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Russell Tovey
Born	14 November 1981 (1981-11-14) (age 28) Essex, UK
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994–present

Russell Tovey (born 14 November 1981 in Essex^[1]) is an English actor.

Biography

Tovey began his career as a child actor. Growing up in Billericay in Essex,^[2] he attended Shenfield High School.

His TV career started in 1994, when he was cast in Mud, a children's series broadcast on CBBC ^[2]. In 2004 he originated the role of Rudge in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys at the Royal National Theatre as well as touring to Broadway, Sydney, Wellington and Hong Kong and playing the role on radio and film adaptations.^[3][4][5][6]

In spring 2007, Tovey had a recurring role in BBC Three comedy Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, playing Rob's gay producer, Ben. In the same year he made guest appearances in BBC Three comedy Gavin & Stacey playing Budgie, a friend of Gavin and Smithy's, in three episodes, and then in the Doctor Who Christmas Special "Voyage of the Damned". Russell T Davies, the show's executive producer and lead writer, had suggested Tovey as a future replacement for David Tennant,^[7] before it was announced that the Eleventh Doctor would be played by Matt Smith. Tovey reprised his role as Midshipman Alonso Frame in the 2009/2010 Doctor Who Christmas special, The End of Time.

Tovey plays werewolf George Sands, one of three supernatural housemates in the comedy drama Being Human. The pilot premièred on BBC Three on 18 February 2008.^[8] A six-part series was commissioned with the first episode broadcast on 25 January 2009.^[9]

In March 2009, the actor played a leading role in A Miracle at the Royal Court Theatre as Gary Trudgill, a British soldier returning to Norfolk from abroad.^[10][11] On 8 March 2009 he presented the Award for Best Actress to Margaret Tyzack for her performance in The Chalk Garden at the Laurence Olivier Awards in Grosvenor House.^[12][13]

In 2009, Tovey has been working on the film Huge^[14] and will star in two television pilots: Young, Unemployed and Lazy (a BBC Three sitcom)^[15][16] and The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, a Channel 4 comedy with Spike Jonze and Will Arnett, written by David Cross and Shaun Pye.^{[17] [18]}

He also appears in three forthcoming shorts Drop^[19][20] (which premièred at the 2009 Rushes Soho Shorts Film Festival), Roar^[21] and In Passing^[22]. Roar premièred at the Palm Springs Film Festival on 24 June 2009.^[23]

In a 2008 interview in Attitude, Tovey expressed his desire to play darker roles: "really dark, fucked-up characters... like drag queens, rent boys, someone who has been abused, a rapist", though noting that he doesn't consider himself "fucked-up".^[24]

Writing

Tovey is also a playwright, he has had readings of his work at the Soho Theatre and National Theatre Studio. He had his play Walls produced at Battersea Arts Centre in London in 2003.

Personal life

Tovey is openly gay.^[24] In an interview with The Scotsman, Tovey said, "I came out to myself when I was about 15 or 16, and to my parents when I was 18. When you come out to your parents, that's when it's properly official... The only thing I can give to young gay people is that when I was growing up there were no role models that were blokey, that were men. Everybody was flamboyant and camp, and I remember going, 'That's not me, so even though I think I am gay, I don't think I fit into this world.'"^[25] He stands 5'9.75" (177cm) and is currently single.^[25]

Selected credits

Television

Radio

Theatre

Film

References

External links

• Russell Tovey at the Internet Movie Database
• Russell Tovey at the Internet Broadway Database