Brit Pack (actors)
Encyclopedia
The term Brit Pack is a moniker often used to described young British actors who are touted to achieve success in Hollywood. According to one article, 'every decade brings a new Brit Pack, another disparate group of actors backed by the media to achieve simultaneous Hollywood stardom. However the term is most closely associated with the crop of British actors which emerged in the late 1980s, due to the prominence of the Brat Pack moniker at the time, which referred to young American actors and actresses, such as Robert Downey, Jr, Rob Lowe
, Demi Moore
and Emilio Estevez
, who often appeared together in teen-oriented films such as St. Elmo's Fire
and The Breakfast Club
.
, Tim Roth
, Paul McGann
, Gary Oldman
, Spencer Leigh
and Colin Firth
for The Face
magazine, in January 1987. The magazine had also intended to interview Daniel Day-Lewis
but he was busy filming The Unbearable Lightness of Being
. The title of the interview was 'The Brit Pack'. The moniker stuck and has been referenced in subsequent articles concerning the actors. An issue of the 1988 magazine Film Comment
stated that 'Rupert Everett
, Gary Oldman
, Miranda Richardson
, and Daniel Day-Lewis
' were the leaders of the pack.
, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire
, et al. – they don't keep re-meeting each other on-screen either'. Nonetheless, Bruce Payne
and Tim Roth
had both appeared in the Tales Out of School television series, Gary Oldman
and Tim Roth
both appeared in Meantime
and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Bruce Payne
and Spencer Leigh both appeared in Smart Money
.
, Sam Bradley, Tom Sturridge
, Eddie Redmayne
, Bobby Long, and Marcus Foster
.
The term has also been used to describe black British actors making it in America Idris Elba, Sophie Okonedo, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Marianne Jean Baptiste.
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
, Demi Moore
Demi Moore
Demi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...
and Emilio Estevez
Emilio Estevez
Emilio Estevez is an American actor, film director, and writer. He started his career as an actor and is well-known for being a member of the acting Brat Pack of the 1980s, starring in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire...
, who often appeared together in teen-oriented films such as St. Elmo's Fire
St. Elmo's Fire (film)
St. Elmo's Fire is a 1985 American coming-of-age film directed by Joel Schumacher. The film, starring Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and Mare Winningham, is a prominent movie of the Brat Pack genre, and revolves around a group of friends that have...
and The Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club is a 1985 American teen drama film written and directed by John Hughes. The storyline follows five teenagers as they spend a Saturday in detention together and come to realize that they are all deeper than their respective stereotypes.-Plot:The plot follows five students at...
.
1980s Brit Pack
The journalist Elissa Van Poznak interviewed Bruce PayneBruce Payne
Bruce Martyn Payne is an award winning English character actor and producer and was a member of the 1980's Brit Pack. Although he is best known for his villainous roles, Bruce Payne has played characters across the spectrum...
, Tim Roth
Tim Roth
Simon Timothy "Tim" Roth is an English film actor and director best known for his roles in the American films,Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for...
, Paul McGann
Paul McGann
Paul McGann is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role...
, Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
, Spencer Leigh
Spencer Leigh
Spencer Leigh is a British actor, who has played roles in movies such as The Garden and The Last of England, and television series such as One Summer. He is considered one of the "Brit Pack".-External links:...
and Colin Firth
Colin Firth
SirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
for The Face
The Face (magazine)
The Face was a British music, fashion and culture monthly magazine started in May 1980 by Nick Logan.-1980s:Logan had previously created the teen pop magazine Smash Hits, and had been an editor at the New Musical Express in the 1970s before launching The Face in 1980.The magazine was influential in...
magazine, in January 1987. The magazine had also intended to interview Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for the latter...
but he was busy filming The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Unbearable Lightness of Being , written by Milan Kundera, is a philosophical novel about two men, two women, a dog and their lives in the Prague Spring of the Czechoslovak Communist period in 1968. Although written in 1982, the novel was not published until two years later, in France...
