Allen Leech (born 18 May 1981) is an Irish actor best known for his role as
Tom Branson
This is a list of characters from ''Downton Abbey'', a British period drama television series created by Julian Fellowes and co-produced by Carnival Films and Masterpiece for ITV and PBS, respectively. Some also appear in two film sequels: ...
on the
historical drama
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...
series ''
Downton Abbey
''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States on P ...
'' and as Paul Prenter in the 2018 biopic ''
Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack ...
''. He made his professional acting debut with a small part in a 1998 production of ''
A Streetcar Named Desire
''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of person ...
'', made his first major film appearance as Vincent Cusack in ''
Cowboys & Angels
''Cowboys & Angels'' is an Irish film released on 14 May 2003 at the Cannes Film Market in France. Set in Limerick city, the movie stars Michael Legge as Shane and Allen Leech as Vincent, Shane's gay roommate. The film was directed by David Gl ...
'', and earned an
Irish Film & Television Awards
The IFTA Film & Drama Awards are awards given by the Irish Film & Television Academy for Irish television and film, the awards began in 1999. The ceremonies recognise Irish creative talent working in film, drama, and television, and winners receiv ...
nomination in 2004 with his performance as Mo Chara in ''
Man About Dog
''Man About Dog'' is a 2004 Irish comedy film starring Allen Leech, Ciaran Nolan and Tom Murphy. The film was distributed by Redbus Film Distribution and directed by Paddy Breathnach.
Plot
The main characters are Mo Chara, Scud Murphy and Cer ...
''. Leech played
Marcus Agrippa
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (; BC – 12 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law, and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus. He was responsible for the construction of some of the most notable build ...
on the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
historical drama series ''
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
''.
Early life
Leech was born in
Killiney
Killiney () is an affluent seaside resort and suburb in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. It lies south of neighbouring Dalkey, east of Ballybrack and Sallynoggin and north of Shankill. The place grew around the 11th century Killiney Churc ...
,
County Dublin
"Action to match our speech"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg
, map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...
, to David Leech, the CEO of a computer systems company, and Kay Leech.
He is the third of four children;
he has an older brother, Greg, an older sister, Alli, and a younger brother, Simon.
He attended
St Michael's College.
Leech became interested in acting at 11 when he was given the part of the
Cowardly Lion
The Cowardly Lion is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is depicted as an African lion, but like all animals in Oz, he can speak.
Since lions are supposed to be "The Kings of Beasts," the Cowardly ...
in a school production of ''
The Wizard of Oz'' and found he loved being on stage.
He recalled how he immediately decided to become an actor when
Peter McDonald told him how acting is a profession on the last night of the production's run.
Afterwards, drama became the "focal point" of Leech's teenage years, apart from his family life, and drama and family support helped him through his school years. He became set on acting after winning a small role in a 1998 production of ''
A Streetcar Named Desire
''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of person ...
'' at the
Gate Theatre
The Gate Theatre is a Theater (structure), theatre on Cavendish Row in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1928.
History Beginnings
The Gate Theatre was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir with Daisy Bannard Cogley and Ge ...
.
He earned a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
and a
Master's Degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in Drama and Theatre Studies from
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
,
later noting this was a "loophole" in his parents' stipulation that he earn a degree to fall back on if he failed to have success as an actor.
He landed his first major roles in ''
Cowboys & Angels
''Cowboys & Angels'' is an Irish film released on 14 May 2003 at the Cannes Film Market in France. Set in Limerick city, the movie stars Michael Legge as Shane and Allen Leech as Vincent, Shane's gay roommate. The film was directed by David Gl ...
'' and ''
Man About Dog
''Man About Dog'' is a 2004 Irish comedy film starring Allen Leech, Ciaran Nolan and Tom Murphy. The film was distributed by Redbus Film Distribution and directed by Paddy Breathnach.
Plot
The main characters are Mo Chara, Scud Murphy and Cer ...
'' while at Trinity, and he has admitted that he did little schoolwork because he spent his time on auditions and acting.
Career
![Allen Leech at the Malibu Film Society by Don Ramey Logan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Allen_Leech_at_the_Malibu_Film_Society_by_Don_Ramey_Logan.jpg)
Leech's first professional stage role was in 1998 at
the Gate in their production of ''
A Streetcar Named Desire
''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of person ...
''. "I was the gentleman caller to
Frances McDormand
Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and producer. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Em ...
's Blanche Dubois. The Coen brothers were walking backstage, and me a naive 16-year-old."
He appeared as Willi in the ''Queen and Peacock'', at the Garter Lane Arts Centre. The following years, Leech was in
Tom Murphy's ''The Morning After Optimism'' and then
Hugh Leonard
Hugh Leonard (9 November 1926 – 12 February 2009) was an Irish dramatist, television writer, and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote nearly 30 full-length plays, 10 one-act plays, three volumes of essay, two autobiograph ...
's ''
Da'' at the
Abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The conce ...
.
Leech's breakthrough film performance was in ''
Cowboys and Angels'', in which he played Vincent, a gay fashion student, followed by a role in the 2004 cross-country caper film ''
Man About Dog
''Man About Dog'' is a 2004 Irish comedy film starring Allen Leech, Ciaran Nolan and Tom Murphy. The film was distributed by Redbus Film Distribution and directed by Paddy Breathnach.
Plot
The main characters are Mo Chara, Scud Murphy and Cer ...
''.
Leech played the role of Shane Kirwan in the Ireland's
RTÉ
(RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...
series ''Love Is the Drug'', in which he received a Best Actor nomination from the
Irish Film and Television Awards
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
. He followed that up with the role of Willy in the television series ''
Legend
A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...
