Richard Coyle

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Richard Coyle (born 6 February 1972^{[not verified in body]}) is an English film, television, and stage actor. He has also narrated numerous audiobooks. Coyle got his big break on the television comedy Coupling, playing the role of Jeff Murdock. He played the lead role in the TV film Going Postal and in Renny Harlin's film 5 Days of War. In 2012, Coyle joined the cast of the show Covert Affairs as Simon Fischer, an FSB agent and love interest for Piper Perabo's Annie Walker. In 2018, Coyle was cast as Father Faustus Blackwood, a high priest of the Church of Night and Dean of the Academy of the Unseen Arts in the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. He played the role of Aberforth Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

On the stage, Coyle played the lead in Peter Gill's 2002 stage premiere of The York Realist, and later in the Donmar Warehouse production of the play Proof, in London, alongside Gwyneth Paltrow. He played the title role in Michael Grandage's production of Friedrich Schiller's Don Carlos. In 2008 he starred in Harold Pinter's The Lover and The Collection at the Comedy Theatre in London. In 2010, he played John in Mark Haddon's play Polar Bears at the Donmar Warehouse, London. In 2014 he played MacDuff in the Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford directed Macbeth at the Park Avenue Armory, New York City. In 2022 Coyle starred in the role of Atticus Finch in the West End debut of Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Harper Lee's American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Early life and education

Richard Coyle was born on 6 February 1972,^{[citation needed]} in Sheffield, England. His father was a builder, and he is the fourth of five sons.^{[citation needed]}

While working a stint on a ferry, entertaining passengers, Coyle was told by a theatre director that he had talent and should pursue it. As described by Madeline North for The Independent,

Coyle's first encounter with a stage was at [University of York, see following]. Wondering how to fill his time between politics lectures, he signed up for the drama society ("it was the most colourful stand in the place") and found himself in an existential two-hander about Franz Kafka. An actor was born.

North went on to note that a local charity had "got[ten] him through school" with financial support. Coyle would graduate from a program in Languages and Philosophy at the University of York, in 1995. He was then accepted into the drama course at Bristol Old Vic, with the same local charity that had supported him at York again "stump[ing] up the cash". He would graduate in 1997.

Film and television work

Coyle played Mr Coxe in 1999's BBC version of Wives and Daughters.^{[citation needed]} He also appeared in the television programme, Lorna Doone (2000).^{[citation needed]} Also in 2000, Coyle had his big break,^{[citation needed]} in his portrayal of the character, Jeff Murdock, in the sitcom Coupling.

Coyle also starred in the 2001 version of Othello, as Michael Cassio.^{[citation needed]} He starred in the short-lived 2002–2003 BBC show Strange.^{[citation needed]} In 2003 he chose not to return to Coupling for its fourth series, and refused requests to return for a "goodbye episode". In a subsequent interview, Coyle stated this was to avoid typecasting:

I'm very proud to have been part of Coupling and very grateful for the chance to play Jeff but I was very keen that that character didn’t stick with me forever. I’m an actor and I want to be an actor when I’m 60. It’s a lifelong process; why cut it off by boxing yourself into a little pigeonhole early on?

In 2004, Coyle played the role of Alcock, body servant to John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, in The Libertine alongside Johnny Depp.^{[citation needed]} He appeared in a new special television episode of Cracker: Nine Eleven in October 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Coyle was cast in 2010 in the lead role, Moist von Lipwig, in the film Going Postal, based on the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett, which was broadcast on television^{[clarification needed]} in May 2010.^{[citation needed]} He appeared in Mike Newell's 2010 film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, playing Jake Gyllenhaal's older brother, the ambiguous Crown Prince Tus.^{[citation needed]} In September 2011, Coyle appeared as William Winthrop, in Madonna's feature-directorial debut W.E., about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.^{[citation needed]}

Coyle played Wallace in Outpost: Black Sun (2012), the sequel to the 2008 British horror film Outpost, and the lead of drug pusher Frank in the 2012 English-language remake of Nicolas Winding Refn's 1996 cult classic Pusher. Also in 2012, Coyle joined the cast of the USA Network show Covert Affairs as Simon Fischer, an FSB agent and love interest for Piper Perabo's Annie Walker. His character recurred until halfway through season three.

