Alex Jennings

Infobox actor


name = Alex Jennings
imagesize =
caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|1957|5|10
birthname =
location = flagicon|England Essex, England
yearsactive = 1988 – present
laurenceolivierawards = Best Comedy Performance
1988 "Too Clever By Half"
Best Actor
1995 "Peer Gynt"
Best Actor in a Musical
2002 "My Fair Lady"

Alex Jennings (born 10 May 1957) is an award-winning English actor perhaps best known for his supporting role as Charles, Prince of Wales in "The Queen" (2006) alongside Helen Mirren.

Personal life

Jennings was born in Essex, and attended Abbs Cross Technical High School in Hornchurch and then studied English and Theatre studies at the University of Warwick, graduating in 1978. He trained as an actor for two years at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

He has two children with his long-term partner.

Career

He began his career in regional repertory theatre, playing a range of roles including Robespierre in "The Scarlet Pimpernel". For his performance as Gloumov in "Too Clever by Half" at the Old Vic, he won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1988. He was nominated in the same category the following year for portraying Dorante in "The Liar". He has performed for the Royal National Theatre in a number of plays.

His Royal Shakespeare Company roles include the title role in "Peer Gynt" (for which he won an Olivier Award 1995/6 for Best Actor), the title role in "Richard II", (opposite Anton Lesser as Henry Bolingbroke, Theseus/Oberon in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (UK, American tour and Broadway), Angelo in "Measure for Measure", Benedick in "Much Ado About Nothing", and the title role in "Hamlet". In 2002 he appeared in the Cameron Mackintosh/Trevor Nunn revival of "My Fair Lady" at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and won an Olivier Award as Best Actor in a Musical.

His film appearances include "The Queen", "War Requiem", the RSC's film version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Lord Mark in the Oscar-nominated movie "The Wings of the Dove", "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", and "The Four Feathers". His television appearances include"The State Within" "Smiley's People", "The Franchise Affair", "Inspector Morse", "Alfonso Bonzo", the title role in "Ashenden", "Dead Poets Society", "Inspector Alleyn", "Hard Times", "Bad Blood", and Peter Ackroyd's "London". His many radio credits include "Casino Royale", "The Way of the World", Vorbis in Small Gods, and "The Old Curiosity Shop". He has also recorded the audio versions of the books "The Horse and His Boy", Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra by C. S. Lewis and "Attention All Shipping" by Charlie Connelly which was selected in June 2008 as one of the top forty audiobooks of all time.

In 2007 he played Gary in "Present Laughter" at the NT, and the Rev Hutton in the BBC series "Cranford".

He also played John Le Mesurier in the one-off BBC drama "Hancock & Joan".

In June 2008 he made his operatic debut at the ENO in Robert Carsen's production of Bernstein's "Candide", in which he played Voltaire and Doctor Pangloss.

External links

*imdb name|id=0421105|name=Alex Jennings [http://www.alexjennings.moonfruit.com Alex Jennings site]