Christopher Eccleston Biography

Christopher Eccleston (born 16 February 1964) is an English actor, who is best known for his role as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the British television series Doctor Who. In addition to his extensive television work, he has appeared on stage and in films such as Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Jude, Elizabeth, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, 28 Days Later, The Seeker, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and Thor: The Dark World.

Early life

Born into a working class family in the Langworthy area of Pendleton, Salford, Lancashire, Eccleston is the youngest of three sons of Elsie and Ronnie Eccleston. His brothers, Alan and Keith, are twins, eight years his senior. The family lived in a small terraced house in Blodwell Street until the late 1960s, when they moved to Little Hulton. Eccleston attended Joseph Eastham High School, where he became head boy. At the age of 19, he was inspired to enter the acting profession by television dramas such as Boys from the Blackstuff.

Eccleston completed a two-year Performance Foundation Course at Salford Tech before going on to train at the Central School of Speech and Drama. As an actor, he was influenced in his early years by Ken Loach's Kes and Albert Finney's performance in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, but he soon found himself performing the classics, including the works of Shakespeare, Chekhov and Molire. At the age of 25, Eccleston made his professional stage debut in the Bristol Old Vic's production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Underemployed as an actor for some years after graduating school, Eccleston took a variety of odd jobs at a supermarket, on building sites, and as an artist's model.

Career

Early work (1991-2005)

Eccleston first came to public attention as Derek Bentley in the 1991 film Let Him Have It and an episode of Inspector Morse, "Second Time Around", also in 1991. A regular role in the television series Cracker (1993–94) brought him recognition in the UK and, after he told TV bosses of his desire to leave the series, they killed off his character in October 1994, making him a victim of the serial killer Albie Kinsella (Robert Carlyle). At around the same time, Eccleston appeared in the episode "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" of the Poirot series adapted from mysteries by Agatha Christie.

He appeared in the low-budget Danny Boyle 1994 film Shallow Grave, in which he co-starred with actor Ewan McGregor. The same year, he won the part of Nicky Hutchinson in the epic BBC drama serial Our Friends in the North, whose broadcast on BBC Two in 1996 helped make him a household name in the UK. Eccleston starred in an ensemble cast that included actors Mark Strong and Gina McKee as well as Daniel Craig. In 1996, he took the part of Trevor Hicks - a man who lost both of his daughters in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster - in the television drama film Hillsborough, penned by Jimmy McGovern. In real life, he was the best man to Trevor Hicks at his marriage in March 2009.

His film career has since taken off with a variety of high-profile roles, including the title role in Jude (1996), Elizabeth (1998), eXistenZ (1999), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), The Others (2001), 24 Hour Party People (2002), and 28 Days Later (2002). He played a major role as the protagonist of the 2002 Revengers Tragedy, adapted from Thomas Middleton's play of the same name. He starred in the independent films A Price Above Rubies (1998) and The Invisible Circus (2001). He starred in the car-heist film Gone in 60 Seconds, but did not take his driving test until January 2004. He said on BBC's Top Gear that his licence restricts him to vehicles with automatic transmission.

He has appeared in a variety of television roles, especially in British dramas. These have included Hearts and Minds (1995) for Channel 4, Clocking Off (2000) and Flesh and Blood (2002) for the BBC and Hillsborough (1996), a modern version of Othello (2001), playing 'Ben Jago', (the Iago character); and the religious telefantasy epic The Second Coming (2003) for ITV, in which he played Steve Baxter, the son of God. He has made guest appearances in episodes of the comedy drama Linda Green (2001) and macabre sketch show The League of Gentlemen (2002). Eccleston appeared in a stage role in Hamlet in the 2002 production at Leeds's West Yorkshire Playhouse. March-April 2004 saw him return to the venue in a new play, Electricity.

