Will Sharpe

William Tomomori Fukuda Sharpe (born 22 September 1986) is a Japanese-English actor, writer, and director.[2]

Will Sharpe
Born	William Tomomori Fukuda Sharpe 22 September 1986 London, England[1]
Nationality	Japanese, English
Occupation	Actor writer director
Years active	2008–present
Known for	Black Pond The Darkest Universe Flowers
Relatives	Arthur Sharpe (brother)

Background

Sharpe was born in London, but lived in Tokyo until he was eight years old.[3] After returning to the United Kingdom, he studied at Winchester College.[3]

Sharpe read classics at the University of Cambridge, where he was the president of the Footlights Revue.[4][5] He graduated in 2008 and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company for their 2008/2009 season.[6] Sharpe spent a year at the RSC and appeared in such plays as The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, and The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes, in which he played a young Isaac Newton.[7][8] He played the character of Yuki Reid in the BBC medical drama Casualty.[7]

In 2009, he directed and co-wrote, along with his friend Tom Kingsley, the short film Cockroach. The pair's first feature-length film, Black Pond, was shown at the Prince Charles Cinema in London from November 2011.[9] Shortly after, he was co-nominated for a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for the film.[3]

Sharpe is best known for writing, directing and starring-in dark comedy-drama Flowers, that premiered on Channel 4 in 2016.[6] Starring Olivia Colman, Julian Barratt, Daniel Rigby and Sophia Di Martino, Flowers is a black comedy that tackles mental health, and follows the four eccentric members of the Flowers family as they navigate their lives together, and their own inner-demons. The first series won a BAFTA Television Award for best scripted comedy, and the second series aired in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim.

In 2020, Sharpe won a BAFTA Television Award for his supporting role as Rodney Yamaguchi in BBC drama Giri/Haji—a role The Independent called 'one of the most riotously funny turns since Richard E Grant stepped out as Withnail.'[10][11]

He is represented by United Talent Agency.[12]

Personal life

His brother is film music composer Arthur Sharpe, who has written music for The Darkest Universe, Black Pond, and Flowers.[13] Sharpe has described himself as "half-Japanese".[14]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Never Mind the Buzzcocks	—	writer
2008	The Wrong Door	various	three episodes
2009	Cockroach	Kiyoshi	writer, director
	Casualty	Yuki Reid	2009-2011
2011	Sirens	Student	Channel 4 comedy drama
2011	Black Pond	Tim	feature film, actor, writer, co-director
2012	Sherlock	Corporal Lyons	"The Hounds of Baskerville"
2012	Dirk Gently	David Cho	TV series - Episode 2
2016	The Darkest Universe	Zac	feature film - actor, writer, director
2016, 2018	Flowers	Shun	TV series - actor, writer, director
2017	W1A	Michael Chung	Three episodes
2018	Defending the Guilty	Will Packham	pilot
2019	Defending the Guilty	Will Packham	BBC2 series
2019	Giri/Haji	Rodney Yamaguchi	BBC television series
TBA	Louis Wain		feature film - writer, director
TBA	Landscapers		Miniseries - director

References

1. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007
2. McEvoy, Sophie. "'Flowers' Is Back On Channel 4 & Its Creator Will Sharpe Is Someone You NEED To Know". Bustle. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
3. Brown, Maggie (23 April 2016). "Unknown writer gets his big TV break with dark English comedy". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
4. Feay, Suzi Feay (13 June 2018). "Will Sharpe: the comedy star on a flower trip". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
5. "Interview with Will Sharpe - Channel 4 - Info - Press". www.channel4.com. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
6. "Found in translation: Flowers writer Will Sharpe on bringing a Japanese sense of humour to the British stage and screen". The Independent. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
7. "Will Sharpe on his new sitcom Flowers: 'It's an uplifting show about melancholy'". i. 24 April 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
8. "BBC One Casualty - Yuki Reid character page - actor Will Sharpe". Retrieved 27 August 2018.
9. Macnab, Geoffrey (3 October 2011). "First Night: Black Pond, Raindance Festival, London". The Independent. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
10. 'Baftas reward diversity and longevity in a post-Covid era' The Guardian website, July 31, 2020, Retrieved August 1, 2020
11. 'Why Giri/Haji is the most underrated television drama of 2019' The Independent website, December 5, 2019, Retrieved August 1, 2020
12. White, Peter. "'Landscapers' Director Will Sharpe Signs With UTA". Deadline. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
13. "Arthur Sharpe interview". tellybinge.co.uk. 17 July 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
14. "Interview with Will Sharpe". BBC. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2020.

External links

• Will Sharpe at IMDb