Don Gilét (born 17 January 1967) is an English actor, best known for his roles in BBC productions ''
Babyfather'', ''
EastEnders'' and ''
55 Degrees North
''55 Degrees North'' is a BBC television drama series starring Don Gilet as DS Nicky Cole, a London detective relocated to Newcastle upon Tyne after exposing police corruption. Dervla Kirwan co-stars as Claire Maxwell, an ambitious solicito ...
''.
Personal life
He was brought up in
Caldmore
Caldmore ( ) is a suburb of Walsall in the West Midlands, England. It is a historic village formerly in Staffordshire.
History
The settlement of Caldmore grew up around an important road junction, the shape of which defined an open space of r ...
,
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
, with two older sisters. He attended Blue Coat Academy Church of England and Sunday school at Caldmore Gospel Hall in Caldmore, and the
Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts
Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, formerly Mountview Theatre School, is a drama school in Peckham, south London, England, founded in 1945. The Academy provides specialist vocational training in acting and musical theatre, as well as production ...
. He currently resides with his family in
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...
. Gilét is close friends with ''
EastEnders'' co-star
Diane Parish
Diane Parish (born 1 November 1969) is an English actress, who has been portraying the character Denise Fox on the BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders'' since 2006
Born in Chelsea, London and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Pari ...
, both having been in ''
Babyfather'' together.
Career
Gilét's first television appearance was on the Channel 4 dating show ''
Streetmate'', where he was interviewed as the friend of a participant. His first major role was playing Johnny Lindo in ''
Babyfather'' (opposite future EastEnders co-star
Diane Parish
Diane Parish (born 1 November 1969) is an English actress, who has been portraying the character Denise Fox on the BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders'' since 2006
Born in Chelsea, London and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Pari ...
), before landing the lead role in the detective series ''
55 Degrees North
''55 Degrees North'' is a BBC television drama series starring Don Gilet as DS Nicky Cole, a London detective relocated to Newcastle upon Tyne after exposing police corruption. Dervla Kirwan co-stars as Claire Maxwell, an ambitious solicito ...
'', as Detective Sergeant Nicky Cole. In 2006, he played Leo Charles in ''
The Line of Beauty
''The Line of Beauty'' is a 2004 Man Booker Prize-winning novel by Alan Hollinghurst.
Plot
The novel is set in Britain in three parts, taking place in 1983, 1986 and 1987. The story surrounds the young gay protagonist, Nick Guest. Nick is mid ...
'' and had a prominent role in the ''
Doctor Who'' Christmas episode "
The Runaway Bride". He often performs his own stunts on set.
In 2001, Gilét appeared in a commercial for Apple's
iMac G4
The iMac G4 is an all-in-one personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from January 2002 to August 2004. It replaced the iMac G3 and was succeeded by the iMac G5.
Design and marketing
The iMac G4 featured an ...
Computer. The commercial was named "Window Shopping" and displayed Gilét making certain gestures towards the
iMac
iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms.
In it ...
, which the computer later copied. He also appeared as a store manager in a staff training video for
Sainsbury's
J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales.
Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...
supermarkets.
He has had minor appearances in ''
Casualty
Casualty may refer to:
*Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster
**Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare
* The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...
'', ''
Holby City'', ''
Silent Witness'' and ''
The Bill
''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983.
The programme focused o ...
''.
Gilét featured in the music video for
Gabrielle's 2001 hit "
Out of Reach". In 2011, he featured in a music video for the song 'I Want You to Remember' by solo artist I Am Spartacus.
In theatre, he has appeared in ''
As You Like It'' and ''
The Alchemist
An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy.
Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to:
Books and stories
* ''The Alchemist'' (novel), the translated title of a 1988 allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho
* ''The Alchemist'' (play), a play by Be ...
''.
In April 2008, he joined the popular BBC television soap opera ''
EastEnders'' playing serial killer
Lucas Johnson
Lucas Johnson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Don Gilet. He made his first on-screen appearance on 3 April 2008. Lucas is introduced as a reformed drug addict and criminal-turned-preacher who appears ...
. Gilét's character left ''EastEnders'' on 30 July 2010.
In 2010, he appeared as Abanazar in the Churchill Theatre Bromley's Christmas pantomime ''
Aladdin'' alongside
Melinda Messenger
Melinda Jane Messenger (born 23 February 1971) is an English television presenter and former glamour model and Page Three girl. She presented the magazine programme ''Live from Studio Five'' and was formerly the co-presenter of the reality show ...
. He followed up this performance in 2011 by appearing at the Grove Theatre,
Dunstable
Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...
in ''
Jack and the Beanstalk
"Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Co ...
'', which also featured his ''EastEnders'' co-star
Gemma Bissix
Gemma Bissix (born 6 June 1983) is an English actress. She has been acting since the age of 9. Her most prominent roles have been in soap operas, as Clare Bates in ''EastEnders'' (1993–1998, 2008) and Clare Devine in '' Hollyoaks'' (2006–20 ...
.
In May 2013, Gilét played the roles of Fuliginous, Ruislip & Blackfriar in a BBC radio adaptation of Neil Gaiman's ''
Neverwhere
''Neverwhere'' is an urban fantasy television miniseries by Neil Gaiman that first aired in 1996 on BBC 2. The series is set in "London Below", a magical realm coexisting with the more familiar London, referred to as "London Above". It was d ...
'', adapted by Dirk Maggs.
In 2014, Gilét joined the cast of
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
In 2015, Gilét re-joined the cast of BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' to reprise his role of Lucas Johnson. The first episode that Gilét was featured in was aired on 1 January 2016. His character returned later that year, when his character returned to his villainous way by trying to escape from prison. Gilét's character departed the show again on 10 March 2016. In 2017, Gilét joined the TV series ''
'', playing psychologist Blake Albrighton. The character made his debut in the series's first episode on 11 June 2017.
In 2020, it was announced that Gilét was set to return to the BBC soap opera,
to reprise his role of Lucas Johnson. The character returned on 25 December 2020 and departed on 18 March 2021.
''.
'' (2013) – Douglas Taylor
*''What Does the K Stand For?'' (2013) – Vincent Amos (radio comedy)
*''
'' (2017) – Blake Albrighton
*''Death on the Tyne '' (2018) – Alan
*''Scarborough'' (2019) – Joe Cassidy
*''