Antony Sher

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Antony Sher

Born June 14, 1949 (1949-06-14) (age 58)
Cape Town, South Africa

Sir Antony Sher KBE (born 14 June 1949) is a British actor, writer, theatre director and painter.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Sher was born into a Lithuanian Jewish family in Cape Town, South Africa, the son of Margery and Emmanuel Sher, who worked in business.[1] He grew up in the suburb of Sea Point (his cousin is Ronald Harwood), but he has worked mainly in the United Kingdom and is now a British citizen.

In 1968, after completing his compulsory military service, he left for London to audition at the Central School of Speech and Drama, but was unsuccessful. Instead, he studied at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art from 1969 to 1971. After training, and some early performances with the theatre group Gay Sweatshop, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982.

[edit] Acting career

In the 70's Sher was part of an astonishing group of young actors and writers working at the Liverpool Everyman. It consisted of the likes of writers Willy Russell and Alan Bleasdale and fellow actors Bernard Hill, Julie Walters, Trevor Eve and Jonathan Price. The work put on was highly regarded (Two successes being "John, Paul, George & Ringo" with Sher playing Ringo and "Richard III" with Sher playing Buckingham). Sher summed up the work of the company with the phrase "Anarchy ruled." In the 80's he worked at The Royal Shakespeare company, taking the title role in "Tartuffe" and playing the fool in "King Lear" before his big breakthrough in 1985, when he played the title role in Shakespeare's Richard III. This won him the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award. Since then he has played the lead in many big productions, including Tamburlaine, Cyrano de Bergerac, Stanley, Macbeth and The Merchant of Venice.

In 1997, his portrayal of Disraeli in the film Mrs. Brown was well received, and he won his second Laurence Olivier Award for his performance as Stanley Spencer in Stanley. In television, he starred in the miniseries The History Man (1981) and The Jury (2002). In 2003 he played the central character in an adaptation of the J G Ballard short story The Enormous Space, filmed as Home and broadcast on BBC Four.

He had a cameo role in the British comedy Three and Out released on 25 April 2008.

[edit] Other work

Sher's books include the memoirs Woza Shakespeare: Titus Andronicus in South Africa, with Gregory Doran (1997), Year of the King (1985), Beside Myself (2002), Characters (1990), and Primo Time (2005); the novels, Cheap Lives (1995), The Indoor Boy (1996), Middlepost (1989), and The Feast (1999); and the play ID (2003).

Sher is also the author of several plays. In 2008 Giant, which follows the story of Michelangelo, in his artistic and personal journey towards making his David, Da Vinci, and their shared apprentice Vito, was performed at the Hampstead Theatre. Sher researched the story referring closely to Vasari's Lives.

In 2005 he directed Breakfast With Mugabe at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon which transferred to the Soho Theatre (April 2006) and Duchess Theatre (May 2006). On 30th January 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Letters) at the University of Warwick.

[edit] Personal life

Despite his success, a shy and insecure Sher turned to cocaine as an antidote and by 1996 spent three weeks in rehabilitation. In 2005, he and his partner, the director Greg Doran, became one of the first gay couples to form a civil partnership in Britain.

[edit] Selected Theatre Credits

  • 2007: Kean in Kean at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford (then transferring to the Apollo Theatre, London in May) in March
  • 2004: Primo at the Cottesloe - National Theatre in October
  • 2002: RSC's Jacobean season transfers to the West End
  • 2000/1: Macbeth and The Winter's Tale for the RSC
  • 1999: Macbeth with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
  • 1998/1999: The Winter's Tale, at the Barbican Theatre with the Royal Shakespeare Company
  • 1997: Stanley at the National Theatre
  • 1994/5: Titus Andronicus at the National, then transferring to the Market Theatre, Johannesburg
  • 1991: The Trial and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui for the National Theatre
  • 1990: Singer for the RSC
  • 1987: Shylock in The Merchant of Venice for the RSC
  • 1984: Richard III with the RSC (transferring to the Barbican in 1985)
  • 1982: King Lear (as the Fool) at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (transferring to the Barbican in 1983)
  • 1982: Mike Leigh's Goosepimples in the West End
  • 1972-74: Plays various roles at the Liverpool Everyman

[edit] Selected Honours and awards

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/55/Antony-Sher.html

[edit] External links

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