David Leon

David Jeremy Leon (born 24 July 1980) is an English actor, director, writer and producer. As an actor, he is known for appearing in Rankin and Chris Cottam's 2002 feature film, ''Lives of the Saints'' (as the character Othello), and director Guy Ritchie's 2008 feature, ''RocknRolla'', as Malcolm. From 2011 to 2014, Leon co-starred with Brenda Blethyn in the ITV detective series '' Vera.''

Leon's directorial debut, the 2010 short, ''Man and Boy'', co-directed with Marcus McSweeney, won the award for best narrative short at the Tribeca Film Festival. His next short film, the 2012 ''Orthodox'', an entry in the 58th BFI's London Film Festival, led to his first feature-length film of the same name, which was released in 2015.

Early life and education

Leon was born on 24 July 1980 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, where his mother, Ann J. Brown, was a secretary and his father, Anthony N. Leon, worked in a power station. He is Jewish on his father's side and describes himself as half-Jewish. He briefly played for Blackburn Rovers F.C. He is a graduate of the National Youth Theatre. He was educated at Dame Allan's School.

Career

Acting and presenting

In 2002, Leon worked as a presenter on CITV. He dropped out of drama school in 2004 to shoot the film ''Alexander'' with Oliver Stone in Morocco. From 2004–2005 he acted in 12 epidodes of the TV series, ''Cutting It'', playing the character Troy Gillespie. In 2006, Leon's acting roles included the film ''These Foolish Things,'' which also starred Lauren Bacall, Anjelica Huston, Terence Stamp, and Zoë Tapper, and in 2007 he played Billy the Kid in the BBC
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