Timothy Ackroyd
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| Timothy Ackroyd | |
|---|---|
| Born | Timothy Ackroyd 7 October 1958 London, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1980–1999 |
Timothy Ackroyd (born 7 October 1958) is an English actor.
The 3rd Baronet Acroyd, he was born on 7 October 1958 to Sir John Robert Whyte Ackroyd, 2nd Bt. and Jennifer Eileen McLeod Bishop.
Ackroyd's career began in 1976 when he was nominated as Most Promising Newcomer in the West End Theatre Awards for his performance as Clytemnestra in Aeschylus's Agamemnon. After writing and playing William Hogarth in The Compassionate Satirist in collaboration with Brian Sewell and varnished by Peter O'Toole, he decided to take a break from the stage in 2007. He has also served as a National Theatre player and appeared in weekly repertory at Southwold, Chichester, Harrogate, Farnham, Newbury, Glasgow and Leatherhead.
His London début was in Brian Forbes' controversial and hugely successful Macbeth at The Old Vic; his West End debut was starring opposite Peter O'Toole and Joyce Carey as Ricki-Ticki-Tavy in George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman. Other appearances in the West End include closing down the long-running farce No Sex Please, We're British, Pygmalion with John Thaw, The Rivals playing Sir Anthony Absolute and Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell which he played beside Peter O'Toole and Tom Conti.
He has directed three plays in London, Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides, Red Lanterns by Alecos Galanos, adapted by Costas Charalambos Costa, and, with Tracy Emin, produced Cocteau's Les Parents Terribles.
Ackroyd established the African wildlife charity Tusk Trust in 1989. Tusk is now recognized as one of the leading conservation Trusts in the UK and America, with Prince William as its royal patron. In 2004, Ackroyd's Ark, a book of animal drawings by friends and personalities from all walks of life was published and launched at Christie's and has to this date made £85,000 for Tusk.
Other charitable obligations are as Chairman of the Ackroyd Trust which supports drama students entering their final year of training and the establishing of The John Ackroyd Scholarship at the Royal College of Music.
Ackroyd has performed his one man show A Step Out of Time to both public and private audiences internationally. An advocate for the spoken word, he gives readings of Saki, Dickens and M. R. James.
