David Morrissey

David Mark Morrissey born 21 June 1964 is an English actor and director Morrissey grew up in the Kensington and Knotty Ash areas of Liverpool He learned to act at the Everyman Youth Theatre alongside Ian Hart Mark and Stephen McGann and Cathy Tyson At the age of 18 he and Hart were cast in the television series One Summer 1983 which won them recognition throughout the country After making One Summer Morrissey attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre Throughout the 1990s he often portrayed policemen and soldiers though took other defining roles such as Bradley Headstone in Our Mutual Friend 1998 and Christopher Finzi in Hilary and Jackie 1998 More film parts followed including roles in Some Voices 2000 and Captain Corellis Mandolin 2001 before he played the critically acclaimed roles of Stephen Collins in State of Play 2003 and Gordon Brown in The Deal 2003 The former won him a nomination at the British Academy Television Awards and the latter a Best Actor award at the Royal Television Society Awards His film roles have not always been acclaimed his appearance as the male lead in Basic Instinct 2 2006 was widely criticised and The Reaping 2007 bombed at the box office Since then he has had leading roles in Sense and Sensibility 2008 Red Riding 2009 and Five Days 2010 acted in the films Nowhere Boy 2009 and Centurion 2010 and produced and starred in the crime drama Thorne 2010 He returned to the stage in 2008 for a run of Neil LaButes In a Dark Dark House and will take the title role in the Liverpool Everymans production of Macbeth in 2011 As a director Morrissey has helmed short films and the dramas Sweet Revenge 2001 and Passer By 2004 for the BBC His feature debut Dont Worry About Me premiered at the 2009 London Film Festival and was broadcast on BBC television in March 2010 He is married to the novelist Esther Freud has three children and is a patron of numerous charities Description above from the Wikipedia article David Morrissey licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia