Biography
Eccleston was born in in Salford, Lancashire, but as a child his ambition was to play football for his beloved Manchester United. However, 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.Eccleston 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 did play a major role as the protagonist of Alex Cox's 2002 ''Revengers Tragedy'', adapted from Thomas Middleton's play of the same name. 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 ''Hearts and Minds'' (1995) for Channel 4, ''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, a role 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, Eccleston has twice been nominated in the Best Actor category at the British Academy Television Awards, the UK's premier television 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.
Doctor Who
It was announced on March 20 2004 that Eccleston was to play the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the revival of the legendary BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which started airing in March 2005. The series executive producer and writer Russell T. Davies has said that Eccleston was always the first choice for the part. Despite this, the British tabloid press ran reports that Bill Nighy had been offered the role first, but declined (and in the 2005 documentary series ''Doctor Who Confidential'', Davies said that he "wouldn't have thought Chris [Eccleston] would be interested").Eccleston has the distinction of being the first actor to play the Doctor who was actually born ''after'' the start of the original television series; he was born two weeks after the famous first Dalek story was first broadcast in the UK.
On March 30, 2005, the BBC released a statement, ostensibly from Eccleston, saying that he had decided to leave the role after just one series, owing to fears that he would become typecast. On April 4, the BBC revealed that Eccleston's "statement" had been falsely attributed and released without his consent. The BBC admitted that they had broken an agreement made in January not to disclose publicly the fact that he only intended to do one season. The statement had been made after journalists made queries to the press office.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4410943.stm Eccleston's three-month tenure makes him either the shortest or second-shortest serving Doctor to date, depending on how one counts Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor. (McGann appeared once but was not 'replaced' for nine years on screen as no ''Doctor Who'' was made. Eccleston appeared in the role thirteen times but his successor appeared at the end of his final episode, David Tennant taking over at the conclusion of ''The Parting of the Ways''.)
On June 11 2005 during a BBC radio interview, when asked if he had enjoyed working on ''Doctor Who'', Eccleston responded by saying, "Mixed, but that's a long story." Eccleston's reasons for leaving the part continue to be a subject of discussion in Britain's newspapers: on October 4, 2005 Alan Davies told ''The Daily Telegraph'' that Eccleston had been "overworked" by the BBC, and had left the role because he was "exhausted" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/10/04/bvalan04.xml. Ten days later, Eccleston told ''The Daily Mirror'' this was not true, and expressed some irritation at Davies for his comments http://www.mirror.co.uk/tvandfilm/tvland/tm_objectid=16247775%26method=full%26siteid=94762-name_page.html.
After the Doctor
In June 2005, it was announced at the Cannes Film Festival that Eccleston had signed to appear in a British-made sci-fi romantic comedy called ''Double Life'', about a man who thinks he loves twin sisters. It has been billed as "a tale of love and obsession" and will be set in Budapest. The film will be directed by Joe Ahearne (who directed Eccleston in ''Doctor Who'') and is being produced by author Lynda La Plante's company Cougar Films.On 30 October 2005, Eccleston appeared on stage at the Old Vic theatre in London in the one-night play ''Night Sky'' alongside Navin Chowdhry, Bruno Langley, David Warner, Saffron Burrows and David Baddiel.
In December 2005, Eccleston traveled to Indonesia's Aceh province for the BBC Breakfast news programme, examining how survivors of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami were rebuilding their lives http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast/4524226.stm.
On 20 December 2005, it was announced that Eccleston would lead the cast as playwright, poet and spy Christopher Marlowe in Peter Whelan’s ''The School of Night''. Directed by Bill Alexander, ''The School of Night'' was due to preview from 16 February 2006, but on 6 January the production was cancelled without a full explanation.
Later in 2006 he will star in ''Perfect Parents'', an ITV drama written and directed by Joe Ahearne.http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/12208/eccleston-swaps-time-for-crime-in-first
Christopher Eccleston was considered for the roles of the Scarecrow in ''Batman Begins'' movie and the Joker in its sequel, ''The Dark Knight''. http://www.jokeronfilm.com/candidates1.html
In May 2006 it was reported that Eccleston was in advanced negotiations to star in a Sky One revival of the seminal 1960s drama series "The Prisoner", as Number Six, the character originally played by series creator Patrick McGoohan. Eccleston's agent has since categorically denied these rumours http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4972194.stm.
