Lenny Rush (born 18 March 2009) is a British BAFTA-winning child actor. He is best known for his work on the

Daisy May Cooper Daisy May Cooper (born 1 August 1986) is an English actress and writer. She won the 2018 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for playing Kerry Mucklowe in the BBC Three series ''This Country'', which she co-created and co-wrote wi ...

comedy drama series '' Am I Being Unreasonable?'' and on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

series '' Dodger''. He received a breakthrough award at the 2023

National Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

. He won two awards at the 2023

Royal Television Society Programme Awards The Royal Television Society Programme Awards, (often referred to as the RTS Awards) seek to recognise programmes or individuals who have made a positive and material contribution to their genre: either because their content or originality in fo ...

, winning the Breakthrough Award, and best Comedy Performance (male).

Early life

Born to Steve and Lisa Rush, Lenny is from

Burnham-on-Crouch Burnham-on-Crouch is a town and civil parish in the Maldon District of Essex in the East of England. It lies on the north bank of the River Crouch. It is one of Britain's leading places for yachting. The civil parish extends east of the town t ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Career

Rush first appeared on camera on the

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...

documentary ''Our Family''. He began acting locally at the

Pauline Quirke Pauline Perpetua Sheen ( Quirke; born 8 July 1959) is an English actress who has played Sharon Theodopolopodous in the long-running comedy series '' Birds of a Feather'' (1988–1999, 2014–2017). For this role, she won the 1990 British Comed ...

Academy in

. He played roles on

series ''

Apple Tree House ''Apple Tree House'' is a television drama series produced by CBeebies for children ages 1 to 6. It is set on the fictitious Apple Tree House estate in London, and filmed in Bromley-by-Bow. It was produced by Five Apples Ltd for the BBC. Apple Tre ...

'' and CBBC's ''

The Dumping Ground ''The Dumping Ground'' (also informally referred to as ''The DG'') is a British children's television drama series that focuses on the lives and experiences of young people who live in a children's home with their care workers in care. The ser ...

'' and had played Tiny Tim in versions of ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

'' both on stage at

The Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit organization, not-for-profit producing house, producing theatre in Waterloo, London, Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Th ...

in London in 2017 and 2018, and on-screen in a

Steven Knight Steven Knight (born 1 April 1959) is a British screenwriter, film director and film producer. Knight wrote the screenplays for the films ''Closed Circuit'', '' Dirty Pretty Things'', and ''Eastern Promises'', and also wrote and directed the f ...

televised retelling of the

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

classic in 2019. Rush was given a series regular role in the comedy drama ''Dodger'' alongside

Christopher Eccleston Christopher Eccleston (; born 16 February 1964) is an English actor. A two-time BAFTA Award nominee, he is best known for his television and film work, which includes his role as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC sci-fi series '' ...

. Initially a small role called "The Sweeper", the part was expanded for Rush and given the character name Morgan. Rush also had the role of Ollie, the son of

’s character, in BBC One comedy '' Am I Being Unreasonable?'' in which he was able to improvise as well as perform lines. He received praise for his performance in the show with

Lucy Mangan Lucy Katherine Mangan''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' (born 1974) is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for ''The Guardian''. A major part of her writing is related t ...

writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' “What a gift they have in Rush, who has the comic chops and emotional range of an actor twice his age, and the kind of chemistry with Cooper that is an absolute joy to watch." He also made a notable appearance on

charity money-raising show '' Children In Need'' in 2022. Rush won the Breakthrough Award, and Comedy Performance (Male) Award, for ''Am I Being Unreasonable?'' at the

in March 2023. In June 2023, it was announced that Rush would portray Morris in the fourteenth series of ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. In October 2023, it was announced that Rush would become the first-ever child presenter at the age of 14 to co-host the 2023 ''Children in Need'' appeal. In November 2023 Rush was the winner of '' Taskmaster'' New Year’s Treat 2024.

Accolades

Rush was voted Best Breakthrough at the ''I Talk Telly Awards'' in December 2022. It was announced in January 2023 that Rush would be receiving a breakthrough award at the 2023

. On 29 March 2023 Rush won two awards at the

, winning the Breakthrough Award, and for best Comedy Performance (male). In May 2023, Rush won the BAFTA for Male Performance in a Comedy Programme for his work on ''Am I Being Unreasonable?''

Personal life

Rush has a medical condition called

spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (abbreviated to SED more often than SDC) is a rare disorder of bone growth that results in dwarfism, characteristic skeletal abnormalities, and occasionally problems with vision and hearing. The name of t ...

, a condition that affects his growth, resulting in

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dw ...

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rush, Lenny Living people People from Burnham-on-Crouch British male child actors 2009 births Best Male Comedy Performance BAFTA Award (television) winners 21st-century British male actors British male television actors Actors with dwarfism Male actors from Essex Television presenters with disabilities British male comedians Comedians from Essex