiday. Amazing Grace deals with William Wilberforce's political fight to abolish slavery in Britain, with Sewell playing Wilberforce's co-campaigner Thomas Clarkson. Sewell is known for his villainous roles, such as those in A Knight's Tale, The Legend of Zorro, Bless the Child, Helen of Troy and The Illusionist. He spoke of his unhappiness about this, saying that "[I] don't want to play a baddie again."Leonard, Tom."I really don't want to play a baddie again." The Telegraph. 8 December 2006. Retrieved 26 May 2008. "Everyone has their thing they have to get around",. notes Sewell. "With me, it's like okay, how can I make this upper class bad guy in the 19th century different and interesting?"
In 2008, Sewell appeared in the HBO miniseries John Adams as Alexander Hamilton.
He received critical praise for his portrayal of "merry monarch" Charles II in the BBC's Charles II: The Power and The Passion. The series' cast included Ian McDiarmid, Helen McCrory, Rupert Graves and Shirley Henderson and spanned the life of the king from his last days in exile to his death. He co-starred in the controversial film Downloading Nancy, which was released on 5 June 2009. At the Sundance Film Festival in 2008, audiences walked out of the screening, and as of summer 2008, any theatrical release was still uncertain. Despite the controversy, Sewell continues to staunchly support the film. "It's a film I'm very proud of, whether you consider that it fails or succeeds, whether you like it or don't like it. I'm proud to be in it".
Although best known for his work in costume dramas, Sewell prefers "cravat-less" roles in modern pieces, such as the role of Petruchio in the BBC's 2005 version of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. This was shown as part of the ShakespeaRe-Told series, and the role earned him a Best Actor nomination at the 2006 BAFTA Television Awards. In this modern retelling of the story, the action moves from 17th century Padua, Italy to 21st century London. This production marked the fourth time that Sewell had acted in a work based on a Shakespeare play since becoming a professional actor: he previously portrayed Hotspur in Henry IV, Part 1 in 1995, Fortinbras in Hamlet in 1996 and the title role in Macbeth in 1999. The role also reunited him with his Charles II co-star Shirley Henderson.
He appeared in the premiere and first run of Tom Stoppard's latest play Rock 'n' Roll at the Royal Court Theatre from June to July 2006 and at the Duke of York's Theatre from July until November 2006. The play was a critical and commercial success, playing to full houses and collecting several awards and nominations, including wins for Sewell in the Best Actor category at The Evening Standard Awards, The Critics' Circle Awards and The Olivier Awards.
He has recorded eleven of Ian Fleming's James Bond books on 36 CDs for Collins. He continues to work in film, television and theatre, playing the lead role of Dr. Jacob Hood in the CBS TV series Eleventh Hour. He finished filming in November 2009 for a miniseries The Pillars of the Earth, which was shown on TV in 2010."Three sign on for 'Pillars of the Earth'", The Hollywood Reporter, 8 June 2009. In 2010, he played the Italian detective Aurelio Zen, based on the best-selling novels by Michael Dibdin, for the BBC One drama series Zen. The three episodes were filmed in Rome and shown on BBC One in early January 2011. The series was cancelled by the BBC after just one season. He also had a small part in the film The Tourist, which also starred Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp and was released in cinemas in 2010.Rufus Sewell joins Angelina Jolie in Paris He played the lead vampire, Adam, in the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which was filmed in New Orleans and released in June 2012.
Sewell played the role of Ethics Man in Darkside, Tom Stoppard's 2013 radio drama based on Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side of the Moon. Sewell co-starred with Dwayne Johnson, as Autolycus, in the film Hercules, which was released in July 2014. In 2015, Sewell voiced the role of Sir Claude, a feral cat, in Blinky Bill the Movie. Sewell has most recently appeared as Obergruppenführer Smith in The Man in the High Castle, and as Lord Melbourne in Victoria.
==Personal life==
Sewell has been married twice. His first wife was Australian fashion journalist Yasmin Abdallah; they married in 1999 and divorced a few weeks later. He and second wife, scriptwriter and producer Amy Gardner, whom he married in 2004, have a son, William Douglas Sewell (born 2002). They separated in early 2006 and subsequently divorced. He also has a daughter.Rufus Sewell interview: 'My character is not a monster - he's a human'
Sewell has said: "My favourite things are just wandering from place to place, going to cafés, taking photographs. My favourite day is a happy accident".Macdonald, M. "The Evening Standard", page 14. Associated Press, 2005
==Filmography==
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1991 	Twenty-One 	Bobby 	
1992 	Gone to Seed 	Billy 	TV series: 6 episodes
1992–94	Screen Two 	Mike CostainClive 	TV series: 2 episodes
1993 	Dirty Weekend 	Tim 	
1994 	A Night with a Woman, a Day with Charlie	Charlie 	TV
1994 	Middlemarch 	Will Ladislaw 	TV series: 7 episodes
1994 	Citizen Locke 	Midshipman Clarke 	TV
1994 	A Man of No Importance 	Robbie Fay 	
1995 	Cold Comfort Farm 	Seth Starkadder 	TV
1995 	Carrington 	Mark Gertler 	
1995 	Performance 	Harry Percy 	TV series: Episode – Henry IV, Part 1
1996 	Hamlet 	Fortinbras 	
1996 	Victory 	Martin Ricardo 	
1997 	The Woodlanders 	Giles Winterbourne 	
1998 	Dangerous Beauty 	Marco Venier 	
1998 	Dark City 	John Murdoch 	
1998 	Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence 	Frank 	
1998 	Illuminata 	Dominique 	
1998 	At Sachem Farm 	Ross 	
1999 	In a Savage Land 	Mick Carpenter 	
2000 	Arabian Nights 	Ali Baba 	TV
2000 	Bless the Child 	Eric Stark 	
2001 	A Knight's Tale 	Count Adhemar 	
2001 	Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature 	Angus 	TV
2002 	Extreme Ops 	Ian 	
2003 	Helen of Troy 	Agamemnon 	TV
2003 	Victoria Station 	The cabbie 	
2003 	Charles II: The Power and the Passion 	Charles II 	TV series: 4 episodes
2004 	Taste 	Michael Kuhleman 	
2005 	The Legend of Zorro 	Count Armand 	
2005 	ShakespeaRe-Told 	Petruchio 	TV series: Episode – The Taming of the ShrewNominated – British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
2006 	Tristan and Isolde 	Marke 	
2006 	The Illusionist 	Crown Prince Leopold	
2006 	Paris, je t'aime 	William 	Segment: "Père-Lachaise"
2006 	Amazing Grace 	Thomas Clarkson 	
2006 	9/11: Out of the Blue 	The Man 	
2006 	The Holiday 	Jasper 	
2008 	Downloading Nancy 	Albert 	
2008 	John Adams 	Alexander Hamilton 	TV series: 2 episodes
2008 	Vinyan 	Paul Bellmer 	
2008–09	Eleventh Hour 	Dr. Jacob Hood 	TV series: 18 episodes
2010 	The Pillars of the Earth 	Tom Builder 	TV series: 5 episodes
2010 	The Tourist 	English man 	
2011 	Zen 	Aurelio Zen 	TV series: 3 episodes
2012 	Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter 	Adam 	
2012 	Hotel Noir 	Felix 	
2012 	Parade's End 	Reverend Duchemin 	TV series: 4 episodes
2012 	Restless 	Lucas Romer 	TV series: 2 episodes
2013 	All Things to All Men 	Parker 	
2013 	I'll Follow You Down 	Gabe 	
2013 	The Sea 	Carlo Grace 	
2014 	Hercules 	Autolycus 	
2014 	The Devil's Hand 	Jacob Brown 	
2014 	The Man in the High Castle (Series 1) 	John Smith 	TV series: 10 episodes
2015 	Killing Jesus 	Caiaphas 	
2015 	Blinky Bill the Movie 	Sir Claude 	Voice
2016 	Gods of Egypt 	Urshu 	
2016 	Victoria 	Lord Melbourne 	TV series
2016 	The Man in the High Castle (Series 2) 	John Smith 	TV series: 10 episodes
== References ==
==External links==
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*2006 Interview with Rufus Sewell on Theatre.com
Category:20th-century English male actors
Category:21st-century English male actors
Category:Male actors from London
Category:Alumni of the Central School of Speech and Drama
Category:English male film actors
Category:English people of Australian descent
Category:English people of Welsh descent
Category:English male stage actors
Category:English male television actors
Category:Laurence Olivier Award winners
Category:Living people
Category:People from Twickenham
Category:English male Shakespearean actors
Category:Welsh–English translators
Category:20th-century translators
Category:21st-century translators
Category:1967 births
Category:Voice actors