Filmography
| '''Year''' | '''Title''' | '''Role''' | '''Other notes''' |
| 2002 | ''28 Days Later'' | Major Henry West | Directed by Danny Boyle |
| 2002 | ''Revengers Tragedy'' | Vindici | Directed by Alex Cox |
| 2002 | ''I Am Dina'' | Leo Zukowskij | Directed by Ole Bornedal |
| 2002 | ''24 Hour Party People'' | Boethius | Directed by Michael Winterbottom |
| 2001 | ''The Invisible Circus'' | Wolf | Directed by Adam Brooks |
| 2001 | ''The Others'' | Charles Stewart | Directed by Alejandro Amenábar |
| 2000 | ''Gone in Sixty Seconds'' | Raymond Calitri | Directed by Dominic Sena |
| 1999 | ''With or Without You'' | Vincent Boyd | Directed by Michael Winterbottom |
| 1999 | ''eXistenZ'' | Seminar Leader | Directed by David Cronenberg |
| 1999 | ''Heart'' | Gary Ellis | Directed by Charles McDougall |
| 1998 | ''A Price Above Rubies'' | Sender Horowitz | Directed by Boaz Yakin |
| 1998 | ''Elizabeth'' | Duke of Norfolk | Directed by Shekhar Kapur |
| 1996 | ''Jude'' | Jude Fawley | Directed by Michael Winterbottom |
| 1994 | ''Shallow Grave'' | David | Directed by Danny Boyle |
| 1993 | ''Anchoress'' | Priest | Directed by Chris Newby |
| 1992 | ''Death and the Compass'' | Alonso Zunz | Directed by Alex Cox |
| 1991 | ''Let Him Have It'' | Derek Bentley | Directed by Peter Medak |
Television
| '''Year''' | '''Title''' | '''Role''' | '''Other notes''' |
| 2006 | ''Perfect Parents'' | Stuart | Written and directed by Joe Ahearne |
| 2005 | ''Doctor Who'' | The Doctor | Written by Russell T. Davies, Mark Gatiss, Rob Shearman, Paul Cornell and Steven Moffat |
| 2003 | ''The Second Coming'' | Stephen Baxter | Written by Russell T. Davies |
| 2003 | I Am Kloot - Proof | Music video for band | Directed by Krishna Stott |
| 2002 | ''The King and Us'' | Anthony | Written by Peter Bowker |
| 2002 | ''Sunday'' | General Ford | Written by Jimmy McGovern |
| 2002 | ''Othello'' | Ben Jago | Written by Andrew Davies, based on the play by William Shakespeare |
| 2002 | ''Flesh and Blood'' | Joe Broughton | Written by Peter Bowker |
| 2002 | ''The League of Gentlemen'' | Dougal Siepp | |
| 2001 | ''Linda Green'' | Tom Sherry/Neil Sherry | Written by Paul Abbott |
| 2001 | ''Strumpet'' | Stray Man | DVD to be released in May 2006.<br>Written by Jim Cartwright |
| 2001 | ''This Little Piggy'' | Cabbie | Short by Chris McHallem |
| 2000 | ''Clocking Off'' | Jim Calvert | Written by Paul Abbott |
| 2000 | ''Wilderness Men'' | Alexander Von Humboldt | |
| 2000 | ''The Tyre'' | Salesman | Written by Simon Armitage and Brian Hill |
| 1999 | "Killing Time - The Millennium Poem" | Millennium Man | Poem written by Simon Armitage |
| 1996 | ''Hillsborough'' | Trevor Hicks | Written by Jimmy McGovern |
| 1996 | ''Our Friends in the North'' | Nicky Hutchinson | Written by Peter Flannery |
| 1995 | ''Hearts and Minds'' | Drew Mackenzie | Written by Jimmy McGovern |
| 1993 | ''Cracker'' | DCI David Bilborough | Written by Jimmy McGovern |
| 1992 | ''Business with Friends'' | Angel Morris | |
| 1992 | ''Friday on my Mind'' | Sean Maddox | |
| 1992 | ''Poirot'' | Frank Carter | |
| 1992 | ''Rachel's Dream'' | Man in Dream | |
| 1991 | ''Boon'' | Mark | |
| 1991 | ''Chancer'' | Radio | |
| 1991 | ''Inspector Morse'' | Terrence Mitchell | Written by Danny Boyle |
| 1990 | ''Casualty'' | Stephen Hills | |
| 1990 | ''Blood Rights'' | Dick |
Radio and narration
* ''The 1970's: That Was The Decade That was'' (Narrator) (2006)* ''This Sceptred Isle'' (Various Characters) (2005)
* ''Children In Need'' (Narrator) (2005)
* ''Wanted: New Mum and Dad '' (Narrator) (2005)
* ''Dubai Dreams '' (Narrator) (2005)
* ''E=mc² '' (Narrator) (2005)