Eccleston has been twice nominated in the Best Actor category at the British Academy Television Awards. His first nomination came in 1997 for Our Friends in the North, but he lost to Nigel Hawthorne (for The Fragile Heart). He was nominated in 2004 for The Second Coming; Bill Nighy won for State of Play. Eccleston won the Best Actor category at the 1997 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards for Our Friends in the North. In 2003 he won the RTS Best Actor award for a second time, for his performance in Flesh and Blood. In July 2004, a poll of industry experts, conducted by Radio Times magazine, voted Eccleston the "19th Most Powerful Person in Television Drama."

Doctor Who (2005)

On 2 April 2004, it was announced that Eccleston was to play the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the revival of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, which began transmission on 26 March 2005. Eccleston was the first actor to play the role who was born after the series began, albeit by less than three months. On 30 March 2005, the BBC released a statement, ostensibly from Eccleston, saying that he had decided to leave the role after just one series, because he feared becoming typecast. On 4 April 2005, the BBC revealed that Eccleston's "statement" was falsely attributed and released without his consent. The BBC admitted that they had broken an agreement made in January not to disclose publicly that he only intended to do one series. The statement had been made after journalists made queries to the press office.

On 11 June 2005, during a BBC radio interview, when asked if he had enjoyed working on Doctor Who, Eccleston responded by saying, "Mixed, but that's a long story." Eccleston's reasons for leaving the role continue to be debated in Britain's newspapers: on 4 October 2005 Alan Davies told The Daily Telegraph that Eccleston had been "overworked" by the BBC, and had left the role because he was "exhausted". Ten days later, Eccleston told the Daily Mirror this was not true, and expressed some irritation at Davies for his comments. In a 2010 interview, Eccleston revealed that he left the show because he "didn't enjoy the environment and the culture that the cast and crew had to work in", but that he was proud of having played the role.

On 7 November 2008, at the National Theatre to promote his book The Writer's Tale, Russell T. Davies said that Eccleston's contract was for a single year because it was uncertain whether the show would continue beyond a single revival series. In retrospect, he says, it has been an enormous success, but at the time there were doubts within the BBC. Eccleston was voted "Most Popular Actor" at the 2005 National Television Awards for his portrayal of the Doctor.

In July 2012, Eccleston spoke positively of his time on Doctor Who during a talk at the National Theatre. This led to speculation he was considering making a return appearance as the Ninth Doctor for the show's 50th anniversary in 2013. The current Doctor, Matt Smith, stated that he would love Eccleston to return. However, after discussing with executive producer Steven Moffat, Eccleston declined his role.

Recent works (2005-present)

On 30 October 2005, Eccleston appeared on stage at the Old Vic theatre in London in the one-night play Night Sky alongside Navin Chowdhry, Bruno Langley, David Warner, Saffron Burrows and David Baddiel. Eccleston sat on the 2nd Amazonas International Film Festival Film Jury in November 2005. The director Norman Jewison was chairman of the Jury. In December 2005, Eccleston travelled to Indonesia's Aceh province for the BBC Breakfast news programme, examining how survivors of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami were rebuilding their lives.

In March 2006, Eccleston appeared in the ITV documentary special Best Ever Muppet Moments as a commentator. In May 2006, he appeared as the narrator in a production of Romeo and Juliet at the Lowry theatre in his home city of Salford. The theatre company with which he performed, Celebrity Pig (of which he is patron), is made up of learning disabled actors. In August 2006, Eccleston filmed New Orleans, Mon Amour with Elisabeth Moss. The film was directed by Michael Almereyda and shot in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. It was released in 2008 to film festivals in America and Italy.

Late in 2006 he starred in Perfect Parents, an ITV drama written and directed by Joe Ahearne, who had directed him in Doctor Who. Eccleston joined the cast of the NBC TV series Heroes in the episode "Godsend", which was broadcast on 22 January 2007. Eccleston played a character named Claude who has the power of invisibility, and helps Peter Petrelli with his powers. Eccleston appeared as the Rider in a film adaptation of Susan Cooper's novel The Dark Is Rising, which opened in the USA on 5 October 2007.

