Simon Russell Beale
| Simon Russell Beale | |||
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Professor Simon Russell Beale CBE
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| Born |
12 January 1961 Penang, Malaya (now Malaysia) |
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| Residence | London | ||
| Nationality | United Kingdom | ||
| Alma mater |
Cambridge University Guildhall School of Music and Drama |
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| Occupation | Actor, author, historian | ||
| Years active | 1988–present | ||
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Simon Russell Beale CBE (born 12 January 1961) is an English actor, author and music historian.
Beale has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation." He has appeared in Persuasion (1995), The Young Visiters (2003), Dunkirk (2004), The Deep Blue Sea (2011) and as Falstaff in the BBC made-for-television films Henry IV, Part I and Part II (2012). He was part of the main cast of Showtime's Penny Dreadful.
Beale was born in Penang, British Malaya, son of Lt-Gen Sir Peter Beale and Julia née Winter, where his father served as an army medic who later became Surgeon-General of HM Armed Forces. His family includes several members who have pursued successful careers in medicine.
He was first drawn to performance when, at the age of eight, he became a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral, and a pupil at the adjoining St Paul's Cathedral School.
It was believed that he gave his first theatre performance at age 14 playing Desdemona in Othello at the independent school Clifton College's Redgrave Theatre; However, Beale has corrected this, stating that his first stage performance was as Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream at primary school. In the sixth form at Clifton he also performed in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, a play in which he would later star at the National Theatre.
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