Oliver Graham Chris (born 2 November 1978) is an English actor. He has appeared in television series, TV films and on the stage. His work has included theatrical productions in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

's West End and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Early life

Chris was born in Tunbridge Wells,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. He passed his

eleven-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academic ...

exam and attended

Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys (TWGSB) is a grammar school in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. Founded as a technical school in 1956, TWGSB became a grammar school in 1982. The current enrolment of 1,504 pupils (of which 326 are ...

before moving to the Michael Hall Steiner School in his fourth year. He later attended the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

. In 2005, he completed an evening class at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...

and was subsequently accepted for a degree course in history, politics and philosophy.

Career

Chris has appeared in several comedy series, including ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series of ...

'', ''

Green Wing ''Green Wing'' is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the Sketch comedy, sketch show ''Smack the Pony'' – Channel 4 commissioner Caroline Leddy and producer Victoria Pile – and ...

'', ''According to Bex'', ''Nathan Barley'', ''The IT Crowd'', ''Rescue Me (BBC TV series), Rescue Me'' and ''Bluestone 42''. In 2004, Chris re-wrote the lyrics to the Beatles' "Let It Be (Beatles song), Let It Be" to a song about the England football player Wayne Rooney and recorded it in collaboration with the actor Stephen Campbell Moore and a number of other actors and journalists. The song was reprised and re-recorded, with rewritten lyrics, for the 2006 Fifa World Cup and became a hit on YouTube, with 200,000 hits. Chris has also narrated most of the ''Alex Rider'' series of audiobooks by Anthony Horowitz, although Dan Stevens replaced him as reader for ''Snakehead (novel), Snakehead'', ''Crocodile Tears'' and ''Scorpia Rising''. In early 2006, Chris played the role of Captain Leonard in ''Sharpe's Challenge'', starring Sean Bean, while 2007 saw him in the TV comedy ''Bonkers (2007 TV series), Bonkers'', written by Sally Wainwright as well as Petruchio in ''The Taming of the Shrew'' at the Wilton's Music Hall. In 2006, he also appeared as Christian in ''Cyrano de Bergerac (play), Cyrano de Bergerac'' at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. He later appeared in Peter Hall (director), Peter Hall's production of ''The Portrait of a Lady''. He made his West End debut in late 2008 in Lisa Kron's comedy, ''Well''. In 2010, he appeared alongside Judi Dench in Hall's production of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' at the Rose Theatre, Kingston. Chris was cast in Ben Miller's feature-length debut comedy film ''Huge'', which premiered in June 2010. In 2011, saw him appear in two episodes of ''Silent Witness'', whilst also playing one of the leading roles in the Royal National Theatre, National Theatre production of ''One Man, Two Guvnors'' alongside James Corden. He appeared in three series of the BBC Three comedy ''Bluestone 42'', about a British bomb disposal detachment in Afghanistan. He also played Dr Richard Truscott in the ITV (TV channel), ITV medical drama series ''Breathless (TV series), Breathless'', set in the 1960s, which ran for one series from October 2013. From 2014 to 2016, Chris played Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince William in the play ''King Charles III (play), King Charles III'', appearing in the West End and on Broadway. In May 2017, he appeared in the same role in the King Charles III (film), BBC Two film adaptation. Between February and May 2017, Chris played Orsino (Twelfth Night), Orsino in a production of Twelfth Night at the Royal National Theatre. He also played Friedrich Engels in Richard Bean and Clive Coleman's new play ''Young Marx (play), Young Marx'', the opening production at the Bridge Theatre in December 2017. In 2019, Chris took on the roles of Oberon and Theseus in Nicholas Hytner's adaptation of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' at the Bridge Theatre, London. Paul Taylor, in his review for ''The Independent'', described Chris' Oberon as "superlatively funny" while Stig Abell in the The Times Literary Supplement, TLS opined that doubling the roles of Oberon and Theseus allowed Chris "to be by turns sublime and ridiculous, stuffy and lusty". Chris' writing credits include ''Ralegh: The Treason Trial'', staged at the Winchester Great Hall and then the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in 2018 and ''Jack Absolute Flies Again,'' based on Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Sheridan's ''The Rivals'', co-written with Richard Bean, due to be staged at the Royal National Theatre, Olivier Theatre in 2020.

Personal life

Until 2012, he was engaged to actress Rachael Stirling, whom he had been dating since 2007.

Filmography

Theatre

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chris, Oliver 1978 births Living people English male television actors English male film actors English male stage actors Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London 21st-century English male actors People from Royal Tunbridge Wells People educated at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys Male actors from Kent Waldorf school alumni Audiobook narrators