 | Christopher Eccleston: Encyclopedia II - Christopher Eccleston - Biography
Christopher Eccleston - Biography
As a child his ambition was to play football for his beloved Manchester United, but he found himself to be a much better actor than he was a footballer, and inspired by television dramas such as Boys from the Blackstuff, he took to acting as his profession.
He trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and first came to public attention as Derek Bentley in the 1991 film Let Him Have It, based on true events. However, it was a regular role in the TV series Cracker (1993–94) — culminating in his character's dramatic death in the second series — that made him a recognisable figure in the UK.
He appeared in the low-budget Danny Boyle film Shallow Grave in 1994, in which he co-starred with the up-and-coming Ewan McGregor. The same year, he won the part of Nicky Hutchinson in the epic BBC drama serial Our Friends in the North, and it was the transmission of this production on BBC Two in 1996 that perhaps really made him into a household name in the UK.
His film career has since taken off with a variety of high-profile but not — except in one or two cases — major roles, including parts in Jude (1996), Elizabeth (1998), eXistenZ (1999), Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000), The Others (2001), 24 Hour Party People (2002) and another Danny Boyle film, the horror movie 28 Days Later (2002). He has starred alongside two major Hollywood actresses in smaller independent movies, playing opposite Renée Zellweger in A Price Above Rubies (1998) and Cameron Diaz in The Invisible Circus (2001). Despite starring in the car-heist movie Gone in 60 Seconds, he did not actually take his driving test until January 2004 and is only licenced to drive automatic transmission cars.
Despite his successful film career, he has continued to appear in a variety of meaty television roles, racking up credits in some of the most challenging and thought-provoking British television dramas of recent years. These have included Clocking Off (2000) and Flesh and Blood (2002) for the BBC and Hillsborough (1996), a modern version of Othello (2002), playing 'Ben Jago', (the Iago character) and the religious telefantasy epic The Second Coming (2003, for ITV, playing Steve Baxter, the son of God (which some found ironic as Eccleston is an atheist). He also finds time for the occasional light-hearted role, however, as his guest appearances in episodes of the comedy drama Linda Green (2001) and macabre sketch show The League of Gentlemen (2002) have shown.
On stage, his highest-profile production has been his starring role in Hamlet at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in 2002. The West Yorkshire Playhouse is a favourite venue of his, and he most recently returned there in the new play Electricity, which ran in March and April 2004.
A very highly-regarded actor, he has twice been nominated in the Best Actor category at the British Academy Television Awards, the UK's premier TV awards ceremony. His first nomination came in 1997 for Our Friends in the North, when he lost out to Nigel Hawthorne (for The Fragile Heart), and he was nominated again in 2004 for The Second Coming, this time being beaten by Bill Nighy (for State of Play). He did, however, triumph in the Best Actor categories at the 1997 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards and the Royal Television Society Awards, winning for Our Friends in the North. He won the RTS Best Actor award for a second time in 2003, this time for his performance in Flesh and Blood. In 2005 he received the Most Popular Actor award in the National Television Awards for Doctor Who.
In July 2004 a poll of industry experts, conducted by Radio Times magazine, voted Eccleston the 19th Most Powerful Person in Television Drama.
Other related archives16 February, 1964, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 20 December, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, 2005, 2006, 24 Hour Party People, 28 April, 28 Days Later, 30 October, 6 January, 94, Doctor Who television movie, Aceh, Alan Davies, April 4, BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor, BBC, BBC Breakfast, BBC Two, BBC radio, Bayeux Tapestry, Bill Nighy, Boys from the Blackstuff, British, British Academy Television Awards, Bruno Langley, Cameron Diaz, Casualty, Central School of Speech and Drama, Chancer, Children In Need, Christopher Marlowe, Clocking Off, Cracker, Danny Boyle, David Baddiel, David Tennant, David Warner, Death and the Compass, Derek Bentley, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Confidential, Elizabeth, English, Ewan McGregor, Flesh and Blood, Gone in Sixty Seconds, Hamlet, Hillsborough, I Am Kloot, ITV, Iago, Indonesia, Inspector Morse, Joe Ahearne, Jude, July 2004, June 11, Lancashire, Leeds, Let Him Have It, Linda Green, London, Lynda La Plante, Manchester United, March 2005, March 30, National Television Awards, Navin Chowdhry, Nigel Hawthorne, October 4, Old Vic, Othello, Our Friends in the North, Paul McGann, Peter Whelan, Poirot, Proof, Radio Times, Renée Zellweger, Revengers Tragedy, Royal Television Society, Russell T. Davies, Saffron Burrows, Salford, Shallow Grave, Some Fantastic Place, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Telegraph, The Iliad, The Invisible Circus, The League of Gentlemen, The Others, The Parting of the Ways, The School of Night, The Second Coming, UK, West Yorkshire Playhouse, actor, atheist, eXistenZ, executive producer, film, first Dalek story, ninth incarnation, science fiction television, stage, tabloid press, television, television series, the Doctor, typecast, writer
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