Douglas Hodge
Douglas Hodge (born 25 February 1960) is an English actor, director, and musician who trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Douglas Hodge is a member of the council of National Youth Theatre for which in 1989, he co-wrote "Pacha Mama's Blessing" about the Amazon rain forests staged at the Almeida Theatre. Career. Theatre. Harold Pinter. Hodge has acted in plays by Harold Pinter, including "No Man's Land" at the Comedy Theatre in February 1993; "Moonlight" at the Almeida Theatre in September 1993; "A Kind of Alaska", "The Lover" and "The  Collection" at the Donmar Warehouse in May 1998; as Jerry in "Betrayal" at the Royal National Theatre's Lyttelton Theatre, in November 1998; and as Aston in "The Caretaker" at the Comedy Theatre in November 2000, co-starring Michael Gambon (Davies) and Rupert Graves (Mick), directed by Patrick Marber – for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award. As his directorial debut at the Oxford Playhouse in 2004 Hodge chose a double bill of "The Dumb Waiter and Other Pieces" (the 1957 one-act play plus six of Pinter's sketches). In 2015, Hodge made his debut as a Broadway  director, helming a revival of Pinter's 1971 play "Old Times". The production starred Clive Owen, Eve Best and Kelly Reilly, it opened at the American Airlines Theatre. Other work. For the National Theatre in May 1994 Hodge played the title role in Phyllida Lloyd's Olivier Theatre staging of Shakespeare's "Pericles"; and Al' in Stephen Poliakoff's "Blinded by the Sun" directed by Ron Daniels at the Cottesloe Theatre in May 1997. He played Leontes in an RSC revival of "The Winter's Tale" at the Roundhouse in April 2002. Directed by Matthew Warchus, it was set in  a world of film noir and country music, in a version of the play originally planned for American production. "Shaven-headed Hodge, a tyrannical Leontes chopping up the verse into tiny spiteful pieces, is a dead-ringer for Orson Welles, bald and fuming, in the penultimate reel of Citizen Kane – even when he comes on in flat cap and plus-fours as a Chicago heavy, dressed for a round of golf." In April 2003 he portrayed Andrei in Michael Blakemore's revival of Chekhov's "Three Sisters" at the Playhouse Theatre. The following year he made his Royal Court debut  as Barry in Joe Penhall's study of entrapment journalism "Dumb Show", directed by Terry Johnson, which opened in September 2004 to positive reviews, particularly for Hodge's performance as a television comedian whose career is on the skids. Hodge appeared in the 2005 revival of "Guys and Dolls" at the Piccadilly Theatre playing Nathan Detroit opposite Ewan McGregor playing Sky Masterson. He received an Olivier Award nomination for his performance. During the summer of 2006, he acted the role of "Titus Andronicus", at Shakespeare's Globe. Simultaneously, he made his West End directorial debut with "See How They Run , a 1940s wartime farce by Philip King, preceded by a UK tour. When his production opened in the West End, Nancy Carroll took over from Hattie Morahan in the role of the vicar's young wife. In May 2007 he displayed a lyric tenor voice as Frank, the neurosurgeon in A Matter of Life and Death" with the Kneehigh Theatre company at the National Theatre, a production with music, based on events in the film of the same name. Also in 2007 he guest starred in the "Doctor Who" audio dramas "Urban Myths" and "Son of the Dragon". In 2008 , Hodge starred as Albin in the London revival of "La Cage aux Folles" which played originally at the Menier Chocolate Factory. He later reprised this role at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End and won the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. The London production transferred to Broadway, opening on 18 April 2010 at the Longacre Theatre, with Hodge and Kelsey Grammer as Albin and Georges, respectively. Hodge won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance. A 2011 revival of John Osborne's "Inadmissible Evidence" at  the Donmar Theatre, London, offered Hodge another role, as Maitland, the lawyer in crisis. Hodge received an Olivier Award nomination for his performance. In 2012, Hodge returned to Broadway when he starred as Cyrano de Bergerac in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of "Cyrano de Bergerac" which played a limited engagement at the American Airlines Theatre from 14 September 2012 – 25 November 2012. In October 2012, it was announced that Hodge had been cast as Willy Wonka in the musical "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical" on the West End, which previewed on 18 May 2013 and