Eccleston appeared on the BBC Four World Cinema Award show in February 2008, arguing the merits of five international hits such as The Lives of Others and Pan's Labyrinth with Jonathan Ross and Archie Panjabi. In 2009, Eccleston starred opposite Archie Panjabi in a short film called The Happiness Salesman. Eccleston agreed to do the film because of Panjabi and the fact that it was a winner of the British Short Screenplay Competition. He also appeared as the villainous Destro in the G.I. Joe film, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Eccleston also appeared in an episode of The Sarah Silverman Program as the titular cult favourite science fiction hero in a show-within-the-show called "Dr. Laser Rage", possibly in reference to his stint in Doctor Who.

Eccleston was cast as John Lennon in a BBC production called Lennon Naked which aired in the UK on 23 June 2010, with Eccleston playing the title role, and Naoko Mori, who had previously appeared with him in Doctor Who, as Yoko Ono. In November 2010, Eccleston starred in the first episode of BBC One anthology drama Accused. He won an International Emmy Award for his role. In May 2011, he starred as Joseph Bede in The Shadow Line, a seven-part television drama serial for BBC Two.

On 31 December 2011, Eccleston played the role of Pod Clock in an adaptation of Mary Norton's children's novel The Borrowers on BBC One. In July 2012, he starred in the political thriller Blackout on BBC One. In the same month, he starred as Creon in an adaptation of Antigone at the Royal National Theatre; his performance in the play was called "charismatic" and "intense".

In 2013, Eccleston portrayed the villainous Malekith in Thor: The Dark World, the sequel to Thor and the eighth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Personal life

Eccleston is married and became a father to his first child, Albert, in February 2012. He is an atheist. He is a supporter of Manchester United, and was a regular marathon runner until 2000. In September 2007, as part of their 9.5m build scheme, Salford's Pendleton College named their new 260-seat theatre the "Eccleston Theatre". Eccleston is an avid charity worker, becoming a Mencap charity ambassador on 28 April 2005, and is also a supporter of the British Red Cross.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Blood Rights	Dick
1990	Casualty	Stephen Hills
1991	Inspector Morse	Terrence Mitchell
1991	Chancer	Radio
1991	Boon	Mark
1992	Rachel's Dream	Man in dream
1992	Poirot	Frank Carter	Episode: "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe"
1992	Friday on my Mind	Sean Maddox
1992	Business with Friends	Angel Morris
1993-1994	Cracker	DCI David Bilborough
1995	Hearts and Minds	Drew Mackenzie
1996	Our Friends in the North	Nicky Hutchinson
1996	Hillsborough	Trevor Hicks
1999	Killing Time - The Millennium Poem	Millennium Man
2000	Wilderness Men	Alexander Von Humboldt
2000	Clocking Off	Jim Calvert
2001	Strumpet	Strayman
2001	Linda Green	Tom Sherry / Neil Sherry
2002	The League of Gentlemen	Dougal Siepp	Series 3, Episode 6: "How the Elephant Got Its Trunk"
2002	Flesh and Blood	Joe Broughton
2002	Othello	Ben Jago
2002	Sunday	General Ford
2002	The King and Us	Anthony
2003	The Second Coming	Stephen Baxter
2005	Doctor Who	The Doctor	Series 1
2005	Top Gear	Himself	Series 6 Ep. 3
2006	Perfect Parents	Stuart
2007	Heroes	Claude
2008	The Sarah Silverman Program	Dr. Lazer Rage
2010	Lennon Naked	John Lennon
2010	Accused	Willy Houlihan	Series 1, Episode 1
2011	The Shadow Line	Joseph Bede
2011	The Borrowers	Pod Clock
2012	Blackout	Daniel Demoys

