Russell Tovey

Last updated 09 January 2020

Russell Tovey
(this image appears for illustrative purposes only and no attempt is made to supersede any copyright attributed to it)

Russell George Tovey

Born: Saturday 14th November 1981 (age: 42)

SueTerryVoices
Twitter
IMDB
Wikipedia


Russell Tovey is the adopted son of actor George Tovey, and began his career as a child actor in 1994, when he was cast in Mud, a children's series broadcast on CBBC.

He left high school at the age of 16, and started a Btec in performing arts at Barking College. He acted in plays in Chichester under the direction of Debra Gillett, wife of Patrick Marber. He met Marber through Gillett, and Marber cast him in the play Howard Katz at the National Theatre. He also performed in His Girl Friday and His Dark Materials there as well.

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 adaptation. He originally auditioned for the role of Crowther but agreed to act the part of Rudge after Bennett promised to beef up the role.

In spring 2007, Tovey had a recurring role in BBC Three comedy Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, playing Rob's gay producer, Ben. In the same year he made guest appearances in BBC Three comedy Gavin & Stacey playing Budgie, a friend of Gavin and Smithy's, in four episodes, and then in the 2007 Doctor Who Christmas Special "Voyage of the Damned"

Tovey plays werewolf George Sands, one of three supernatural housemates in the drama Being Human. The pilot premiered on BBC Three on 18 February 2008.

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.

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