. The title of the interview was 'The Brit Pack'. The moniker stuck and has been referenced in subsequent articles concerning the actors. An issue of the 1988 magazine Film Comment
Film Comment
Film Comment is an arts and culture magazine published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, of which it is the official publication. Film Comment features critical reviews and in-depth analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world...
stated that 'Rupert Everett
Rupert Everett
Rupert James Hector Everett is an English actor. He first came to public attention in 1981, when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country as an openly gay student at an English public school, set in the 1930s...
, Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
, Miranda Richardson
Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....
, and Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for the latter...
' were the leaders of the pack.
Differences Between the Brat Pack and the Brit Pack
There are many differences between the Brat Pack and the so called Brit Pack. As one article put it, the Brit Pack 'aren't seen together at parties or in restaurants or in gossip columns. And since British cinema has had no equivalent to Hollywood's Eighties conveyor-belt youth movies – Weird ScienceWeird Science (film)
Weird Science is a 1985 American teen comedy film written and directed by John Hughes and starring Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, and Kelly LeBrock...
, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire
St. Elmo's Fire (film)
St. Elmo's Fire is a 1985 American coming-of-age film directed by Joel Schumacher. The film, starring Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and Mare Winningham, is a prominent movie of the Brat Pack genre, and revolves around a group of friends that have...
, et al. – they don't keep re-meeting each other on-screen either'. Nonetheless, Bruce Payne
Bruce Payne
Bruce Martyn Payne is an award winning English character actor and producer and was a member of the 1980's Brit Pack. Although he is best known for his villainous roles, Bruce Payne has played characters across the spectrum...
and Tim Roth
Tim Roth
Simon Timothy "Tim" Roth is an English film actor and director best known for his roles in the American films,Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for...
had both appeared in the Tales Out of School television series, Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
and Tim Roth
Tim Roth
Simon Timothy "Tim" Roth is an English film actor and director best known for his roles in the American films,Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for...
both appeared in Meantime
Meantime (film)
Meantime is a 1983 film directed by Mike Leigh, produced by Central Television for Channel 4. It was shown at the London Film Festival in 1983 and on Channel 4 a few weeks later, on 1 December...
and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Bruce Payne
Bruce Payne
Bruce Martyn Payne is an award winning English character actor and producer and was a member of the 1980's Brit Pack. Although he is best known for his villainous roles, Bruce Payne has played characters across the spectrum...
and Spencer Leigh both appeared in Smart Money
Smart Money (1986 film)
Smart Money was a BBC film made in 1986 which was written by Matthew Jacobs and directed by Bernard Rose. It starred Spencer Leigh, Bruce Payne and Richard Borthwick.-Plot:The film is a comedy thriller about computer fraud...
.
2010s use of the term
Currently, the phrase 'Brit Pack' is often used to describe any disparate group of young British actors and actresses of rising prominence. No group has emerged which is as readily identifiable as the group from the 1980s, although recently, 'Brit Pack' has been used in referral to a group of young British actors and musicians that includes Robert PattinsonRobert Pattinson
Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson is an English actor, model, musician, and producer. Born and raised in London, Pattinson started out his career by playing the role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...
, Sam Bradley, Tom Sturridge
Tom Sturridge
Thomas Sidney Jerome "Tom" Sturridge is an English actor best known for his work in Being Julia, Like Minds, and The Boat That Rocked. As of September 2010, he was filming a role in Walter Salles's highly anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.-Personal life:Sturridge was born...
, Eddie Redmayne
Eddie Redmayne
Edward John David "Eddie" Redmayne is an English actor and model. Redmayne won the 2010 Tony Award as best featured actor in a play for his performance in Red.-Early life:...
, Bobby Long, and Marcus Foster
Marcus Foster
Marcus Albert Foster was a respected African-American educator who gained a national reputation for educational excellence while serving as principal of Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as Associate Superintendent of Schools in Philadelphia, and as the first black...
.
The term has also been used to describe black British actors making it in America Idris Elba, Sophie Okonedo, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Marianne Jean Baptiste.