opened  on 25 June 2013 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane London. Writing. Hodge wrote a musical with Aschlin Ditta, temporarily called "Meantime". Josefina Gabrielle, Denis Lawson and several others participated in a cast recording, and actors including Rory Kinnear, Indira Varma and Cillian Murphy participated in a reading of the book. He wrote the music and lyrics for the musical "101 Dalmatians", based on the novel by Dodie Smith with a book by Zinnie Harris. It was planned to open in May 2020 at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre before being postponed to the 2021 season, then subsequently  cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Directing. Hodge has parallel careers as a writer, director and composer, most recently directing "Torch Song Trilogy" at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2012. He was Associate Director at the Donmar Theatre directing "Dimetos" in 2009, "Absurdia" in 2007, and running numerous readings and workshops for new and classic work. He directed the world premiere of "Last Easter" by Bryony Lavery at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and "See How They Run" which went straight to the West End after a sell-out tour. Awards. Olivier Awards include 2012 Best Actor for "Inadmissible Evidence" (nomination), 2009  Best Actor in a Musical for "La Cage aux Folles" (winner), and 2006 Best Actor in a Musical for "Guys and Dolls" (nomination). He was also nominated for Best Actor in the 2005 Evening Standard Awards for his role in "Dumbshow" at the Royal Court. Douglas starred as Albin in the Broadway transfer of "La Cage aux Folles", for which his performance won him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He originally played the role  in London in 2008 at the Menier Chocolate Factory and then at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End. Television. With Peter Searles, Hodge co-wrote "Pacha Mama's Blessing" and "Forest People", about the Amazon Rainforest, performed by the National Youth Theatre on BBC Television in 1989. He appeared in the BBC's production "Middlemarch", adapted by Andrew Davies from the novel by George Eliot and directed by Anthony Page. In the US it aired on "Masterpiece Theatre" in 1994. His other TV appearances include leading roles in "Behaving Badly" (1989); "Capital City" (1989–1990); "A Fatal Inversion" (1992); "Bliss  (1995); Only Fools and Horses" (1996) "The Uninvited" (1997); "The Scold's Bridle" (1998); "Shockers: Dance" (1999); "The Law" (2000); the BBC serial adaptation of Trollope's "The Way We Live Now" (2001), as Roger Carbury; "The Russian Bride" (2001); "Red Cap" (2003–2004); "Spooks" (2005); ITV's 2007 adaptation of "Mansfield Park", as Sir Thomas Bertram; and the made-for-TV film "Lift", directed by James Hawes, a 2007 Hartswood Films production for BBC Four, as Paul Sykes, "a constantly exasperated, highly-strung middle-aged businessman with commitments.". In 2010, he appeared in the episode "The Restaurant" of the third  series of the BBC sitcom "Outnumbered" as Brick Bolenger, an American therapist who is married to Auntie Angela (played by Samantha Bond). The character was involved in a story line of the fourth series in 2011, but never appeared on screen. In 2012, Hodge had a role in the BBC drama "One Night", as well as appearing in the conspiracy thriller miniseries "Secret State", and the ITV-1 drama "The Town". In 2016 he featured as Rex Mayhew in the BBC adaptation of John le Carré's "The Night Manager". In 2017, he appeared in "Black Museum", an episode of the  anthology series "Black Mirror". He appeared as Inspector Bartholomew Rusk in the series "Penny Dreadful". Music. Doug Hodge released two albums of his own compositions: "Cowley Road Songs" in 2005, and "Nightbus" in 2009. He won the Stiles and Drewe 2012 Best New Song Award for his song 'Powercut' from "Meantime", the musical he co-wrote with Aschlin Ditta. "I've been writing songs all my life but — apart from the occasional girlfriend late at night — I'd never sung them to anyone. Then last year I finally started playing at various venues in and around Oxford. Each time I  wrote a new song I'd go down the Ex [on Cowley Road] and sing it... Then Rightback Records asked me to record them. We went into the Blue Moon Studios in Banbury for just four days. This [Cowley Road Songs] is what we came out with..." – Douglas Hodge Personal life. Hodge was born in Plymouth, Devon. Until 2013 he was in a relationship with actress Tessa Peake-Jones, with whom he has two children. He subsequently married American wigmaker Amanda Miller.