Andrew Schofield
Encyclopedia
Early life
Born in KirkbyKirkby
Kirkby is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in the metropolitan county of Merseyside in England. The town was developed from the 1950s through 1970s as a means to house the overspill of Liverpool. It is situated roughly north of Huyton, the administrative HQ of the borough and about...
, Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, Schofield attended St Kevin's RC Comprehensive School. At 15 he was cast in Willy Russell's first Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
, Death of a Young, Young Man.
Stage
His stage credits include starring as the Narrator in Willy Russell's original production of Blood Brothers in 1983 at the Liverpool PlayhouseLiverpool Playhouse
The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actresses, some of which went on to achieve...
and in the subsequent transfer to the Lyric Theatre
Lyric Theatre (London)
The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
in London's West End. He also appeared as George in Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California, USA....
at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 2005.
Schofield's more recent credits include: all four runs of Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels
Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels
Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels is a play about the story of the Kingsway Three, a fictitious terrorist organisation, and their plans to brick up the Tunnels which join Liverpool to the Wirral...
as Dickie Lewis; Smigger in Lost Soul
Lost Soul (play)
Lost Soul is a play written by Dave Kirby , and performed at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool from 31 August to 29 September 2007."In the 1970s Donna and Pat felt like the Pointer Sisters and they were looking for Hall and Oates. 30 years on and they feel like the ugly sisters and they found...
in 2007 and 2008; Brian in Good Golly Miss Molly; Moey in the Alan Bleasdale
Alan Bleasdale
Alan Bleasdale is an English television dramatist, best known for writing several social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people.The Bleasdales live in prescot,liverpool,wales and london.-Early life:Bleasdale is an only child; his father worked in a food factory and his mother...
comedy On the Ledge; Paul Sheldon in Misery; the Traveller in Eight Miles High; Danny in Council Depot Blues; Joe in Night Collar; JJ in The Flags and Mr Briggs in Our Day Out - The Musical
Our Day Out
Our Day Out is a television play about deprived children from Liverpool in the United Kingdom. It was written by Willy Russell and first aired on 28 December 1977, at 9pm on BBC2...
. He performed all of these roles at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool
Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool
The Royal Court Theatre is a theatre at 1 Roe Street, Liverpool, England. It was built in 1938 in an Art Deco style.-History:Built in the 12th Century, the site of the current Royal Court Theatre was originally a water well...
.
He won the 2008 Scouseology Award for Theatre on 25 April 2008.
Film
Schofield's best known film role is that of Johnny Rotten in Alex CoxAlex Cox
Alexander Cox is a British film director, screenwriter, nonfiction author and sometime actor, notable for his idiosyncratic style and approach to scripts...
's 1986 film Sid and Nancy
Sid and Nancy
Sid and Nancy is a 1986 British biopic directed by Alex Cox. The film portrays the life of Sid Vicious , bassist of the seminal punk rock band the Sex Pistols, and his relationship with girlfriend Nancy Spungen .-Plot:The film opens with several police officers dragging Sid Vicious out of the Hotel...
. He appeared as Les in Terence Davies' Distant Voices, Still Lives
Distant Voices, Still Lives
Distant Voices, Still Lives is a 1988 British film directed and written by Terence Davies. It evokes working-class family life in Liverpool during the 1940s and early 1950s, paying particular attention to the role of popular music, Hollywood cinema, light entertainment, and the public house within...
, made a small cameo as a hotel receptionist in Three Businessmen
Three Businessmen
Three Businessmen is a film made in 1998. It is a British-Dutch-Spanish-Japanese coproduction directed by Alex Cox. The screenplay is by Tod Davies, who was also the producer....
, appears briefly in Hamlet
Hamlet (1996 film)
Hamlet is a 1996 film version of William Shakespeare's classic play of the same name, adapted and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also stars in the title role as Prince Hamlet...
and played Carlo in Revengers Tragedy
Revengers Tragedy
Revengers Tragedy is a film adaptation of the 1606 play The Revenger's Tragedy . It was directed by Alex Cox and adapted for the screen by Cox's fellow Liverpudlian, Frank Cottrell Boyce...
. He has also recently made an independent short film called Leave Taking, and sppeared in the Liverpool-based feature Under the Mud
Under the Mud
Under the Mud is a 2009 comedy film directed by Solon Papadopoulos. It is set in Garston, an economically depressed area of Liverpool, UK, and follows the dramatic and eccentric happenings within one family on the day of its youngest daughter's first Holy Communion...