* ''A Day in the Death of Joe Egg'' (Brian) (2005)
* ''Born to be Different'' (Narrator) (2005)
* ''Sacred Nation'' (Narrator) (2005)
* ''Crossing the Dark Sea'' (Squaddie) (2005)
* ''Life Half Spent'' (Roger) (2004)
* ''Cromwell - Warts and All'' (Narrator) (2003)
* ''The Iliad'' (Achilles) (2002)
* ''The Importance of Being Morrissey'' (Narrator) (2002)
* ''Bayeux Tapestry'' (Harold) (2001)
* ''Some Fantastic Place'' (Narrator) (2001)
* ''Pig Paradise'' (Jack) (1998)
* ''Room of Leaves'' (Frank) (1998)
Theatre
* Electricity (Jakey) (2004) - West Yorkshire Playhouse* Hamlet (Hamlet) (2002) - West Yorkshire Playhouse
* Miss Julie (Jean) (2000) - Haymarket Theatre
* Waiting At The Water's Edge (Will) (1993) - Bush Theatre
* Encounters - National Theatre Studio
* Aide-Memoire (1990) - Royal Court Theatre
* Abingdon Square (1990) - National Theatre/Shared Experience
* Bent (1990)- National Theatre
* Dona Rosita, The Spinster - Bristol Old Vic
* The Wonder - Gate Theatre
* Woyzeck (Woyzeck)- Birmingham Rep
* A Streetcar Named Desire (Pablo Gonzallez) (1988)- Bristol Old Vic
Selected awards and nominations
Film & television
*2006 - Nominated BAFTA Cymru Best Actor Award for ''Doctor Who''*2005 - Nominated Broadcasting Press Guild Award Best Actor for ''Doctor Who''
*2005 - Won National Television Awards Most Popular Actor for ''Doctor Who''
*2005 - Won TV Quick and TV Choice Award for Best Actor for ''Doctor Who''
*2004 - Nominated BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor for ''The Second Coming
*2003 - Won Royal Television Society Award for Best Actor for ''Flesh and Blood
*1997 - Nominated BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor for ''Our Friends in the North''
*1997 - Won Broadcasting Press Guild Award Best Actor for ''Our Friends in the North
*1997 - Nominated - Golden Satellite Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama for ''Jude''
Notes/Trivia
*Eccleston is a life long supporter of Manchester United F.C.. ''Daily Mirror article June 13 2005*His height is 6 ft 0 in (183 cm). ''Hamilton Hodell'' page on Christopher Eccleston
*He is unmarried but recently ended a relationship with the actress Siwan Morris. ''Observer'' article March 20 2005
*Eccleston has older twin brothers and one (Alan Eccleston) appears in the party scene in ''Heart''. IMDB listing for ''Heart''
*Eccleston does a lot of charity work and became a Mencap charity ambassador on 28 April 2005. Mencap newsletter, pdf
*Eccleston is a keen marathon runner and usually enters a number of competitions each year.''Guardian'' article January 15 2000
*Eccleston was very touched by the response he received from children from his role as Doctor Who. He said "In all the 20 years I've been acting, I've never enjoyed a response so much as the one I've had from children and I'm carrying that in my heart forever."Newsbeat referenceJune 26 2005
*He hosted the Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards 2004/2005 in November 2005.RTS Craft & Design Awards 2004/2005
*Eccleston sat on the 2nd Amazonas International Film Festival Film Jury in November 2005. The director Norman Jewison was chairman of the Jury.''Manchesteronline.co.uk'' article November 05 2005
*Eccleston appeared on BBC's ''Top Gear'' on which it was revealed that he only has a licence to drive automatic cars.BBC ''Top Gear'' site
References
External links
Interviews and articles
*The Guardian Unlimited Interview - Home Truths (January 15, 2000)*The Independent Interview - You've got to laugh (November 02, 2002)
*BBC Drama Faces: Christopher Eccleston
*Fantastic!: Christopher Eccleston Article at Kasterborous.com
External link
Biography courtesy of the brilliant Wikipedia!
