Russell Tovey

Russell George Tovey (born 14 November 1981)[1] is an English actor.[2] He is known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands in the BBC's supernatural drama Being Human,[3] Rudge in both the stage and film versions of The History Boys, Steve in the BBC Three sitcom Him & Her, Kevin Matheson in the HBO original series Looking and its subsequent series finale television film Looking: The Movie, Titanic midshipman Alonzo Frame in the Doctor Who episode "Voyage of the Damned" (a role he reprised in a cameo in "The End of Time: Part Two") and as Henry Knight in BBC TV series Sherlock. He has also starred as Harry Doyle in the drama-thriller series Quantico on the ABC network.[4]

Russell Tovey
Born	14 November 1981 Billericay, Essex, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994–present
Partner(s)	Steve Brockman (2016–2018, 2019–present)

Early life

Tovey was born and raised in Billericay, Essex.[5][6] He is the younger of two children of Carole Haynes (formerly Webb) and George Tovey, who run a Romford-based coach service taking passengers from Essex to Gatwick Airport. Tovey has an older brother, Daniel.[7] He attended Harold Court School in Harold Wood and Shenfield High School. As a boy Tovey said, he "was an avid collector of various things and prone to participating in fads."[6]

His parents supported his efforts, taking him to archaeological digs and museums, buying him a metal detector and going to conventions for mineralogists.[6] For a time he wanted to be a history teacher,[6] but after seeing Dead Poets Society, The Goonies, and Stand By Me he decided to be an actor.[6] For a time during his teens he worked as a kitchen assistant in Billericay's King's Head pub.

Career

Acting

Tovey began his career as a child actor. He joined a local drama club and garnered the attention of a talent agent.[5] He worked from the age of 11 and missed so much school that his father suggested he should cut back, but his mother persuaded his father to let their son continue.[6] His TV career started in 1994, when he was cast in Mud, a children's series broadcast on CBBC.[5]

He left secondary school at the age of 16 and started a BTEC in performing arts at Barking College. He was expelled after a year for refusing a role in the school play in favour of a paying acting job. He acted in plays in Chichester under the direction of Debra Gillett, wife of Patrick Marber.[5] He met Marber through Gillett, and Marber cast him in the play Howard Katz at the National Theatre.[5] He also performed in His Girl Friday and His Dark Materials there.[5]

In 2004 he took the role of Rudge in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys at the Royal National Theatre as well as touring to Broadway, Sydney, Wellington and Hong Kong and playing the role in the radio and film adaptations.[8][9][10][11] He originally auditioned for the role of Crowther but agreed to act the part of Rudge after Bennett promised to beef up the role.[6] Insecure because he had not attended drama school as many of his peers had, he enrolled in numerous workshops and readings offered by the National Theatre.[6]

In spring 2007 Tovey had a recurring role in BBC Three comedy Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, playing Rob's producer, Ben.[6] He played Midshipman Alonso Frame, in 2007 Doctor Who Christmas Special "Voyage of the Damned".[6] Russell T. Davies, the show's executive producer and lead writer, had suggested Tovey as a future replacement for David Tennant,[12] before it was announced that the Eleventh Doctor would be played by Matt Smith. Tovey reprised his role as Midshipman Alonso Frame in the 2009-10 Doctor Who Christmas special, "The End of Time".

Tovey played werewolf George Sands, one of three supernatural housemates in the drama Being Human.[13] The pilot premiered on BBC Three on 18 February 2008.[14] A six-part series was commissioned with the first episode broadcast on 25 January 2009.[15] Tovey left the regular cast of the show at the start of the fourth season on 5 February 2012.[16] In November 2012 AudioGO Ltd released an audiobook version of Mark Michalowski's Being Human tie-in novel Chasers, which is narrated by Tovey.[17]

In a 2008 interview in Attitude Tovey expressed his desire to play darker roles: "really dark, fucked-up characters... like drag queens, rent boys, someone who has been abused, a rapist", though noting that he does not consider himself "fucked-up".[18]