In 2014, NBC began airing the series Crossbones, with Coyle as Tom Lowe, who is assigned to kill the pirate Blackbeard (played by John Malkovich). In 2018, Coyle was cast as Father Faustus Blackwood, a high priest of the Church of Night and Dean of the Academy of the Unseen Arts in the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

In January 2021, Coyle announced via Instagram that he had been cast in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, scheduled to be released in 2022, but said he could not disclose whom he was playing.^{[citation needed]} When the trailer came out that December, it was confirmed that he would be playing Aberforth Dumbledore.^{[citation needed]} In 2026, in the BBC and BritBox adaptation of Janice Hadlow's Pride and Prejudice spinoff, The Other Bennet Sister, Coyle stars as Mr Gardiner, alongside Indira Varma as Mrs Gardiner.^{[citation needed]} Mr Gardiner is Mary Bennet's worldly and kind uncle who takes her under his wing, helping her gain confidence outside of her family's shadow.^{[citation needed]}

Stage roles

Coyle was cast as the lead in Peter Gill's 2002 stage premiere of The York Realist, and later in the Donmar Warehouse production of the play Proof, in London, alongside Gwyneth Paltrow. On that success, he was cast in Patrick Marber's reworking of August Strindberg's play After Miss Julie with Kelly Reilly and Helen Baxendale.

From September to November 2004, Coyle played the title role in Michael Grandage's production of Friedrich Schiller's Don Carlos, which then transferred to the West End from January to April 2005 (where the cast included Derek Jacobi, Peter Eyre and Una Stubbs).

Coyle was in Peter Gill's production of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger at the Theatre Royal, Bath from August to September 2006. In 2008, he starred in Harold Pinter's The Lover, and The Collection at the Comedy Theatre in London, alongside Charlie Cox and Gina McKee. In 2010, he played John in Mark Haddon's play Polar Bears at the Donmar Warehouse, London.

In 2014, Coyle played MacDuff in the Kenneth Branagh- and Rob Ashford-directed Macbeth, at the Park Avenue Armory, in New York City.

Coyle premiered the role of Larry Lamb in James Graham's new play Ink, which opened at the Almeida Theatre under the direction of Rupert Goold, which later transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End;^{[when?][citation needed]} In it, Coyle stars alongside Bertie Carvel who plays Rupert Murdoch.

From August through November 2022, Coyle starred in the role of Atticus Finch in the West End debut of Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Harper Lee's American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. He went on to play the character Henry in "Player Kings" on the West End, from April to June 2024.

Other media

Coyle played Keats in the game Folklore,^{[citation needed]} and, as of this date,^[when?] had narrated the audio books,

• At The Mountains of Madness;^{[when?][citation needed]} and
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth, both by H. P. Lovecraft;^{[when?][citation needed]}
• Resistance by Owen Sheers;^{[when?][citation needed]} and
• the H.I.V.E. series of novels by Mark Walden (2010).

He has narrated the Moist von Lipwig series of audiobooks for Penguin, in which Peter Serafinowicz voices the character, Death, and Bill Nighy reads the work's narrative footnotes. This series of re-recorded versions of Terry Pratchett's Discworld audiobooks was released in February 2023.^{[citation needed]} (In 2021, Penguin announced production would begin on a reissue of the series, again featuring Nighy and Serafinowicz, with the only further mention of participation being "a cast of leading names from British stage and screen".)

Filmography

Source:

Personal life

Coyle was married to actress Georgia Mackenzie; they divorced in 2010. From early 2011, he was in a relationship with actress Ruth Bradley. By 2017 this had ended and he was seeing someone else.

References

External links

• Richard Coyle at IMDb
• "Richard Coyle Talks Tom Lowe" – video of short interview with Coyle about Crossbones role