My Favourite Actors

1. David Jason

Actor | Only Fools and Horses

David Jason was born in Edmonton, London, in 1940. He has become one of Britain's most famous, versatile and respected actors, who is most famous for his role in Only Fools and Horses (1981) as Del Boy. He made his debut in the series in 1981 and was still playing the same role up to the Christmas ...

2. Nicholas Lyndhurst

Actor | Only Fools and Horses

Nicholas Lyndhurst was born on April 20, 1961 in Emsworth, Hampshire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Only Fools and Horses (1981), Goodnight Sweetheart (1993) and Rock & Chips (2010). He has been married to Lucy Smith since September 1, 1999. They have one child.

3. Nigel Havers

Actor | Chariots of Fire

Nigel Havers is one of Britain's best known actors, mainly for his many roles on television since the 1970s. He was born as the younger son of Michael Havers, QC, a Conservative MP for Wimbledon, Attorney General (1979-1987), and Lord High Chancellor of England (1987).

After a private education, ...

4. Jimmy Nail

Actor | Crocodile Shoes

Jimmy Nail was born on March 16, 1954 in Benton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Crocodile Shoes (1994), Evita (1996) and Spender (1991).

5. Timothy Spall

Actor | Mr. Turner

Timothy Leonard Spall is an award-winning classical character actor who was born on February 27, 1957, and raised in London. The son of blue-collar parents, Joseph L. Spall, a postal worker, and Sylvia R. (Leonard), a hairdresser, his interest in acting happened early and Spall auditioned and ...

6. Reg Varney

Actor | Holiday on the Buses

Reg Varney was born on July 11, 1916 in Canning Town, London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Holiday on the Buses (1973), Down the 'Gate (1975) and The Best Pair of Legs in the Business (1973). He was married to Lilian Emma Flavell. He died on November 16, 2008 in Budleigh ...

7. Aaron Paul

Actor | Breaking Bad

Aaron Paul was born Aaron Paul Sturtevant in Emmett, Idaho, to Darla (Haynes) and Robert Sturtevant, a retired Baptist minister. While growing up, Paul took part in church programs, and performed in plays.

He attended Centennial High School in Boise, Idaho. It was there, in eighth grade, that Aaron ...

8. John Challis

Actor | Only Fools and Horses

John Challis is an accomplished character actor, personality and raconteur whose wide-ranging career has gone from classical roles on the stage to heavies in television drama, a multitude of policemen, sitcom stardom, pantomime performances and even a one-man show.

He wanted to act from a young age ...

9. Ronnie Corbett

Actor | Casino Royale

Ronnie Corbett began his successful show business career in the early 1950s. Amongst many other things he performed on stage with Danny La Rue in a cacophony of well received variety and cabaret shows.

It was whilst performing in these shows that Corbett attracted the attention of several top TV ...

10. Ronnie Barker

Actor | The Two Ronnies

Ronnie Barker's remarkable versatility as a performer can be traced back to his time in repertory theatre, where he was able to play a wide range of roles and develop his talent for accents, voices and verbal dexterity. It was during this time that he met Glenn Melvyn, who taught him how to stammer ...

11. Roger Lloyd Pack

Actor | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

A superbly versatile character actor of lugubrious countenance and strong physical presence, Roger was the son of Charles Lloyd Pack, a frequent supporting actor in British films of the '50s and '60s. Roger was educated at Bedales, a prestigious co-educational school in Hampshire, noted for a ...

12. Martin Clunes

Actor | Shakespeare in Love

Martin Clunes was born the son of the noted Shakespearean actor Alec Clunes. He was educated at the Royal Russell School in Surrey and the Arts Educational School in Chiswick, London. He made his television debut playing an alien prince opposite Peter Davison in Doctor Who: Snakedance: Part One (...

13. Robert Hardy

Actor | Sense and Sensibility

One of England's most successful and enduring character actors, with a prolific screen career on television and in films, Robert Hardy was acclaimed for his versatility and the depth of his performances.

Born in Cheltenham in 1925, he studied at Oxford University and, in 1949, he joined the ...

14. Christopher Timothy

Actor | Doctors

Christopher Timothy was born on October 14, 1940 in Bala, Merionethshire, Wales, UK. He is an actor and director, known for Doctors (2000), Othello (1965) and All Creatures Great and Small (1978). He has been married to Annie Veronica Swatton since 1982. They have one child. He was previously ...

