Hadley Fraser is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 stage

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

. He made his critically acclaimed West End debut as Marius in Les Misérables

Les Misérables (musical)

Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

. He also originated the role of Tiernan in the Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 show The Pirate Queen

The Pirate Queen

The Pirate Queen is a musical written by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, best known for their adaptation of Les Misérables. John Dempsey is the co-lyricist. The Pirate Queen marks the first time Boublil and Schönberg have created a musical with American collaborators...

.

Biography

Fraser is the son of Jack and Carol Fraser, and brother of Ed Fraser, an officer in the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

. He holds a BA

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 from Birmingham University and a Postgraduate Diploma from the Royal Academy of Music

Royal Academy of Music

The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...

. In 2011 he was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, or ARAM.

His West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

 and other British credits include Les Misérables

Les Misérables (musical)

Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

, Assassins

Assassins (musical)

Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted to assassinate Presidents of the United States...

, The Far Pavilions, The Shaughraun

The Shaughraun

The Shaughraun is a melodramatic play written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. It was first performed at Wallack's Theatre, New York, on 14 November 1874. Boucicault played Con in the original production...

, and Pacific Overtures

Pacific Overtures

Pacific Overtures is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, a libretto by John Weidman, and additional material by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is set in 1853 Japan and follows the difficult Westernization of Japan, through the lives of two friends caught in the change...

. He played Gareth in the Doctor Who episode "Army of Ghosts

Army of Ghosts

"Army of Ghosts" is the twelfth and penultimate episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who which was first broadcast on 1 July 2006...

" (2006). As a vocalist he can be heard on Scott Alan's latest release, Keys.

In 2009, Fraser played the supporting role of Reed in The Fresh Beat Band

The Fresh Beat Band

The Fresh Beat Band is a children TV show with original pop songs produced for Nick Jr.. The Fresh Beats are Shout, Twist, Marina, and Kiki, described as four best friends in a band who go to music school together and love to sing and dance...

season 1. (In season 2, Reed was played by Patrick Levis

Patrick Levis

- Biography :Ever since he was little, acting was his passion. He started acting in several commercials, and by the age of twelve, he had a role in the original cast of the Broadway play "Big: the musical." After this he starred in Brink! , a Disney Channel original movie, and shortly after was...

.) In May 2010, he returned to the West End to play the role of El Gallo in The Fantasticks

The Fantasticks

The Fantasticks is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. It was produced by Lore Noto. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play "The Romancers" by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into...

.

In October 2010, Fraser played the role of Grantaire in the 25th Anniversary concert of Les Misérables.

Hadley is currently writing music in a band called "Sheytoons" with Ramin Karimloo

Ramin Karimloo

Ramin Karimloo is an Iranian-born Canadian musical theatre actor, recognized chiefly for his work in London's West End. He has played the leading male roles in both of the West End’s longest running musicals; the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, as of 29th...

, who costarred as Enjolras

Enjolras

Enjolras is the charismatic leader of the Friends of the ABC in the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.- The Friends of the ABC :...

 on the 25th Anniversary concert of Les Misérables.

On June 23, 2011, Fraser returned to Les Misérables, this time to play the role of Javert

Javert

Javert is a fictional character from the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. He is a prison guard, and later policeman, who devotes his life to the law. He is always referred to just simply as "Javert" or "Inspector Javert" by the narrator and other characters throughout the novel; his first name...

. He has since received critical acclaim for the role (has he?!) and is currently contracted to remain with the show until June 2012.

On October 1 and 2, 2011, Fraser played Raoul in the 25th Anniversary staging of The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)

The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...

 at the Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

in London

External links

• Official site updated March 2010
• Fresh Face: Hadley Fraser