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Let Him Have It	Derek Bentley
1992	Death and the Compass	Alonso Zunz
1993	Anchoress	Priest
1994	Shallow Grave	David
1996	Jude	Jude Fawley
1998	Elizabeth	Duke of Norfolk
1998	A Price Above Rubies	Sender Horowitz
1999	Heart	Gary Ellis
1999	eXistenZ	Seminar leader
1999	With or Without You	Vincent Boyd
2000	Gone in 60 Seconds	Raymond Calitri
2000	The Tyre	Salesman	Short film
2001	The Others	Charles Stewart
2001	The Invisible Circus	Wolf
2001	This Little Piggy	Cabbie	Short film
2002	24 Hour Party People	Boethius
2002	I Am Dina	Leo Zhukovsky
2002	Revengers Tragedy	Vindici
2002	28 Days Later	Major Henry West
2007	The Dark is Rising	The Rider
2008	New Orleans, Mon Amour	Dr. Henry
2009	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	James McCullen / Destro
2009	Amelia	Fred Noonan
2009	The Happiness Salesman	Salesman	Short film
2012	Song for Marion	James Harris
2013	Thor: The Dark World	Malekith

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	A Streetcar Named Desire	Pablo Gonzalez	Bristol Old Vic
1990	Bent		National Theatre
1990	Abingdon Square		National Theatre
1990	Aide-Memoire		Royal Court Theatre
1993	Waiting at the Water's Edge	Will	Bush Theatre
2000	Miss Julie	Jean	Haymarket Theatre
2002	Hamlet	Hamlet	West Yorkshire Playhouse
2004	Electricity	Jakey	West Yorkshire Playhouse
2009	A Doll's House	Neil Kelman	Donmar Warehouse
2012	Antigone	Creon	National Theatre

Performances with unknown dates

• Woyzeck - Birmingham Rep
• The Wonder - Gate Theatre
• Doa Rosita the Spinster - Bristol Old Vic
• Encounters - National Theatre Studio

Radio and narration

Year	Title	Role
1998	Room of Leaves	Frank
1998	Pig Paradise	Jack
2001	Some Fantastic Place	Narrator
2001	Bayeux Tapestry	Harold
2002	The Importance of Being Morrissey	Narrator
2002	Iliad	Achilles
2003	Cromwell - Warts and All	Narrator
2004	Life Half Spent	Roger
2005	Crossing the Dark Sea	Squaddie
2005	Sacred Nation	Narrator
2005	Born to be Different	Narrator
2005	A Day in the Death of Joe Egg	Brian
2005	E=mc	Narrator
2005	Dubai Dreams	Narrator
2005	Wanted: New Mum and Dad	Narrator
2005	Children in Need	Narrator
2005	This Sceptred Isle	Various characters
2006	The 1970s: That Was The Decade That Was	Narrator
2008	The Devil's Christmas	Narrator
2009	Wounded	Narrator
2011	The Bomb Squad	Narrator
2012	Timeshift: Wrestling's Golden Age: Grapplers, Grunts & Grannies	Narrator

Music videos

Year	Artist	Song
2003	I Am Kloot	"Proof"
2010	I Am Kloot	"Northern Skies"

Awards and nominations

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result
1997	Jude	Golden Satellite Award	Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
1997	Our Friends in the North	Broadcasting Press Guild Award	Best Actor
1997	Our Friends in the North	BAFTA Television Award	Best Actor
2003	Flesh and Blood	Royal Television Society Award	Best Actor
2004	The Second Coming	BAFTA Television Award	Best Actor
2005	Doctor Who	TV Choice Award	Best Actor
2005	Doctor Who	National Television Awards	Most Popular Actor
2005	Doctor Who	Broadcasting Press Guild Award	Best Actor
2006	Doctor Who	BAFTA Cymru	Best Actor
2007	Heroes	SyFy Genre Awards	Best Special Guest	(twice)
2011	Accused	International Emmy Award	Best Actor