William Ellis (British actor)

William Henry Ellis (born 14th September 1980) is a British Actor, Voice Artist and Podcaster known for Great Expectations (2012 film), Dragon Quest Swords, Queen of the Desert (film), Parade's End and The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler
== Life ==
=== Family ===
Ellis was born in Camden in London, the son of Chris and Becky Ellis. He has two siblings, Adam Ellis and Laura Martin.
He is married to Alice Hobden (Camera Assistant) and has one son.
=== Education ===
Ellis was educated at Caldicott School followed by Harrow School and Royal Holloway, University of London. He trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA)
=== Stage ===
After graduating from LAMDA in 2005, Ellis played Griffin in British-Asian award-winning writer Shan Khan's play Prayer Room at Birmingham Repertory Theatre directed by Angus Jackson; the cast included Riz Ahmed and Ashley Madekwe. Ellis then went on to play Benvolio in the Nuffield Theatre production that toured Barbados as part of Holder's Season in 2006. In 2007 he worked with the director Peter Gill (playwright) at The National Theatre on his production of The Voysey Inheritance and had the opportunity to work alongside Dominic West and Julian Glover. After a UK Tour playing Simon Bliss in Peter Hall (director)'s production of Hay Fever (play) in 2008, he returned to work with Peter Gill (playwright) again for his production of The Importance of Being Earnest which had a UK Tour before playing at Vaudeville Theatre in the West End of London in 2009. The cast included his long-time friend Harry Hadden-Paton and Daisy Haggard.
Following the success of The Importance of Being Earnest he has appeared as Sam Leadbitter in Theatre Royal, Bath's production of This Happy Breed, played Prince Charming in Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith)'s Cinderella; played Uncle Peck in Paula Vogel's play How I Learned to Drive at Southwark Playhouse; and in 2019 played Tony Wendice in Frederick Knott's play Dial M for Murder at the New Vic Theatre.
=== Screen ===
Ellis's first serious screen role came in 2009 when he played Wiktor in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler alongside Oscar Winners Anna Paquin and Marcia Gay Harden, which Variety (magazine)|Variety magazine called "taut, emotional and compelling". Having played guest leads on British TV favourites The Bill and Father Brown (2013 TV series), Ellis's more significant breakout roles came at the same time in 2012 the form of Mike Newell (director)'s Great Expectations (2012 film) (where he worked closely with Ralph Fiennes) and Parade's End (TV series) which was nominated for a number of Emmy Awards and six BAFTA TV Nominations and ended up winning Best Costume Design at the BAFTAs in 2013. The series starred Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall.
In 2015 he played The Earl of Chester in Werner Herzog's war-time epic Queen of the Desert (film) where he got to share the screen with Nicole Kidman.
Ellis recently completed filming The Crown (TV series).
===Voice Over===
Ellis has voiced a number of British commercials and was the voice of Toyota for their 2012 Paris Motor Show event: Stories of Better.
In 2020 he narrated two self-help books for the life-coach and author Vernon Sankey, The Stairway to Happiness and The Way: Finding Peace in Turbulent Times which Vernon co-authored with Ms. Katey Lockwood.
===Podcast===
Ellis is the author and producer of the Podcast An Open Water Swimmer's Podcast which had it's first season in winter 2021.
== Filmography ==
 Film
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2009	The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler	Wiktor 	
2009	A Closed Book (film) 	Interviewee 2 	
2009	Into the Storm (2009 film) 	Intelligence Officer	
2012	Great Expectations (2012 film) 	Compeyson 	
2015	Queen of the Desert (film) 	Early of Chester 	
 Television
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2006	The Amazing Mrs Pritchard 	Newsnight Runner 	Episode 1.1
2009	Hotel Babylon 	Horny Businessman 	Episode 4.3
2010	The Bill 	Dylan Prest 	S26 Ep28
2012	Hustle (TV series) 	Pinstripe 1 	S8 Ep6
2012	Thirteen Steps Down (TV series)	Steve 	
2012	Parade's End (TV series) 	Aubrey 	Episode 1.5
2013	The Guilty (TV series) 	Malcolm James 	Episode 1
2014	24: Live Another Day 	Russian Aide 	8pm - 9pm
2016	Father Brown (2013 TV series) 	Billy Neville 	S4 Ep1
2018	Doctors (2000 TV series) 	Hartley Beddington 	S19 EP205
2019	The Crown (TV series) 	Queen's Flight Captain	S3 Ep7
 Video Games
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2007	Dragon Quest Swords	Anlace	
Category:British actors
Category:British voice actors