Adrian Lester

Adrian Anthony Lester CBE (born Anthony Harvey; 14 August 1968) is an English actor, director, and writer.

Adrian Lester CBE
Born	Anthony Harvey 14 August 1968 Birmingham, England
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor, writer, director
Spouse(s)	Lolita Chakrabarti
Children	2

Early life

Lester was born in Birmingham, the son of Jamaican immigrants, Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company.[2][3][4] From the age of nine, Lester sang as a boy treble in the choir of St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham. At 14, he began acting with the Birmingham Youth Theatre. After leaving Archbishop Masterson RC School, he attended Joseph Chamberlain VI Form College for one year, before completing three years of training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Career

Theatre

Lester received an Ian Charleson Award commendation[5] and a Time Out Award[6] for his 1991 performance as Rosalind in Cheek by Jowl's all-male production of As You Like It.[7] In 1993, he played Anthony Hope in the National Theatre's production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.[8] He has also appeared on stage as Robert in the musical Company, for which he won an Olivier Award, and in the title role of Hamlet[9] (Carlton TV Theatre Award).

In 2003, Lester played the title role in Henry V at the National Theatre.

In 2010, he played the part of Brick in Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre in London.

In 2012, Lester appeared as Ira Aldridge in the play Red Velvet, written by his wife Lolita Chakrabarti.

Lester played the part of Othello in the Shakespeare play of the same name in 2013 alongside Rory Kinnear as Iago at the National Theatre. Both actors won the Best Actor award in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for their roles; the award is traditionally given to only one actor, but the judges were unable to choose between the pair.[10]

Television

Lester is known for playing a big-time con artist named Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone on the BBC television series Hustle between 2004 and 2012. The character was written out of the fourth series and replaced by Ashley Walters, although Lester returned from the fifth series (2009) onwards.

On American television, Lester appeared on the sitcom Girlfriends from 2002 to 2003, as Ellis Carter, a film star who dated Tracee Ellis Ross's character, Joan Clayton.

In late 2005, Lester had a major guest starring role in Channel 4's hard-hitting police drama The Ghost Squad.

In 2008, Lester starred on the BBC drama Bonekickers, a programme focusing on a team of archaeologists.

He also played the character Myror on the British television drama Merlin.

Film

Lester played campaign manager Henry Burton in Mike Nichols' film Primary Colors (1998), based on the novel by Anonymous (Joe Klein). His character is believed to represent George Stephanopoulos. This part earned him a Chicago Film Critics Association award nomination for "Most Promising Actor".

Lester appeared in Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost, a musical adaptation of the William Shakespeare play, set in the 1930s. The film itself was poorly received, but Lester received a British Independent Film Awards nomination for his performance.

In The Day After Tomorrow, Lester had a minor role as Simon, one of the three researchers who drink a toast of "twelve-year-old Scotch" shortly before freezing to death.

Lester filmed scenes for Spider-Man 3 (2007), as a research scientist who is sought after by the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) to find a cure for his ailing daughter. He was seen in one teaser trailer for the film; however, his scenes were cut from the final theatrical version.

Other work

In 2010, Lester appeared in the documentary When Romeo Met Juliet together with his wife Lolita Chakrabarti as acting mentors to the pupils of two Coventry schools involved in a production of Romeo and Juliet.

Lester recorded Alpha Force: Survival, an audio book written by Chris Ryan.

Personal life

In 1997 Lester married actress Lolita Chakrabarti, whom he met while they were both students at RADA.[11][12] They live in south east London with their two daughters, Lila and Jasmine.[13][14]

In 2007, Lester took part in Empire's Children, a Channel 4 documentary exploring the journey taken by the "Windrush Generation" to the United Kingdom. Lester's grandfather, Kenneth Nathaniel Lester, was to be included in the documentary, but was unwell during filming in Jamaica and could not be interviewed. Kenneth died soon after the documentary completed filming and never saw the programme aired.

In April 2013, Lester appeared on the Cultural Exchange feature of Front Row on Radio Four, a feature of the programme where people had to choose a piece of art that meant a great deal to them. He chose "Redemption Song" by Bob Marley.

Lester holds a second degree black belt in Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo.[15][16]

Honours

Lester was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours[17] and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours,[18][19] both for services to drama.

