Bertie Carvel
Robert Hugh Carvel (born 6 September 1977) is an English stage and screen actor. He has twice won a Laurence Olivier Award: for his performances as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical and Rupert Murdoch in Ink. For the latter role, he also won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.
Bertie Carvel | |
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Born | Robert Hugh Carvel 6 September 1977 Marylebone, London, England |
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | University of Sussex Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
Occupation | Actor, singer, director |
Years active | 2003–present |
Spouse(s) | Sally Scott ( m. 2019) |
Children | 1 |
On television, he is known for playing Jonathan Strange in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and as Simon, the cheating husband, in Doctor Foster.
Background
Carvel was born in Marylebone, London, the son of a psychologist mother and John Carvel, a journalist. Carvel was educated at University College School, Hampstead.[2] He gained a first class honours degree in English at the University of Sussex, going on to win a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (his acting training was paid for via scholarships from The Wall Trust and the Sir John Cass Foundation[3]), graduating in 2003 after a three-year course.[4]
Carvel is a Patron of the Globe Theatre's education department's 'Playing Shakespeare' programme, which provides free educational resources and free theatre tickets to secondary school students.[5] In 2013 he ran for and was elected to Equity's 11-person Stage Committee. He was re-elected for a further two-year term in 2015.[6]
Carvel is married to actress Sally Scott, who he wed on 5 January 2019 after dating for ten years. Their first child was born in May 2020.[7]
Theatre
Carvel has appeared in Revelations at the Hampstead Theatre, Rose Bernd at the Arcola Theatre, as Alexander Ashbrook in the 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 Royal National Theatre production of Helen Edmundson's Coram Boy,[8] in The Life of Galileo at the National Theatre, The Man of Mode at the National Theatre, Parade at the Donmar Warehouse and Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Carvel was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Parade in 2008. He won the award in 2012 for his performance as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical,[9] a production that won six other Oliviers. Carvel also won the UK's TMA Award for Best Performance in a Musical and was similarly nominated for the London's Evening Standard Award.[10] He played Enrico in Damned By Despair at the National Theatre.[11]
In March 2013, he reprised his role as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre.[12] This won him a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical and a nomination for Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, one of only a handful of nominations for an actor portraying a character of the opposite sex.[13][14]
From August to October 2015, Carvel played both Pentheus and Agave in Bakkhai at the Almeida Theatre.[15] Carvel also performed as Yank in the play The Hairy Ape at the Old Vic in November of the same year.
In February 2016, Carvel announced his directorial debut. He directed the play Strife at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, which opened in August 2016.
In September 2017, Carvel played the role of Rupert Murdoch in the play Ink by James Graham, which debuted at the Almeida Theatre before transferring to the West End.[16] In April 2019 Ink transferred to Broadway, with Carvel reprising his role. This performance won him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.
Roles in other media
Carvel has appeared in several other film, TV and theatre roles, including The Wrong Mans, Babylon, Doctor Who (episode "The Lazarus Experiment"), Sherlock (episode "The Blind Banker"), Bombshell, Hawking, The Crimson Petal and the White, Money and Midsomer Murders (episode "The Great and the Good"). He played Lord Carmarthen in John Adams. In the television film Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures, he played Christie's second husband Max Mallowan. Carvel appeared as Bamatabois in the film Les Misérables, based on the musical of the same name. Carvel is also the voice of the male Imperial Agent in the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic.
In 2015, Carvel starred as Jonathan Strange in the BBC One adaptation of Susanna Clarke's novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, opposite Eddie Marsan as Gilbert Norrell.[17] He played Nick Clegg in the Channel 4 drama Coalition and in September appeared as the unfaithful husband of Suranne Jones's title character in the BBC One thriller series Doctor Foster. The second series of Doctor Foster started filming in September 2016 and started broadcast in September 2017.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | Les Misérables | Bamatabois |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Hawking | George Ellis | Television film |
2004 | Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures | Max Mallowan | Television film |
2005 | Beethoven | Ferdinand Ries | 2 episodes |
2006 | Bombshell | Lieutenant Roddy Frost | 7 episodes |
2006 | Holby City | Martin Phillips | Episode: "Looking After Number One" |
2007 | Doctor Who | Mysterious Man | Episode: "The Lazarus Experiment" |
2008 | John Adams | Lord Carmarthen | Episode: "Reunion" |
2009 | Primeval | Ryan Mason | Episode 3, Season 2 |
2009 | Waking the Dead | Dr Dench | 2 episodes |
2009 | Midsomer Murders | Justin Hooper | Episode: "The Great and the Good" |
2010 | Sherlock | Sebastian Wilkes | Episode: "The Blind Banker" |
2010 | Just William | Uncle Neville | Episode: "Parrots for Ethel" |
2011 | The Crimson Petal and the White | Ashwell | 3 episodes |