In March 2009 the actor played a leading role in A Miracle at the Royal Court Theatre as Gary Trudgill, a British soldier returning to Norfolk from abroad.[19][20] On 8 March 2009 he presented the Award for Best Actress to Margaret Tyzack for her performance in The Chalk Garden at the Laurence Olivier Awards in Grosvenor House.[21][22]

In 2009 Tovey worked on the film Huge[23] and starred in two television pilots: Young, Unemployed and Lazy (a BBC Three sitcom),[24] renamed to Him & Her[25] in 2010, and The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (part of Comedy Showcase), a Channel 4 comedy with Spike Jonze and Will Arnett, written by David Cross and Shaun Pye.[26][27]

He also appeared in three shorts: Drop[28] (which premièred at the 2009 Rushes Soho Shorts Film Festival), Roar, Roar premiered at the Palm Springs Film Festival on 24 June 2009.[29]

In 2011, he became the voice over/narrator for the BBC Three show Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents and its spinoffs, which ran for five series up to July 2015. Tovey has narrated every episode aired.

Tovey played Budgie, one of Gavin's friends, in the BBC comedy-drama Gavin & Stacey. In January 2012, he appeared in the British crime drama Sherlock, playing Henry Knight in the episode "The Hounds of Baskerville". He had a lead role in the ITV sitcom The Job Lot which aired in 2013 and is set in a busy unemployment bureau in the West Midlands.[30]

In 2013, Tovey signed on to appear in the American television series Looking, about a group of gay friends living in San Francisco.[31] Its 8-episode first season broadcast on HBO in 2014. Tovey was promoted to series regular for the second season.[32]

In 2015, Tovey starred in Banished, a historical drama series written by Jimmy McGovern about a group of British convicts in Australia in the 18th century.[33]

In 2015 Tovey made his first of many live appearances for arts and entertainment company Pin Drop Studio, reading a short story to an audience followed by an interview by Simon Oldfield.

In 2016 Tovey was cast in the ABC network thriller drama Quantico for the series regular role of Harry Doyle.[4]

In September 2017 it was revealed that Tovey would be voicing Ray Terrill / The Ray, a reporter who gains light-based powers after being exposed to a genetic light bomb, in the animated web series Freedom Fighters: The Ray on CW Seed. Tovey appeared in "Crisis on Earth-X", the Arrowverse crossover event between Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.[34][35]

In April 2017 Tovey returned to the Royal National Theatre to appear in Marianne Elliot's revival of the Tony Kushner play Angels in America, opposite Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane.

In 2019 Tovey co-starred in an ensemble cast on the show Years and Years, and appeared with Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen in the drama film The Good Liar.[36]

Tovey was awarded the Culture Award at the ninth annual Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards.[37]

Writing

Tovey is also an author, playwright and screenwriter. He has written three plays (all unperformed as of August 2010), and one of his short stories was published in women's magazine Company.[7] He also wrote a short film, Victor and as of August 2010 was seeking funding to produce the picture.[7]

Personal life

Tovey is gay. During his adolescent years, Tovey's family had difficulty accepting his sexual orientation.[18] Although he says he came out to himself when he was 15 or 16, he came out to his parents when he was 18. Tovey and his father subsequently had a serious disagreement, with his father suggesting that, had he known earlier, he would have asked Tovey to take hormones or undergo some other medical treatment to "fix the problem". Tovey says his parents were deeply concerned about the possibility he might contract HIV, which might have contributed to the disagreement. The birth of Tovey's nephew Nathan in October 2004 helped them mend their relationship.[6]

In 2015, Tovey was the subject of public criticism from the LGBT+ press regarding comments he made about effeminate gay men.[38] In his interview with Tom Lamont of The Observer, the actor stated that his schooling made him feel as though he "had to toughen up", going on to say "If I'd have been able to relax, prance around and sing in the street, I might be a different person now."[39] Much of the criticism centred on what was perceived to be a passive criticism of effeminate gay men, with Tovey saying that "I thank my dad for that, for not allowing me to go down the path."[39] Tovey later apologised for the remarks and suggested they did not reflect his views.[38]

