Samuel Barnett Biography

Samuel Barnett (born 25 April 1980) is an English actor. He has performed on stage, film, television and radio, and achieved recognition for his work on the stage and film versions of The History Boys by Alan Bennett. His television performances include roles in the BBC comedy Twenty Twelve and in the Showtime drama Penny Dreadful. On 29 March 2016 it was announced that he had been cast as Dirk Gently in the BBC America adaptation of the Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency book series by Douglas Adams.

Early life

Barnett was born in Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. He started performing at an early age before moving to London to study acting at LAMDA. Barnett is one of five children.

Career

Barnett appeared in the original London stage production of Alan Bennett's play The History Boys, as well as in the New York, Sydney, Wellington and Hong Kong productions and radio and film versions of the play. He had been involved in The History Boys from its very first reading.

In 2009 he played John Everett Millais in the BBC series Desperate Romantics, and Joseph Severn in the film Bright Star.

He appeared at the National Theatre in Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton which ran from 20 April - 4 July 2010. From July 2012, he appeared in an all-male-cast as Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare's Richard III at the Globe Theatre in London alongside Mark Rylance in the title role, also playing the role of Sebastian in Twelfth Night. The production transferred to the Apollo Theatre in the West End, opening 2 November 2012 and running for a limited engagement. Both Twelfth Night and Richard III transferred to Broadway in 2013 and played at the Belasco Theatre until February 2014. In the Broadway productions, Barnett reprised his role as Elizabeth Woodville in Richard III and took on the role of Viola (previously played by Johnny Flynn in London) in Twelfth Night.

Recognition and awards

Barnett was nominated for Evening Standard Award as Most Promising Newcomer for his role in The Marriage of Figaro in 2002. He won Best Newcomer & Best Supporting Actor in a play at the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers Choice Awards for his work on the original production of The History Boys. He was nominated for the 29th annual Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. He won a 2006 Drama Desk Award and was nominated for a 2006 Tony Award for his work on the Broadway production.

Barnett was nominated for the 2006 British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer (On Screen) for his work on the film version of The History Boys.

In 2014, Barnett received a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his work in Twelfth Night.

Selected credits

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Theatre
2002	The Accrington Pals	Reggie	Minerva Theatre, Chichester
	The Marriage of Figaro	Cherubino	Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
2003-4	His Dark Materials	Pantalaimon	Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank
2004-6	The History Boys	Posner	Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank (2004-5) Lyric Theatre, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (2006) St. James Theatre, Wellington (2006) Sydney Theatre, Sydney (2006) Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway (2006)
2005	When You Cure Me	Peter	Bush Theatre, London
2007-08	Dealer's Choice	Carl	Menier Chocolate Factory and Trafalgar Studios, London
2010	The Whisky Taster	Barney	Bush Theatre, London
	The Man	Man	Finborough Theatre, London
	Women Beware Women	Leantio	Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank
2011	Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead	Rosencrantz	Chichester Festival Theatre and Theatre Royal Haymarket
	66 Books	St. Paul	Bush Theatre, London
2012	The Way of the World	Witwoud	Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
	Richard III	Elizabeth Woodville	Shakespeare's Globe and Apollo Theatre, London
	Twelfth Night	Sebastian	Shakespeare's Globe and Apollo Theatre, London
2013-14	Richard III	Elizabeth Woodville	Belasco Theatre, Broadway
	Twelfth Night	Viola	Belasco Theatre, Broadway
2015	The Beaux' Stratagem	Aimwell	Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank

Television

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes
2001	Coupling	sex shop assistant	BBC	Series 2 Episode 2 "My Dinner in Hell"
2002	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Brian Byrne	BBC	Series 1 Episode 1 "Well-Schooled in Murder"
2002-3	Strange	Doddington	BBC
2003	Doctors	Charlie Ambrose	BBC	Series 5 Episode 153 "All an Illusion"
	The Royal	Joe Steeples	ITV	Series 3 Episode 5 "Poison"
2006	Alexander Hamilton	Philip Hamilton's schoolmate	PBS	Series 19, Episode 15 "Alexander Hamilton"
2007	Wilfred Owen: A Remembrance Tale	Wilfred Owen	BBC
	John Adams	Thomas Boylston Adams	HBO
2008	Beautiful People	Adult Simon Doonan / narrator	BBC
	Crooked House	Billy	BBC
2009	Desperate Romantics	John Millais	BBC
	Beautiful People: Series 2	Adult Simon Doonan / narrator	BBC
	Agatha Christie's Marple	Sergeant Tiddler	ITV	The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
2011	Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps	Leonard	BBC
	Shakespeare in Italy	Romeo Montague	BBC
2012	Twenty Twelve	Danny	BBC
2015	Vicious	Young Stuart	ITV
2015	Not Safe for Work	Nathanial	Channel 4
2016	Penny Dreadful	Renfield	Showtime
2016	Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency	Dirk Gently	BBC America

Film

Year	Title	Role
2005	Mrs Henderson Presents	Paul
2006	The History Boys	Posner
2009	Bright Star	Joseph Severn
2012	Love Tomorrow	Cal
2015	Jupiter Ascending	Advocate Bob
2015	The Lady in the Van	Out of work Actor

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Station	Notes
2004	Fighting for Words	Thomas Moynihan	BBC Radio 4
2005	The History Boys	Posner	BBC Radio 3
	When You Cure Me	Peter	BBC Radio 3
2007	Down and Out in Paris and London	George Orwell	BBC Radio 4
2008	The Babington Plot	Thomas Salisbury	BBC Radio 4
2009	The Quest	Mordred	BBC Radio 4
	Joan of Arc, and How She Became a Saint	Dauphin of France	BBC Radio 4
	Turing's Test	Alan Turing	Made In Manchester
2010	Spitfire	Tony	BBC Radio 4
	Translations	Yolland	BBC Radio 4
	I, Claudius	Caligula	BBC Radio 4
	A Tiny Bit Marvellous	Oscar	BBC Radio 4
2011	Wuthering Heights	Edgar Linton/Linton Heathcliff	BBC Radio 3
	My Week With Marilyn	Colin Clark (narrator)	BBC Radio 4
2012	Dickens' London	Charles Dickens	BBC Radio 4
	The Voysey Inheritance	Edward Voysey	BBC Radio 3
2013	Tosca's Kiss	Rospo	BBC Radio 3
	Jill	John Kemp	BBC Radio 4
	Denmark Hill	Charles	BBC Radio 4
	Sometimes into the Arms of God	Cecil Beaton	BBC Radio 4

Audio drama

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	The Beast of Orlok (Doctor Who: The 8th Doctor Adventures)	Hans	Big Finish
2016	Torchwood: "Ghost Mission"	Norton Folgate	Big Finish

Soundtrack

Year	Title	Notes
2006	The History Boys	performer: L'Accordoniste, Bewitched, Bye Bye Blackbird