Daniel Brocklebank Biography

Daniel Brocklebank (born 21 December 1979) is an English actor. He received a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in the multi-award-winning movie Shakespeare in Love. He also received the Best Actor Award at LesGaiCineMad International Film Festival for his role in Release.

Early life

Brocklebank was born just outside Stratford-upon-Avon and had a very happy rural upbringing. He was very shy as a child and was encouraged to shoot, play rugby, ride horses and motorbikes, however "outdoor" pursuits were never his forte. His father, Julian, is a highly skilled builder, specialising in the renovation of old buildings. His firm Brockson Builders was originally intended as a family business. Brocklebank, however, never inherited his father's skills. His mother Tracy Brocklebank and sister Sophie breed horses on the family estate.

At the age of ten, Brocklebank joined several local amateur dramatic societies with his maternal grandmother and was soon hooked on performing. He took private LAMDA tuition outside of school and gained a teaching qualification in drama. In 1994 he was cast in a children's TV series by Ragdoll Productions called Brum. However it wasn't until 1995, when at 15, Brocklebank was cast as Ralph in an RSC production of Lord of the Flies that his professional career really began. He moved to London in 1996 and trained at Redroofs Theatre School on a post grad, two year musical theatre course. He was allowed to work while he was there to pay off his fees. It was during this time that Brocklebank filmed Merlin and Shakespeare in Love opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench.

Brocklebank is also a self-taught pianist and singer.

Career

From 1994 onwards, Brocklebank has starred in various TV shows such as Down to Earth (BBC), Born and Bred (BBC), Ed Stone is Dead (BBC 3/Channel 4), Casualty (BBC), The Bill (ITV) and played Ivan Jones in ITV's Emmerdale between the beginning of 2005 to the end of 2006. Other TV credits include: The Crazy World of Captain Llama, Fair City, Doctors and Waterloo Road.

Brocklebank's other films include: The Hole starring opposite Keira Knightley and Thora Birch, The Hours opposite Meryl Streep, Another Life opposite Imelda Staunton and Tom Wilkinson, Merlin opposite Sam Neill and Helena Bonham Carter, The Devil's Arithmetic opposite Kirsten Dunst and Brittany Murphy, produced by Dustin Hoffman and The Criminal with Eddie Izzard.

Brocklebank has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in productions of As You Like It playing Silvius, Chiron inTitus Andronicus, Rowland in The Tamer Tamed and Ralph in Lord of the Flies. His other theatre credits include: Martin Von Heilmann in The Curse of the Werewolf at London's Union Theatre, John Rutherford in Rutherford and Son at Manchester's Royal Exchange, and John Honyman in Cressida, directed by Nicholas Hytner for the Almeida Theatre in London's West End.

Amongst other projects in 2008, Brocklebank starred in One Night In November, a new play by Alan Pollock directed by Hamish Glenn at the Belgrade Theatre, and in Big Love at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, directed by Selina Cartmell.

In 2009, Brocklebank played Brother Jasper and Kaisa in His Dark Materials, a co-production between the Birmingham Rep and the West Yorkshire Playhouse directed by Rachel Kavanaugh and Sarah Esdaile. In 2009 Brocklebank completed filming Release, a British feature film, written by Christian Martin and Darren Flaxstone of FAQ's LTD in which he plays the lead role of Father Jack Gillie.

In 2010, Brocklebank starred in one of three new dark tales Little Deaths directed by Andrew Parkinson, whose previous projects include I, Zombie, Dead Creatures and Venus Drowning. He also completed Age Of Heroes, in which he plays Sergeant Hamilton, a small role, opposite Danny Dyer and Sean Bean.

In December 2014, Brocklebank joined the cast of Coronation Street, as Billy Mayhew, the new vicar at Emily Bishop's parish, St.Mary's and who started dating barman Sean Tully. He also appears as Carl Saunders in the second (2014) and third (2015) series of the BBC's WPC 56 involved with Inspector Briggs, "Admiral" a movie where Daniel plays opposite Charles Dance, "Soft Lad" a movie written and directed by Leon Lopez and "Native" and Sci-Fi movie playing opposite Rupert Graves. Ellie Kendrick

Personal life

Brocklebank is gay and has said that he does not want to be stereotyped as an out actor who plays only gay roles.

Selected filmography

• Merlin (Young Merlin) (1998) Hallmark
• Monk Dawson (Young Dawson) (1998)
• Shakespeare in Love (Sam Gosse) (1998) Miramax
• The Hole (Martyn Taylor) (2001) Pathe
• The Hours (Rodney) (2002) Universal
• The Devil's Arithmetic (Schmuel Lubitch) (1999) Showtime
• Another Life (Newnie Graydon)
• Fair City (Nicky) (2008-) RT
• Sam's Circus (Pvt Mooch) (2000) Paramount
• Lord of the Flies (Ralph) (1995) RSC
• Mensch Mier (Ludwig) (1996) Leicester Haymarket
• The Tamer Tamed (Rowland) (2003-04) RSC
• Titus Andronicus (Chiron) (2003) RSC
• As you like it (Silvius) (2003) RSC
• Cressida (John Honyman) (2000) Almeida in the West End
• His Dark Materials (Brother Jasper) (2009) Birmingham Rep
• Release (Fath Jack Gillie) (2010) Parasol Pictures
• EastEnders (Roger Green) (2010) BBC1
• Casualty (Tom Watkins) (2011) BBC1
• Coronation Street (Billy Mayhew) (2014-) ITV
• WPC 56 (Carl Saunders) (2014-2015) BBC1
• Michiel de Ruyter (2015)
• Midsomer Murders (2015) (ITV) (Brian Grey) episode 17.3 "The Ballad of Midsomer County"
• Soft Lad (Jules) (2015)