15. Sidney James

Actor | Carry on Cleo

The star of the Carry On series of films, Sid James originally came to prominence as sidekick to the ground breaking British comedy actor Tony Hancock, on both radio and then television. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa and named Solomon Joel Cohen, James arrived in England in 1946, second wife ...

16. Bob Grant

Actor | On the Buses

Bob Grant was trained at Rada after spending some time as a Lieutenant with the Royal Artillery. He plied his trade to begin with in Repertory and appeared on stage for many years all around the UK. His work in rep continued up to the mid-90s. He will be best remembered for his role of Jack Harper,...

17. Stephen Lewis

Actor | Last of the Summer Wine

Stephen Lewis, will be chiefly remembered for the comedy catchphrase: "I 'ate you Butler!" He delivered it week after week in the hit sitcom On The Buses, a saucy slice of life that ran on ITV from 1969 to 1973. Lewis was Cyril "Blakey" Blake, a bus inspector with a Hitler moustache and delusions ...

18. Michael Robbins

Actor | The Pink Panther Strikes Again

Michael Robbins (14 November 1930 - 11 December 1992) was an English actor and comedian best known for his on-going role as Arthur Rudge in the TV sitcom and film versions of On the Buses (1969-72).

Born in London, Robbins was a bank clerk who became an actor after appearing in amateur dramatic ...

19. Ricky Tomlinson

Actor | The Royle Family

Ricky Tomlinson was born on September 26, 1939 in Bispham, Blackpool, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for The Royle Family (1998), Formula 51 (2001) and Mike Bassett: England Manager (2001). He has been married to Rita Cumiskey since January 4, 2003. He was previously married to ...

20. Geoffrey Hughes

Actor | Yellow Submarine

Geoffrey began his extensive stage career at the Unity Theatre in Liverpool. He then appeared in several West End productions, such as Say Goodnight to Grandma and Run for Your Wife. He appeared in numerous TV shows, including Coronation Street (1960) and Keeping Up Appearances (1990), where he ...

21. Geoffrey Palmer

Actor | Tomorrow Never Dies

Lugubrious-faced English actor Geoffrey Palmer was born in London, the son of a chartered accountant. After leaving school, he did his national service with the Royal Marines where he became a field training and small arms instructor. He then briefly tried his hand at accountancy before his ...

22. Matthew McConaughey

Actor | Interstellar

American actor and producer Matthew David McConaughey was born in Uvalde, Texas. His mother, Mary Kathleen (McCabe), is a substitute school teacher originally from New Jersey. His father, James Donald McConaughey, was a Mississippi-born gas station owner who ran an oil pipe supply business. He is ...

23. Shane Withington

Actor | A Country Practice

Shane Withington was born on August 22, 1958 in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. He is an actor, known for A Country Practice (1981), Home and Away (1988) and Water Rats (1996).

24. Shane Porteous

Actor | A Country Practice

Shane Porteous was born on August 17, 1942 in Coleraine, Victoria, Australia. He is an actor and writer, known for A Country Practice (1981), Neighbours (1985) and Home and Away (1988). He is married to Jenny. They have three children.

25. Mark Heap

Actor | Stardust

Mark Heap was born on May 13, 1957 in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India. He is an actor and writer, known for Stardust (2007), Green Wing (2004) and Lark Rise to Candleford (2008).

26. Paul Ritter

Actor | Quantum of Solace

Versatile character actor Paul Ritter was born Simon Paul Adams in Gravesend, Kent on 20 December 1966. Whilst not from a show business family, he had strong thespian connections as his mother was a class-mate of comic actor Bernard Cribbins and his father attended the same school as the great ...

27. Benny Hill

Soundtrack | The Benny Hill Show

He was born Alfred Hawthorn Hill. It was his grandfather who introduced him to Burlesque Shows and the theatre from where the young Benny Hill was to draw much of his comic inspiration. After his national service with the army during WW2, Benny came to London, adopted the stage name Benny Hill (in ...

28. John Cleese

Actor | A Fish Called Wanda

John Cleese was born on October 27, 1939, in Weston-Super-Mare, England, to Muriel Evelyn (Cross) and Reginald Francis Cleese. He was born into a family of modest means, his father being an insurance salesman; but he was nonetheless sent off to private schools to obtain a good education. Here he ...

29. Greg Davies

30. Greg Davies

Actor | The Inbetweeners Movie

Greg is the writer and star of critically lauded Channel 4 sitcom "Man Down". After playing infamously psychotic Head of Sixth Form 'Mr Gilbert' in "The Inbetweeners" (Channel 4) and its two spin off feature films, Greg went on to appear in BBC Three's Cuckoo alongside Andy Samberg and Taylor ...