2011 | Hidden | Alexander Wentworth | 4 episodes |
2012 | Restless | Mason Harding | Episode: "Part Two" |
2014 | Babylon | Finn Kirkwood | 7 episodes |
2014 | The Wrong Mans | Nathan Cross | Episode: "White Mans" |
2015 | Coalition | Nick Clegg | Television film |
2015 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Jonathan Strange | 7 episodes |
2015–present | Doctor Foster | Simon Foster | Two series, lead role |
2016 | Revolting Rhymes | Various voices | 2 episodes |
2017 | The Crown | Robin Day | Episode: "Marionettes" |
2018 | Big Cats | Narrator[18] | 3 episodes |
2020 | The Pale Horse | Zachariah Osborne | 2 episodes |
2020 | Baghdad Central | Frank Temple | 6 episodes |
Theatre
Year | Title | Role | Theatre | Refs. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2003 | Revelations | Jack | Hampstead Theatre | |
2004 | Victory? A Musical Drama For Peace | Uri | Donmar Warehouse | |
2005 | Rose Bernd | Heinzel/Policeman | Oxford Stage Company/Arcola Theatre/Dumbfounded Theatre | [19] |
2004 | Macbeth | Macbeth | Union Theatre, London | |
2005 | Faustus | Faustus | Etcetera Theatre | [20] |
2005–07 | Coram Boy | Alexander Ashbrook (adult) / Ensemble | National Theatre | [8][21] |
2005 | Professor Bernhardi | Dr Kurt Pflugfelder/Professor Filitz | Arcola Theatre | |
2006 | The Life of Galileo | Ludovico Marsili | Royal National Theatre | |
2007 | The Man of Mode | Medley | Royal National Theatre | |
2008 | The Pride | Oliver | Royal Court Theatre | |
2008 | Parade | Leo Frank | Donmar Warehouse | |
2008 | The Circle | Edward Luton | Chichester/Tour | |
2009 | Rope | Rupert Cadell | Almeida Theatre | |
2011 | Dr Dee | Dr Dee | Palace Theatre, Manchester | |
2010–13 | Matilda the Musical | Miss Trunchbull | Courtyard Theatre 9 November 2010 – 30 January 2011 |
|
Cambridge Theatre 25 October 2011 – July 2012 |
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Shubert Theatre 4 March 2013 – 1 September 2013 |
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2011 | Damned By Despair | Enrico | Royal National Theatre | |
2015 | Bakkhai | Pentheus, Agave | Almeida Theatre | |
2015 | The Hairy Ape | Yank | The Old Vic | |
2016 | Splendid's | Policeman | Trafalgar Studios Rehearsed reading |
|
2017–19 | Ink | Rupert Murdoch | Almeida Theatre 17 June – 5 August 2017 |
|
Duke of York's Theatre 9 September 2017 – 6 January 2018 |
||||
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre 2 April 2019 – 7 July 2019 |
Video games
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
2008 | Haze | Shane Carpenter |
2011 | Star Wars: The Old Republic | Male Imperial Agent |
2012 | The Secret World | The Forest God, Callisto |
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | Laurence Olivier Award | Best Actor in a Musical | Parade | Nominated |
2012 | Evening Standard Award | Best Actor | Matilda The Musical | Nominated |
Laurence Olivier Award | Best Actor in a Musical | Won | ||
TMA Award | Best Performance in a Musical | Won | ||
2013 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | Won | |
Tony Award | Best Actor in a Musical | Nominated | ||
2018 | Laurence Olivier Award | Best Supporting Actor | Ink | Won |
2019 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Nominated | |
Tony Award | Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play | Won |
References
- 73rd Tony Awards (Television broadcast). New York City: CBS. 9 June 2019.
- Kellaway, Kate (4 December 2011). "Bertie Carvel: 'The Trunch needs to be a tyrant over 5-year-olds'". The Guardian. London, UK.
- "Damned by Despair programme", National Theatre, London, UK, October 2012
- Profile Archived 5 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, ashbee.net; accessed 14 September 2014.
- "Drama and Me: Bertie Carvel". Teaching Drama Magazine. London, UK. Spring 2011.
- Smith, Alistair (15 July 2013). "Bertie Carvel among new faces elected to Equity committees". The Stage. London, UK.
- Billen, Andrew (30 January 2020). "From Matilda to Agatha Christie: why Bertie Carvel is the great transformer". The Times. London, UK.
- Taylor, Paul (18 November 2005). "Coram Boy, National Theatre, Olivier, London". The Independent.
- "Carvel Takes Home Best Actor". olivierawards.com. Olivier Awards. 15 April 2012. Archived from the original on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- "Evening Standard Theatre awards". London Evening Standard. 7 November 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
- "Bertie Carvel: My Damned By Despair character is on a bender of violence". metro.co.uk. Metro. 9 October 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- "Olivier Winner Bertie Carvel to Reprise Role as Evil Headmistress Miss Trunchbull in Matilda on Broadway". broadway.com. Broadway World. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- "Nominations Announced for 67th Annual Tony Awards" Archived 21 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Playbill.com; 30 April 2013.
- 2013 Drama Desk Nominations Announced - GIANT & HANDS ON A HARDBODY Lead with 9, Followed by MATILDA, PASSION & DROOD, broadwayworld.com; 29 April 2013.
- Clapp, Susannah (2 August 2015). "Bakkhai review -Ben Whishaw and Bertie Carvel share the honours". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
- Sulcas, Roslyn (21 September 2017). "Writing Rupert, Playing Murdoch, Making 'Ink'". The New York Times.
- "Bertie Carvel and Eddie Marsan to Star in BBC's JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL". Broadway World. 10 October 2013.
- "Big Cats". BBC iPlayer. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
- "Almeida - the Bakkhai - cast bios". Almeida. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- Szalwinska, Maxie (20 June 2005). "My Party This Way/Faustus". The Guardian. London, UK.
- Taylor, Paul (21 December 2006). "Coram Boy, National Theatre, London". The Independent.