In July 2013, he received an honorary degree from the University of Warwick.[20]

In July 2019, Lester was made an Honorary Doctor of Arts at De Montfort University, Leicester.[21]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Les Soeurs Soleil	Isaac Nelson
1997	Up on the Roof	Scott
1998	Primary Colors	Henry Burton
2000	Love's Labour's Lost	Dumaine
2000	Maybe Baby	George
2000	Best	Rocky
2000	Born Romantic	Jimmy
2001	Dust	Edge
2002	The Final Curtain	Jonathan Stitch
2004	The Day After Tomorrow	Simon
2006	As You Like It	Oliver De Boys
2006	Scenes of a Sexual Nature	Pete
2007	Starting Out in the Evening	Casey Davies
2008	Doomsday	Sgt. Norton
2009	Case 39	Wayne
2013	Jimi: All Is by My Side	Michael X
2017	Grey Lady	Julius Johnson
2017	Euphoria	Aron
2018	Mary Queen of Scots	Lord Randolph

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	A Sort of Innocence	Dave	1 episode
1988	Boon	Fast Eddie's Staff Member	Episode: "Beef Encounter"
1991	For the Greater Good	Young Gay Man	Episode: "Member"
1992	Touch and Die	Lute	TV film
	The Bill	Dotun Konchella	Episode: "Just Send Some Flowers"
1995	The Affair	Ray	TV film
1996	Soldier Soldier	Mokete Malange	Episode: "Divided Loyalties"
	Company	Bobby	TV film
1997	Silent Witness	Danny Thomas	Episode: "Cease Upon the Midnight"
2000	Storm Damage	Danny	TV film
	Jason and the Argonauts	Orpheus	Mini-series
2002	The Tragedy of Hamlet	Hamlet	TV film
2002-2003	Girlfriends	Ellis Carter	9 episodes
2004-2012	Hustle	Mickey Stone	Series regular
2005	Afterlife	D.I. Felix George	Episode: "Lower Than Bones"
	The Ghost Squad	D.I. Gus Philips	Episode: "Colour Blind"
2006	Beyond	Morris Fitch	TV film
2007	Ballet Shoes	Mr. Sholsky	TV film
2008	Being Human	Herrick	Episode: "Pilot"
	Bonekickers	Ben Ergha	Mini-series
2009	Merlin	Myror	Episode: "The Once and Future Queen"
	Sleep With Me	Richard	TV film
2013	Robot Chicken	Bow/Lego Man	Episode: "Eaten by Cars"
2014-2015	Red Band Society	Dr. Naday	4 episodes
2015	London Spy	Professor Marcus Shaw	Mini-series
2016	Undercover	Nick Johnson	Mini-series
2017	Riviera	Robert Carver	10 episodes
2018	Trauma	Jon Allerton	Mini-series
2019	Curfew	Simon Donahue	2 episodes
	The Rook	Conrad Grantchester	Series regular
2020	Staged	Adrian Lester	Episode: "Ulysses"
	Life	David Aston	Series regular

References

1. "Adrian Lester". Front Row. 25 April 2013. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
2. "Touch of Colour takes Brum star Adrian to Hollywood". Sunday Mercury. 11 October 1998. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
3. MacDonald, Marianne (3 February 2006). "The player; Not only is Adrian Lester the National Theatre's Henry V, he's also the chief con man in Hustle. It's a sparkling career forged on a penniless childhood with an absent father and a struggling mother. Marianne Macdonald meets a man driven to succeed". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
4. Leitch, Luke (16 August 2002). "NATIONAL'S NEW CHIEF CASTS BLACK ACTOR AS HENRY V." The Evening Standard. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
5. Lees, Caroline. "Classic recipes for success". Sunday Times. 9 February 1992.
6. "Adrian Lester". Warwick Universsity. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
7. Donnellan, Declan (12 November 2014). "All you need is love: Adrian Lester and the miraculous all-male As You Like It". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
8. "Sondheim Guide / Sweeney Todd".
9. Billington, Michael (18 December 2008). "Archive theatre review: Who is Hamlet anyway?". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
10. Kennedy, Maev (17 November 2013). "Othello and Iago share best actor prize in London Evening Standard awards". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
11. Dickson, E. Jane (3 April 2016). "Adrian Lester on Undercover: "It would be so much more powerful if we did all the press for this show without once mentioning colour"". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 11 August 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
12. Patterson, Christina (6 January 2009). "Adrian Lester: Back on the Hustle". The Independent. Archived from the original on 19 January 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
13. Machell, Ben (12 March 2016). "Adrian Lester on 29 years of marriage". The Times. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
14. "Adrian Lester Biography". Tina Price Consultants. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
15. Group, Diversity. "Adrian Lester | The Diversity Group".
16. "My body & soul: Adrian Lester, actor, 40". The Guardian. 4 January 2009. Archived from the original on 14 February 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
17. "No. 60367". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 2012. p. 12.
18. "Birthday Honours 2020: Marcus Rashford and Joe Wicks honoured alongside key workers". BBC News. 10 October 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
19. "No. 63135". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 October 2020. p. B10.
20. "Warwick honorary degrees for stars of Gavin & Stacey & Hustle, RSC & Royal Court Artistic Directors, scientists, historians, philanthropist & a US government adviser". University of Warwick. 28 June 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
21. "CLASS OF 2019: 'We're all relying on you' graduates told". De Montfort University. 15 July 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.

External links

• Adrian Lester at the British Film Institute
• Adrian Lester at IMDb