31. Richard O'Sullivan

Actor | Cleopatra

Richard O'Sullivan was born on May 7, 1944 in Chiswick, London, England, UK. He is an actor and composer, known for Cleopatra (1963), Man About the House (1973) and Robin's Nest (1977). He was previously married to Diana Terry.

32. Richard Hammond

Self | Top Gear

Richard Hammond was born in 1969 in the British town of Solihull, which is near to Birmingham although it tries to pretend that it isn't. He started his career in local radio before getting a break on a cable TV car show where he was able to hone his presenting skills, safe in the knowledge that no...

33. Jeremy Clarkson

Self | Top Gear

Jeremy Clarkson was born in 1960 in the Yorkshire town of Doncaster in the North of England, an area renowned for its loud shouting and rampant exaggeration. He went to Repton school but didn't really pay attention and then got a job with a local newspaper where he was famed for stories such as '...

34. James May

Self | Top Gear

James May was born in 1963 but his development was tragically arrested at the age of 12. A confessed 'complete waster' until the age of 42, May then took the decision to apply his talent for the pointless in the direction of television. His oeuvre includes a record for the world's longest train set...

35. Brian Murphy

Actor | Man About the House

In 1952 he did his National Service as an aircraftsman attaining 2nd class, Also in his company was Richard Briers. On being demobbed he joined RADA but after a year he had to leave as his money had run out. He then auditioned for Joan Littlewood in 1963 and was taken on for Oh! What a Lovely War ...

36. Tony Britton

Actor | The Day of the Jackal

Well-known British classical stage star Tony Britton was born Anthony Edward Lowry Britton in Birmingham, England, on June 9, 1924, the son of Edward Leslie and Doris (Jones) Britton in 1924. He took his first professional curtain call at age 18 in "Quiet Weekend" with a company in ...

37. Richard Briers

Actor | Watership Down

Richard Briers was born on January 14, 1934 in Merton, Surrey, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Watership Down (1978), Much Ado About Nothing (1993) and Peter Pan (2003). He was married to Ann Davies. He died on February 17, 2013 in London, England, UK.

38. Robson Green

Actor | Touching Evil

Robson Golightly Green was born on 18 December 1964 in Hexham, Northumberland, England, to Robson and Ann Green. He has two sisters, Dawn and Joanna; a wife, Vanya Seager; and a son (born in 2000). He began his TV/film career on Casualty (1986) as hospital porter Jimmy Powell. He then appeared in ...

39. Richard Thomas

Actor | The Waltons

Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor. He is best known for his leading role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama series The Waltons for which he won an Emmy Award from two nominations and received two Golden Globe Award nominations. He also starred in the 1990 television ...

40. Ralph Waite

Actor | The Waltons

Ralph Waite was born in White Plains, New York on June 22, 1928. Educated at Bucknell University where he graduated with a BA degree, Waite existed rather aimlessly as a young adult while trying to find his way in the world. Occupations came and went, including social worker, religious editor for ...

41. Ralf Little

Actor | The Royle Family

Ralf Little was born on February 8, 1980 in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for The Royle Family (1998), 24 Hour Party People (2002) and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2001).

42. Craig Cash

Writer | The Royle Family

Craig Cash was born on September 11, 1960 in Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK. He is a writer and actor, known for The Royle Family (1998), Early Doors (2003) and Mrs Merton & Malcolm (1999). He has been married to Stephanie Davies since 2000.

43. Peter Martin

Actor | Emmerdale Farm

Peter Martin is an English actor (born Gainsborough) who was known in the 1980s for his TV ads for Jewsons Hardware. He played the fish shop man in First of the Summer Wine. He also played 'Charlie the moonlighting gravedigger' in the Beiderbecke Tapes.

He was in The Royle Family as Joe Carroll and ...

44. Nick Berry

Actor | HeartBeat: Changing Places

Attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School (London) before obtaining minor movie and TV parts. Break came on BBC 1 soap opera EastEnders (1985) as "Wicksy", a young man with musical aspirations. Fiction turned to truth when "Every Loser Wins", sung by Berry on one episode, hit the top of the UK ...

45. Derek Fowlds

Actor | Yes Minister

London-born character actor Derek Fowlds came to the fore on television as 'Mr. Derek', straight man to the children's puppet Basil Brush (succeeding Rodney Bewes in that capacity), then as private secretary and political advisor Bernard Woolley, diligently keeping the reins on obtuse British ...