First Generation
| Name | Born | Years Active |
|---|---|---|
| Day-Lewis, Daniel | 29 April 1957 (age 54) | 1970–Present |
| Payne, Bruce | 22 November 1958 (age 53) | 1982–Present |
| Oldman, Gary | 21 March 1958 (age 53) | 1978–Present |
| Richardson, Miranda | 3 March 1958 (age 53) | 1981–Present |
| Everett, Rupert | 29 May 1959 (age 52) | 1982–Present |
| Firth, Colin | 10 September 1960 (age 51) | 1983–Present |
| McGann, Paul | 14 November 1959 (age 52) | 1986–Present |
| Roth, Tim | 14 May 1961 (age 50) | 1982–Present |
| Leigh, Spencer | 14 February 1960 (age 51) | 1983–Present |
Second Generations
| Name | Born | Years Active |
|---|---|---|
| Pattinson, Robert | 13 May 1986 (age 25) | 2004–Present |
| Hoult, Nicholas Nicholas Hoult Nicholas Caradoc Hoult is an English actor, best known for playing Marcus Brewer in the 2002 film About a Boy, Tony Stonem in the E4, BAFTA-winning television series Skins, and Beast in the X-Men prequel, X-Men: First Class.-Early life:Hoult was born in Wokingham, Berkshire, the third of four... |
7 December 1989 (age 22) | 2002–Present |
| Bell, Jamie Jamie Bell Andrew James Matfin "Jamie" Bell is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Billy Elliot , King Kong , Hallam Foe , Jumper , Defiance , The Eagle and The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn .- Early life :Bell was born in Billingham, in the Borough of... |
14 March 1986 (age 25) | 2000–Present |
| Mulligan, Carey Carey Mulligan Carey Hannah Mulligan is an English actress. She made her film debut as Kitty Bennet in Pride & Prejudice . She had roles in numerous British programmes and, in 2007, made her Broadway debut in The Seagull to critical acclaim.... |
28 May 1986 (age 25) | 2004–Present |
| Garfield, Andrew Andrew Garfield Andrew Russell Garfield is an American-English actor who has appeared in radio, theatre, film, and television. His early roles include the films Lions for Lambs, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and Boy A, which garnered him the 2007 BAFTA Television Award for "Best Actor".Garfield achieved... |
20 August 1983 (age 28) | 2004–Present |
| Sturridge, Tom Tom Sturridge Thomas Sidney Jerome "Tom" Sturridge is an English actor best known for his work in Being Julia, Like Minds, and The Boat That Rocked. As of September 2010, he was filming a role in Walter Salles's highly anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.-Personal life:Sturridge was born... |
21 December 1985 (age 26) | 1996–Present |
| Redmayne, Eddie Eddie Redmayne Edward John David "Eddie" Redmayne is an English actor and model. Redmayne won the 2010 Tony Award as best featured actor in a play for his performance in Red.-Early life:... |
6 January 1982 (age 30) | 1998–Present |
| Poots, Imogen Imogen Poots Imogen Gay Poots is an English actress, best known for playing Tammy in the 2007 film 28 Weeks Later, Prue Sorenson in the 2010 remake of the controversial TV drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire and as Jean Ross in the BBC's Christopher and His Kind.-Early life:Poots was born in Hammersmith, London,... |
5 June 1989 (age 22) | 2004–Present |
| Temple, Juno Juno Temple -Early life:Juno Temple was born in London, and is the daughter of producer Amanda Pirie and film director Julien Temple. She grew up in Somerset, England and attended Enmore Primary School, Bedales School, and King's College, Taunton... |
21 July 1989 (age 22) | 1997–Present |
See also
- Brat pack
- Child actorChild actorThe 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...
- Frat PackFrat PackThe "Frat Pack" is a nickname given to a group of male Hollywood comedy actors who have appeared together in many of the highest grossing comedy movies since the late 1990s...
– 1990s & 2000s - Rat PackRat PackThe Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a later variation of the group, after Bogart's death, that called itself "the summit" or "the clan," featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean...
– 1950s & 1960s - Splat PackSplat PackThe Splat Pack is a collection of filmmakers who, since 2002, have directed a large number of horror films.-History:The term was coined by Alan Jones of Total Film. The group has been credited with bringing back ultra-violent movies, as well as moving away from PG-13 rated movies and into the...
- TypecastingTypecasting (acting)In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...