Tovey was reported to be dating rugby coach Steve Brockman from early 2016. They became engaged in February 2018 but separated in June of the same year. They reconciled in 2019.[40]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	The Emperor's New Clothes	Recruit
2006	The History Boys	Peter Rudge
2009	In Passing	Henry Travers	Short film
2012	Grabbers	Dr. Adam Smith
2012	The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists	The Albino Pirate	Voice
2012	Tower Block	Paul
2014	Effie Gray	George
2014	Muppets Most Wanted	Delivery Man
2014	Blackwood	Jack
2014	Pride	Tim
2014	Moomins on the Riviera	Moomintroll	Voice
2015	Stick Man	Dog	Voice
2015	The Lady in the Van	Young Man with Earring
2016	The Pass	Jason
2016	Mindhorn	Paul Melly
2017	The Hippopotamus	Rupert Keynes
2019	The Good Liar	Steven
TBA	Night of the Lotus	Charlie	In post-production
TBA	Text for You		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Mud	Bill Bailey	All episodes
1996	Spywatch	Dennis Sealey	All episodes
1998	The Mrs Bradley Mysteries	Stable Boy	Episode: "Speedy Death"
2000	Hope and Glory	Gary Bailey	Episode 2.2
2001	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Lionel Marshall	Episode: "Evil Under the Sun"
	The Bill	Tyro Shaw	2 episodes
	Holby City	Jerome Hibbert	Episode: "Borrowed Time"
2002	Ultimate Force	Weasel	Episode: "The Killing House"
	Silent Witness	Josh Palmer	Episode: "Kith and Kill" (2 parts)
	The Bill	Kieran Elcott	Episode: "068"
2003	William and Mary	Aaron Patterson	Episode 4
	Servants	John Walters	Episode 4
2005	Holby City	Adam Spengler	Episode: "Soft Centred"
	Messiah IV: The Harrowing	Robbie McManus	3 episodes
	My Family and Other Animals	Leslie Durrell	Television film
2007–2009	Gavin & Stacey	Budgie	4 episodes
2007	Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive	Ben	5 episodes
	Doctor Who	Midshipman Alonso Frame	Episode: "Voyage of the Damned"
2008–2012	Being Human	George Sands	24 episodes
2008	Ashes to Ashes	Marcus Johnstone	Episode: "Episode 5"
	Mutual Friends	Estate Agent	Episode 5
	Little Dorrit	John Chivery	10 episodes
2009	Agatha Christie's Marple	PC Terence Reed	Episode: "Murder is Easy"
	The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret	Dave Mountford	Pilot
2010	Doctor Who	Midshipman Alonso Frame	Episode: "The End of Time"
2010–2013	Him & Her	Steve Marshall	25 episodes
2010–2011	Doctor Who Confidential	Narrator	14 episodes
2011–2015	Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents	Narrator
2012	Sherlock	Henry Knight	Episode: "The Hounds of Baskerville"
2013	Talking to the Dead	DS Huw Brydon	2 episodes
	The Dog Rescuers	Narrator	10 episodes
	What Remains	Michael Jenson	4 episodes
2013–2015	The Job Lot	Karl Lyndhurst	18 episodes
2014–2015	Looking	Kevin Matheson	15 episodes
2015	Drunk History	King Charles II	Episode 6
	Banished	James Freeman	7 episodes
2016	Looking: The Movie	Kevin Matheson	Television film
	The Comic Strip Presents... Red Top	Andy Coulson	Television film
	The Night Manager	Simon Ogilvey	Episode 1
2016–2018	Quantico	Harry Doyle	Series regular
2018	Shane the Chef	Shane	All episodes
2017	Queers: More Anger	Phil	BBC4 TV monologue
	The Flash	Ray Terrill / The Ray	Episode: "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3"
	Legends of Tomorrow		Episode: "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 4"
2019	The Great Celebrity Bake Off for SU2C	Himself	Channel 4's Great British Bake Off Special for Stand Up To Cancer – Series 2, Episode 2
2019	Years and Years	Daniel Lyons	Main role (4 episodes) Nominated — Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries
2019	Supergirl	Ray Terrill / The Ray	Uncredited; Episode: "Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 1"
2020	Flesh and Blood	Jake	4 episodes
2020	The Sister	Nathan	4 episodes

