Maxton Gig Beesley Jr. (born 16 April 1971) is an English actor and musician. He has appeared in a variety of television shows such as ''

Bodies Bodies may refer to: * The plural of body * ''Bodies'' (2004 TV series), BBC television programme * Bodies (upcoming TV series), an upcoming British crime thriller limited series * "Bodies" (''Law & Order''), 2003 episode of ''Law & Order'' * ...

'', ''

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', often known simply as ''Tom Jones'', is a comic novel by English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. It is a ''Bildungsroman'' and a picaresque novel. It was first published on 28 February 1749 in L ...

'', '' Survivors'', '' Mad Dogs'', ''

Homeland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethni ...

'', '' Suits'', '' The Last Enemy'', ''

Ordinary Lies ''Ordinary Lies'' is a British television drama series that was first broadcast on BBC One on 17 March 2015. The six-part first series, written by Danny Brocklehurst, is set in a car showroom. The second, also in six-parts, is set in the warehous ...

'', Jamestown, The Outsider, Operation Fortune, and most recently Kingdom.

Early life

Beesley was born on 16 April 1971 in Burnage, Manchester. His father, Maxton Beesley Sr, is a professional jazz drummer and actor, and his mother was a jazz singer who performed under the stage name Chris Marlowe. He has a step-brother, Jason Milligan, who is also an actor. He has a brother Gary who is a teacher. His parents divorced when he was a baby. His middle name was inspired by the American actor

Gig Young Gig Young (born Byron Elsworth Barr; November 4, 1913 – October 19, 1978) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in ''Come Fill the Cup'' (1952) and '' Teacher's Pet'' ...

. His father was also a regular guest on the Ted Rogers show ''3-2-1'', doing impressions amidst several sketches.

Career

Acting

Beesley studied in New York under teacher Sheila Gray. He is an advocate for

method acting Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...

and approaches all his roles with this technique. Beesley came to prominence with his first major acting role in BBC's ''

'', a 1997 television mini-series based on the book of the same name. He then appeared in the film ''

Kill Me Later ''Kill Me Later'' is a 2001 film directed by Dana Lustig and starring Selma Blair and Max Beesley; it also features Brendan Fehr and Keegan Connor Tracy. Synopsis Blair plays Shawn, a loan officer at a bank who is having an affair with the bank ...

'' alongside

Selma Blair Selma Blair Beitner (born June 23, 1972) is an American actress. She played a number of roles in films and on television before obtaining recognition for her leading role in the film '' Brown's Requiem'' (1998). Her breakthrough came when she s ...

. He also starred in

Mike Figgis Michael Figgis (born 28 February 1948) is an English film director, screenwriter, and composer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for his work in ''Leaving Las Vegas'' (1995). Figgis was the founding patron of the independent filmmakers o ...

' movie ''Hotel''. He starred in the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

medical drama ''

'', which ran from 2004 to 2006 and won best drama at the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

awards. He also starred in 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 '' Hotel Babylon'' from 2006 to 2008, with a guest appearance thereafter in one episode. In June 2007, Beesley starred in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

series '' Talk to Me''. He also starred in the film ''

Red Roses and Petrol ''Red Roses and Petrol'' is a 2003 drama film based on the stage play of the same name by Joseph O'Connor. The film was directed by Tamar Simon Hoffs, and stars Malcolm McDowell and Max Beesley. It was released, on DVD, in 2008. Plot Amid a ha ...

'' alongside

Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is a British actor, producer, and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Alex DeLarge in ''A Clockwork Orange.'' He was born in the Horsforth suburb of Leeds and raised in ...

, and in the BBC thriller '' The Last Enemy'' with

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 ...

and

Robert Carlyle Robert Carlyle (born 14 April 1961) is a Scottish actor. His film work includes '' Trainspotting'' (1996), ''The Full Monty'' (1997), ''The World Is Not Enough'' (1999), ''Angela's Ashes'' (1999), '' The Beach'' (2000), ''28 Weeks Later'' (20 ...

. In October 2008, he was one of the lead characters in BBC One's remake of the 1970s drama '' Survivors'', as remorseless former criminal Tom Price. The series consisted of six episodes, with a second series of six episodes transmitted in January 2010. He starred in the ITV drama '' The Reckoning'' in April 2011. Beesley gained more exposure with American audiences with a recurring role on '' Suits'' in 2013 and from October 2015 with another recurring role, this time in the US spy drama ''

'' opposite

Claire Danes Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. She is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2012, ''Time'' named her one of the 100 most influentia ...

, as ex-British special forces bodyguard Mike Brown. From 2016 to 2018 he starred in ''Jamestown'' as Henry Sharrow, depicting the first British settlers to colonise Virginia in 1609. He joined the cast of ''The Outsider'' on HBO in June 2019, which aired from January 2020. Beesley has been the narrator for several TV advertisements, including ITV,

NFU Mutual NFU Mutual (NFUM) is a UK insurance composite, its directors and executives are directly answerable to customers/ policyholders (who own the business) for conduct of business as NFUM is and mutual and so has no shareholders to hold it to ac ...

's insurance,

Energizer Energizer Holdings, Inc. is an American manufacturer and one of the world's largest manufacturers of batteries, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. It produces batteries under the Energizer, Ray-O-Vac, Varta, and Eveready brand names, and for ...

's lithium batteries, and

PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...

. He also provided the voiceover for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

's season review DVD. In 2011, he appeared in a TV campaign for the UK recruitment company Jobsite, and was also featured on their homepage. Beesley narrated the documentary '' Chatsworth'', shown on BBC One in May 2012.

Music

Beesley is also a session musician, and solo artist, having had a successful career before becoming an actor. He was a chorister at

Manchester Cathedral Manchester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George, in Manchester, England, is the mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother ...

and studied at

Chetham's School of Music Chetham's School of Music () is an independent co-educational music school in Manchester, England. Chetham's educates students between the ages of 8 and 18, all of whom enter via musical auditions. Students receive a full academic education alon ...

. He also studied percussion and classical piano at the

Guildhall School of Music & Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

with

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

singer

Omar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...

and toured with the

Brand New Heavies The Brand New Heavies is an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing in west London. Centered around songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Simon Bartholomew and Andrew Levy, the core members of the group since its founding, Brand New H ...

on keyboards and percussion. He has also toured or recorded with George Benson, Earth Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder, The JB's and Zero7. He is also a

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

player. Beesley has performed in concert as a percussionist and pianist for

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singe ...

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai () are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in the ...

, and the Paul Weller Movement. He played percussion and piano at Williams'

Knebworth Knebworth is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Hert ...

gigs in summer 2003 and at

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

for ''

Live 8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 200 ...

London''. Williams' first concert of his ''Close Encounters Tour'' in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

on 30 November 2006 saw Beesley as percussionist for the second half of the show. He also played drums during the performance of "

Rudebox ''Rudebox'' is the seventh studio album by English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams, released on 23 October 2006 in the United Kingdom. It features two guest appearances from the Pet Shop Boys. The album was produced by a variety of producer ...

" at Williams' second

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

concert and during a

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. ...

...

Early life

Career

Acting

Music

Filmography

References

External links