46. William Simons

Actor | Cribb

William Simons was born on November 17, 1940 in Mumbles, South Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for Cribb (1980), Heartbeat (1992) and Ivory Hunter (1951). He was married to Jackie Simons and Janie Lowther. He died on June 21, 2019 in England, UK.

47. Rupert Vansittart

Actor | Braveheart

Rupert Nicholas Vansittart is an English character actor. He has appeared in a variety of roles in film, television, stage and radio, often playing comic characters. He is best known for his role as Lord Ashfordly in the ITV drama Heartbeat and for playing Lord Yohn Royce in the HBO series Game of ...

48. David Lonsdale

Actor | The Full Monty

David Lonsdale was born on May 21, 1963 in Southport, Lancashire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for The Full Monty (1997), Downton Abbey (2019) and Heartbeat (1992). He has been married to Diane Lonsdale since 1993. They have three children.

49. Mark Jordon

Actor | Heartbeat

Mark wanted to be an actor after watching Steve McQueen movies as a child. While still at school he attended Oldham Theatre Workshop where he formed the Damned Busters and worked clubs, pubs and did street theatre to earn his Equity card. After a small part in a film 'Number One' Mark was cast as ...

50. Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Actor | Den 12. mann

Jonathan Rhys Meyers was born Jonathan Michael Meyers on July 27, 1977, in Dublin, Ireland, to Mary Geraldine (Meyers) and John O'Keeffe, a musician. He and his family moved to County Cork, Ireland, when the actor was nearly a year old, and then, at the age of 3, his father left the family, leaving...

51. Jonathan Kerrigan

Actor | Casualty

Jonathan Kerrigan (born 14 October 1972 in Lincolnshire) is an English actor well known for various leading roles on TV including In The Club, Casualty, Heartbeat, Merseybeat, and Reach For The Moon. Films include 55 Steps, Diana, FLiM, The Somnambulists, The Best Possible Taste. He is also a ...

52. Bill Maynard

Actor | Heartbeat

Actor and comedian fondly remembered as the curmudgeonly reprobate Claude Jeremiah Greengrass in the long-running nostalgic police drama Heartbeat (1992). Greengrass had been written as a minor background character, but -- given a fair amount of latitude for interpreting his part -- Maynard was ...

53. Warren Mitchell

Actor | Jabberwocky

Warren Mitchell was born on January 14, 1926 in Stamford Hill, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Jabberwocky (1977), The Crawling Eye (1958) and In Sickness and in Health (1985). He was married to Constance Wake. He died on November 14, 2015 in Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead, London, ...

54. Steve McFadden

Actor | EastEnders

Steve McFadden was born on March 20, 1959 in Maida Vale, London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for EastEnders (1985), Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time (1993) and Kevin & Perry Go Large (2000).

55. Shane Richie

Actor | EastEnders

Shane Richie was born on March 11, 1964 in Harlesden, London, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for EastEnders (1985), Flushed Away (2006) and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008). He has been married to Christie Goddard since July 21, 2007. They have three children. He was ...

56. Robin Stewart

Actor | The Timeless Land

Robin Stewart was born on October 9, 1946 in Calcutta, India. He was an actor, known for The Timeless Land (1980), Bless This House (1971) and Softly Softly (1966). He was married to Roberta Daler and Fiona Partridge. He died on November 22, 2015 in the UK.

57. Anthony Jackson

Actor | 2001: A Space Odyssey

Anthony Jackson was born on February 18, 1944 in Birmingham, West Midlands, England, UK. He was an actor, known for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Labyrinth (1986) and Bless This House (1971). He died on November 27, 2006 in London, England, UK.

58. Ian McShane

Actor | Deadwood

A natural at portraying complex villains, anti-heroes, and charming heavies, Ian McShane is the classically trained, award-winning actor who has grabbed attention and acclaim from audiences and critics around the world with his unforgettable gallery of scoundrels, kings, mobsters and thugs.

And, now...

59. Dudley Sutton

Actor | The Football Factory

Dudley Sutton was born on April 6, 1933 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for The Football Factory (2004), Cockneys vs Zombies (2012) and Noble House (1988). He was married to Marjorie Steele and Joan D Walker. He died on September 15, 2018 in Clapham...

60. Buster Merryfield

Actor | Only Fools and Horses

Buster Merryfield was born on November 27, 1920 in Battersea, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Only Fools and Horses (1981), The Citadel (1983) and Only Fools and Horses: Only Fools Cutaway (1997). He was married to Iris M Mountford. He died on June 23, 1999 in Poole, Dorset, England...