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2017–2018	Freedom Fighters: The Ray	Ray Terrill / The Ray	Animated series

Other credits

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Theatre	Location
2000	The Recruiting Officer		Chichester Festival Theatre	Chichester
2001	Howard Katz		Cottesloe Theatre, Royal National Theatre	London[41]
2002	Plasticine	Spira / Boy Having Sex	Royal Court Theatre	London[42]
2003	Henry V	Boy	Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre	London[43]
2003	His Girl Friday	Ralph Sweeney	Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre	London[44]
2003–2004	His Dark Materials	Roger Parslow	Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre	London[45]
2004–2006	The History Boys	Peter Rudge	Lyttleton Theatre, Royal National Theatre	London
2005	The Laramie Project	Gil Engen	Sound Theatre	London
2005–2006	Hergé's Adventures of Tintin	Tintin	Barbican Arts Centre	London[46]
2006	The History Boys	Peter Rudge	Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts	Hong Kong
			St James	Wellington
			Sydney Theatre	Sydney
			Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway	New York
2007	A Respectable Wedding	The Bridegroom	Young Vic	London[47]
2008	The Sea	Billy Hallercut	Theatre Royal Haymarket	London[48]
2009	A Miracle	Gary Trudgill	Royal Court Theatre	London[20]
2012	Sex With a Stranger	Adam	Trafalgar Studios	London
2014	The Pass	Jason	Royal Court Theatre	London
2015	A View from the Bridge	Rodolpho	Lyceum Theatre	New York[49]
2017	Angels in America	Joe Pitt	Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre	London
2018	The Collection	Bill	Harold Pinter Theatre	London
2020	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf	Nick	Booth Theatre, Broadway	New York

Radio and readings

Year	Title	Role
2006	The History Boys	Peter Rudge
2007	Rubbish	Dan
2009	The Government Inspector	Gendarme
2009	The Admirable Crichton[50]	Crichton
2009	Newfangle[51]	Newfangle
2009	Last Night, Another Soldier[52]	Briggsy
2009	The Richest Man in Britain[53]	Dom
2011	Countrysides	Simon

Tovey has read several books for audio, notably a 2017 performance of The Picture of Dorian Gray. He is the narrator for the 20th anniversary edition audiobook of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, released in 2015. Also, since 2016, he is the reader for audiobooks of Liz Pichon's Tom Gates book series, starting from book 10, Super Good Skills (Almost...), taking over from Rupert Grint.