.
TV
Schofield's biggest TV role was as Francis (Franny) Scully in Alan BleasdaleAlan Bleasdale
Alan Bleasdale is an English television dramatist, best known for writing several social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people.The Bleasdales live in prescot,liverpool,wales and london.-Early life:Bleasdale is an only child; his father worked in a food factory and his mother...
's 1984 Granada series Scully
Scully (TV series)
Scully was a British television drama with some comedy elements set in the city of Liverpool, England, it originated from a BBC Play For Today episode "Scully's New Years Eve" . Originally broadcast on Channel Four in 1984, the single series was spread over six half-hour episodes plus a one-hour...
. He has also appeared in three more Bleasdale series, as Peter Grenville in GBH in 1991, Jake's Progress in 1995 and as Charlton Ffoulkes in Melissa in 1997. Other TV credits include Maisie Raine
Maisie Raine
Maisie Raine was a drama series originally broadcast on BBC1 for 2 series from 28 July 1998 - 9 July 1999.Pauline Quirke took the lead role as DI Maisie Raine, an unorthodox detective whose hands on and down to earth approach was not always appreciated by her superiors...
with Pauline Quirke
Pauline Quirke
Pauline Perpetua Quirke is a British actress. She is best known for her role as Sharon in the comedy series Birds of a Feather, alongside her lifelong friend and frequent acting partner Linda Robson...
, Sharpe with Sean Bean
Sean Bean
Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, previously, British Colonel Richard Sharpe in the ITV television series Sharpe...
and Murphy's Law
Murphy's Law (TV series)
Murphy's Law is a BBC television drama, produced by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Northern Ireland, starring James Nesbitt as an undercover police officer, Tommy Murphy. There were five series of the drama, shown on BBC One. The first two were composed of individual stories. Series three, four...
with James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
. Schofield also played a policeman in the Boys from the Blackstuff
Boys from the Blackstuff
Boys from the Blackstuff is a British television drama series of five episodes, originally transmitted from 10 October to 7 November 1982 on BBC2....
episode "Yosser's Story".
Most recently he played a shepherd in Liverpool Nativity for BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
, where he sang the John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
song "Imagine
Imagine (song)
"Imagine" is a song written and performed by the English musician John Lennon. It is the opening track on his album Imagine, released in 1971...
".
He appeared as part of the LFCTV documentary The 12th Man on 25 August 2009 talking about Bobby Wilcox, who has been named as Liverpool FC's biggest fan.
Recordings
Schofield can be heard on the original cast recording of Blood Brothers and also as a featured vocalist on the Barbara DicksonBarbara Dickson
Barbara Ruth Dickson, OBE is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February"...
album The 7 Ages of Woman.
Private life
Schofield lives in Kirkby and his eldest daughter Jessica is an actress. He plays both electric and acoustic guitar, banjo and ukulele.During the 1980s, he was a jazz DJ on the Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
pirate radio
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
station KGW.
Future projects
Schofield appeared in a short film called Fifteen Minutes That Shook The WorldFifteen Minutes That Shook The World
Fifteen Minutes That Shook the World is a film written by Dave Kirby about Liverpool's Champions League win in 2005 in Istanbul, known as "The miracle of Istanbul". It stars Neil Fitzmaurice as Rafa Benitez and has cameos by Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Dietmar Hamann...
released in Autumn 2010, written by Dave Kirby about Liverpool FC's come back in Champions League in 2005.
He played guitar in the pit band for 'Merry Ding Dong' at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool
Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool
The Royal Court Theatre is a theatre at 1 Roe Street, Liverpool, England. It was built in 1938 in an Art Deco style.-History:Built in the 12th Century, the site of the current Royal Court Theatre was originally a water well...
until 23 January 2010.
He will be appearing in 'Scouse Pacific', a new comedy musical written by Fred Lawless
Fred Lawless
Fred Lawless is a British writer from Liverpool who has written for television, radio and theatre.-Biography:Fred Lawless was born in Dingle Liverpool. He attended St Patrick's School in Toxteth before his family moved to Halewood. He later attended the Wade Deacon Grammar School in Widnes...
at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool
Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool
The Royal Court Theatre is a theatre at 1 Roe Street, Liverpool, England. It was built in 1938 in an Art Deco style.-History:Built in the 12th Century, the site of the current Royal Court Theatre was originally a water well...
from 26 November 2010 to 8 January 2011.