Alexander Nathan "Alex" Etel (born 19 September 1994) is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 child actor

Child actor

The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...

.

Early life

Alexander Nathan Etel was born at 3:33AM on September 19, 1994 in a hospital on the outskirts of Manchester. Etel is the middle child of his family, he has a younger brother and an older sister.

Career

Etel was born in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

. His film debut was the starring role of Damian Cunningham in 2004's Millions

Millions

Millions is a 2004 British comedy-drama film, directed by Academy Award–winning director Danny Boyle, and starring Alex Etel, Lewis McGibbon, and James Nesbitt. The screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce adapted his novel while the film was in the process of being made...

, a family film directed by Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle

Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...

. He played the lead in his second film, Jay Russell's

Jay Russell

Jay Russell , is a film director and also executive producer and director of the film My Dog Skip.His other directing credits include Tuck Everlasting, Ladder 49 and The Water Horse...

 The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep. The film, based on a Dick King Smith story about a boy who adopts a monster sea creature, opened in North America on Christmas Day, 2007 and in other countries in early 2008. The film is set in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, although all the scenes involving the creature itself were shot in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

.

Etel also played the bright-eyed ragamuffin Harry Gregson in the six-part TV adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's

Elizabeth Gaskell

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson , often referred to simply as Mrs Gaskell, was a British novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era...

 "Cranford" for the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 and WGBH

WGBH-TV

WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...

, which was transmitted on BBC 1 in the autumn of 2007 and co-starred Philip Glenister

Philip Glenister

Philip Haywood Glenister is an English actor, known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in British television series Life On Mars and its sequel Ashes To Ashes.-Television and films:...

, Judi Dench

Judi Dench

Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...

, Eileen Atkins

Eileen Atkins

Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE is an English actress and occasional screenwriter.- Early life :Atkins was born in the Mothers' Hospital in Clapton, a Salvation Army women's hostel in East London...

, Francesca Annis

Francesca Annis

Francesca Annis is an English actress, known for her film and television appearances, most recently in the BBC series Wives and Daughters, Cranford, and Deceit.-Early life and education:...

 and Imelda Staunton

Imelda Staunton

Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, OBE is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the British comedy television series Up the Garden Path, the Harry Potter film series and Vera Drake...

. He reprised his role in the two-part second series entitled Return to Cranford

Return to Cranford

Return to Cranford is the two-part second season of a British television series directed by Simon Curtis. The teleplay by Heidi Thomas was based on material from two novellas and a short story by Elizabeth Gaskell published between 1849 and 1863: Cranford, The Moorland Cottage and The Cage at...

.

He is currently scheduled to appear in two projects: From Time to Time

From Time to Time (film)

From Time to Time is a 2009 British adventure film directed by Julian Fellowes and starring Maggie Smith, Carice van Houten, Alex Etel, Eliza Bennett, Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh, Dominic West, Hugh Bonneville, Kwayedza Kureya and Pauline Collins. It was adapted from the children's novel The Chimneys of...

, an adaptation of The Chimneys of Green Knowe

Green Knowe

Green Knowe is a series of six books written by Lucy M. Boston, published between 1954 and 1976. They feature a very old house, Green Knowe, which is based on Boston's then-residence, The Manor in Hemingford Grey, Cambridgeshire. Some books in the series feature a boy called Toseland and his...

 directed by Julian Fellowes

Julian Fellowes

Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, DL , known as Julian Fellowes, is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, as well as a Conservative peer.-Early life:...

, and Easter Sixteen set in Dublin during the Easter Rising

Easter Rising

The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

 of 1916.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2004	Millions Millions Millions is a 2004 British comedy-drama film, directed by Academy Award–winning director Danny Boyle, and starring Alex Etel, Lewis McGibbon, and James Nesbitt. The screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce adapted his novel while the film was in the process of being made...	Damian	Nominated—British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer British Independent Film Awards The Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British...   Nominated—Critics Choice Award for Best Young Actor  Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
2007	The Waterhorse The Waterhorse The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep is a 2007 American family fantasy-drama film directed by Jay Russell. The screenplay by Robert Nelson Jacobs, is an adaptation of Dick King-Smith's children's novel The Water Horse...	Angus MacMorrow	Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film-Leading Young Actor Young Artist Awards 2008 The 29th Annual Young Artist Awards ceremony, presented by the Young Artist Foundation, honored excellence of young performers under the age of 18 in the fields of film and television for the year 2007, and took place on March 30, 2008 at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, Los Angeles,...   Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
	Cranford Cranford (TV series) Cranford is a British television series directed by Simon Curtis and Steve Hudson. The teleplay by Heidi Thomas was adapted from three novellas by Elizabeth Gaskell published between 1849 and 1858: Cranford, My Lady Ludlow, and Mr Harrison's Confessions...	Harry Gregson	TV mini-series (7 episodes: 2007-2009)
2009	From Time to Time From Time to Time (film) From Time to Time is a 2009 British adventure film directed by Julian Fellowes and starring Maggie Smith, Carice van Houten, Alex Etel, Eliza Bennett, Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh, Dominic West, Hugh Bonneville, Kwayedza Kureya and Pauline Collins. It was adapted from the children's novel The Chimneys of...	Tolly
2010	Ways to Live Forever Ways to Live Forever (film) Ways to Live Forever is a drama film by director Gustavo Ron based on the award winning novel of the same name written by Sally Nicholls. The film stars Robbie Kay, Alex Etel, Ben Chaplin, Emilia Fox and Greta Scacchi. The film is produced by Life&Soul Productions, El Capitan Pictures and Formato...	Felix

Appearances

Year	Title	Notes
2007	Entertainment Tonight Entertainment Tonight Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...	TV series (1 episode: "December 27, 2007")
2008	Richard and Judy Richard and Judy Richard and Judy is the name informally given to Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, a married couple who are both British television presenters and columnists. Since their marriage, their television appearances have been largely made as a couple. They are best known for presenting This Morning and...	TV series (1 episode: "7 February 2008")

External links