References

1. "20 Questions With...Russell Tovey." What's On Stage. 3 January 2006. Accessed 22 March 2011. Archived 2 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2. Weaver, Matthew (3 March 2015). "Russell Tovey says sorry for effeminate actor comments". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
3. Being Human Returns to BBC America 24 July
4. Stanhope, Kate (3 June 2016). "'Quantico' Enlists 'Looking' Grad Russell Tovey as Season 2 Regular (Exclusive)". HollywoodReporter.com. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
5. Gordon, Byrony (17 March 2009). "Russell Tovey interview: A History Boy with a big future". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 18 March 2009.
6. Randall, Lee. "Actor Russell Tovey graduated to Dickens, Doctor Who and Gavin & Stacey. Now starring as a modern-day werewolf in a new TV sitcom, he's headed for the top of the class." The Scotsman. 1 February 2009. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
7. Mclean, Craig. "More Mr Nice Guy: Why Everyone Loves Russell Tovey." The Independent. 5 September 2010.
8. Russell Tovey at the Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 5 November 2006
9. The History Boys 2004, Royal National Theatre. Retrieved 17 October 2006
10. "The History Boys". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 March 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
11. "The History Boys: More is more". Archived from the original on 18 January 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
12. "Davies suggests next Doctor Who". BBC News Online. 16 September 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
13. Martin, Daniel (13 February 2009). "Daniel Martin looks at how online fans rescued BBC3's Being Human". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
14. "BBC Three presents Being Human". UK: BBC Three. 6 November 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
15. "Being Human commissioned for BBC Three". UK: BBC Three. 24 April 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
16. "Being Human death was 'horrendous' says Crichlow". 6 February 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
17. "Being Human: Chasers (Unabridged)". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
18. "About a Boy". Attitude. January 2008. ISSN 1353-1875., cited in UK actor Russell Tovey – Talented, gorgeous, and gay to boot!!! Archived 6 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine, After Elton, 14 January 2008
19. Billington, Michael (5 March 2009). "Theatre review: A Miracle / Royal Court, London". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
20. "A Miracle". Royal Court Theatre. March 2009. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
21. "Olivier Goss: What We Heard in the Ballroom???". What's on Stage. 8 March 2009. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
22. "Tyzack and Jacobi scoop top honours". Official London Theatre. 8 March 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
23. UK comedy Huge starts shooting in London, Screen Daily, 17 June 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2009
24. Holmwood, Leigh (12 May 2009). "Russell Tovey to star in BBC3 sitcom that never leaves the bedroom". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
25. "Him & Her". Him and Her. 10 June 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
26. "Spike Jonze to star in C4 comedy". Broadcast Now. 15 May 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
27. "Comedy Showcase". 27 November 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
28. "Film Production". Beautiful Train Ltd. Retrieved 19 May 2009.
29. "On the Job Program". Palm Springs Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2 August 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
30. Reid-Smith, Tris (26 April 2012). "Russell Tovey to star in new ITV sitcom". Retrieved 26 April 2012.
31. "Russell Tovey Joins Gay-Themed HBO Dramedy 'Looking' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
32. Andreeva, Nellie (26 February 2014). "HBO Dramedy 'Looking' Renewed For Second Season, Trio Promoted To Regular". Deadline. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
33. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (12 March 2014). "Jimmy McGovern announces Australian convict drama Banished". Retrieved 12 March 2014.
34. Ausiello, Michael (22 September 2017). "Arrowverse Crossover: Quantico's Russell Tovey Cast as Gay Superhero". TVLine. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
35. Agard, Chancellor (22 September 2017). "Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends unite for 'Crisis on Earth X' crossover". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
36. Mitchell, Robert (9 April 2018). "Russell Tovey, Jim Carter Confirmed For Bill Condon's 'The Good Liar'". Variety. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
37. "2020 VIRGIN ALTANTIC ATTITUDE AWARDS, POWERED BY JAGUAR WINNERS: FROM TAYLOR SWIFT TO LUKE EVANS". Attitude. Stream Publishing Limited. 1 December 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
38. Weaver, Matthew (3 March 2015). "Russell Tovey says sorry for effeminate actor comments". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
39. Lamont, Tom (1 March 2015). "Russell Tovey: 'I was a scared, skinny little rat. Then I hit the gym…'". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
40. Dosani, Rishma (21 June 2018). "Russell Tovey splits from Steve Brockman just months after confirming engagement". The Metro. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
41. "Howard Katz". Royal National Theatre. Retrieved 24 November 2006.
42. Plasticine by Vassily Sigarev, Nick Hern Books, 2002 ISBN 978-1-85459-690-1
43. "Henry V". Royal National Theatre. Retrieved 24 November 2006.
44. "His Dark Materials Part I 2003–04". Royal National Theatre. Retrieved 24 November 2006.
45. "His Girl Friday". Retrieved 24 November 2006.
46. "Hergé's Adventures of Tintin". The Stage. 16 December 2005. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
47. "The Big Brecht Fest I – The Jewish Wife / A Respectable Wedding". The Stage. 5 April 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
48. "The Sea". The Stage. 28 January 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
49. "A View From the Bridge - Broadway | Tickets | Broadway". Broadway.com. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
50. "Saturday Play: The Admirable Crichton". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 19 May 2009.
51. "Newfangle episode 1 of 6". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 19 May 2009.
52. "Saturday Play: Last Night, Another Soldier". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 2 August 2009.
53. ":The Richest Man in Britain Episode 3". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 24 November 2009.

External links

• Russell Tovey at the British Film Institute
• Russell Tovey at IMDb 
• Russell Tovey at the Internet Broadway Database
• Russell Tovey on Twitter
• Interview with The New York Times