'', which is the story of three different Irish families.
He received a Best Supporting Actor nomination from
Irish Film and Television Awards
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
for his performance.
In 2007, Leech appeared in the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
drama series ''
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
'' as
Marcus Agrippa
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (; BC – 12 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law, and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus. He was responsible for the construction of some of the most notable build ...
, Octavian's top soldier and friend.
The film, ''Rewind'', opened in Ireland on 25 March 2011.
In 2010, he appeared on the small screen in ''
The Tudors
''The Tudors'' is a historical fiction television series set primarily in 16th-century England, created and written by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime. The series was a collaboration among ...
'' as the doomed
Francis Dereham
Francis Dereham (c. 1506/09 – executed ) was a Tudor courtier whose involvement with Henry VIII's fifth Queen, Catherine Howard, in her youth, prior to engagement with the king was eventually found out and led to his arrest. The information ...
, former lover of
Catherine Howard
Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the s ...
. Leech also appeared in ITV 2010s television series ''
Downton Abbey
''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States on P ...
'' as chauffeur Tom Branson, whose twin beliefs in
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
and
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The develop ...
clash with those of the
British upper class. He played the role of officer Sam Leonard in television series ''
Primeval
Primeval may refer to:
* Primeval forest, an area of forest that has attained great age
* Primeval number, a positive integer satisfying certain conditions
* Primeval history, name given by biblical scholars to the first eleven chapters of the Bo ...
'' in 2011 in series five. Leech also starred in the 2012 film adaptation ''
The Sweeney
''The Sweeney'' is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective Ins ...
''.
[ In 2014 he starred alongside ]Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a British Academy Television Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence O ...
, as the spy John Cairncross
John Cairncross (25 July 1913 – 8 October 1995) was a British civil servant who became an intelligence officer and spy during the Second World War. As a Soviet double agent, he passed to the Soviet Union the raw Tunny decryptions that influ ...
, in ''The Imitation Game
''The Imitation Game'' is a 2014 American historical drama film directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore, based on the 1983 biography '' Alan Turing: The Enigma'' by Andrew Hodges. The film's title quotes the name of the game cry ...
''.
Leech was voted sexiest Irish male in 2005 in ''U Magazine
U or u, is the twenty-first and sixth-to-last letter and fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. La ...
''. He was named one of GQ's 50 best dressed men in Britain in 2015.
In 2017, Leech appeared alongside Ginnifer Goodwin
Jennifer Michelle "Ginnifer" Goodwin (born May 22, 1978) is an American actress. She is known for her starring role as Margene Heffman in the HBO drama series ''Big Love'' (2006–2011) and Snow White / Mary Margaret Blanchard in the ABC fanta ...
in the Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
stage production of ''Constellations
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
The origins of the earliest constellation ...
''. The play ran from June 14 to July 23, 2017, at the Geffen Playhouse
The Geffen Playhouse (or the Geffen) is a not-for-profit theater company founded by Gilbert Cates in 1995. It produces plays in two theaters in Geffen Playhouse, which is owned by University of California Los Angeles. The Playhouse is located i ...
.
Leech played Paul Prenter, who was briefly Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...
's manager and male lover, in the biopic
A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...
''Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack ...
'' (2018), which earned him a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Leech reprised his role as Tom Branson in the feature films ''Downton Abbey
''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States on P ...
'' (2019) and '' Downton Abbey: A New Era'' (2022). He has an upcoming role in the crime drama '' The Vanishing Triangle'' opposite India Mullen.
Personal life
In February 2018, Leech announced his engagement to actress Jessica Blair Herman. They were married in an outdoor ceremony on 5 January 2019 at the Alisal Ranch and Resort in Solvang, California
Solvang (; ) is a city in Santa Barbara County, California. It is located in the Santa Ynez Valley. The population was 6,126 at the 2020 census, up from 5,245 at the 2010 census. Solvang was founded in 1911 and incorporated as a city on May ...
. Guests at the ceremony included Leech's ''Downton Abbey'' costars Michelle Dockery
Michelle Suzanne Dockery (born 15 December 1981) is an English television and film actress. She is best known for her leading performance as Lady Mary Crawley in the ITV television period drama series ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2015), for which ...
and Dan Stevens
Daniel Jonathan Stevens (born 10 October 1982) is a British actor and writer. He first drew international attention for his role as Matthew Crawley in the ITV acclaimed period drama series ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2012). He also starred as D ...
, as well as his ''Bohemian Rhapsody'' costars Rami Malek
Rami Said Malek (; , ; born May 12, 1981) is an American actor. He is known for portraying computer hacker Elliot Alderson in the USA Network television series ''Mr. Robot'' (2015–2019), for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outs ...
, Gwilym Lee
Gwilym Lee (born 24 November 1983) is a Welsh actor. He is best known for his roles in '' Jamestown'', ''Midsomer Murders'', ''Top End Wedding'', ''The Great'', and for playing guitarist Brian May in the Queen biopic ''Bohemian Rhapsody''.
Earl ...
, and Lucy Boynton
Lucy Boynton (born January 17, 1994) is a British-American actress. Raised in London, she made her professional debut as the young Beatrix Potter in '' Miss Potter'' (2006). She starred in television productions '' Ballet Shoes'' (2007), '' Sens ...
. In September 2019, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Stage
Appearances
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
RTÉ Legend Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leech, Allen
1981 births
Living people
Irish male film actors
Irish male stage actors
Irish male television actors
Irish male video game actors
Irish male voice actors
People from Killiney
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
20th-century Irish male actors
21st-century Irish male actors
People educated at St Michael's College, Dublin
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners