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Michael J. Jackson (actor)
Encyclopedia
Michael J. Jackson is an English
actor.
and then joined repertory theatre in Sheffield
, followed by Coventry
, Birmingham
and Edinburgh
. He appeared in several theatre productions early on in his career, including a West End production with Rowan Atkinson
and The Watford Theatre's production of The Incident at Tulse Hill. He won the Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer Actor in 1978.
He continues to work in theatres across the country throughout his career, including a stint as Duke Frederick in Shakespeare's As You Like It
in 2000, and most recently in 2004 when he starred as George Pye in Humble Boy
at the Northcott Theatre, Devon.
in 1973, followed by Anna Karenina, The Legend of Robin Hood
, Play For Today
, Doctor Who
, One Summer
and Fairly Secret Army
. In 1987 Jackson appeared in the popular and now cult television series Wish Me Luck
, with a leading role in all three series between 1987 and 1990. Following the success of this show Jackson appeared in one-off episodes of Maigret
, Bugs
and Ellington before undertaking a role in the popular Liverpudlian soap Brookside
in 1996-1998.
Jackson also made several appearances in the television series Highlander: The Series
in 1996-1997. His next television role was in the drama Now You See Her, also starring Amanda Holden
. He went on to appear in The White Knight Stratagem, Dalziel and Pascoe
and Judge John Deed
.
In 2002 Jackson appeared in the television drama Birthday Girl
starring Sarah Lancashire. His next television role was as a doctor in the popular BBC soap/drama Doctors
from 2003-2004. He has since appeared in Murphy's Law
, Casualty
, Faith, Dream Team
and more recently the ITV drama Mobile
which was screened in May 2007.
During October/November 2007 Jackson took part in a reality television show Make Me A Film Star. He was on the judging panel auditioning many hopeful actors up and down the country for a role in a new film which he will co-direct with Phil Middlemiss (also on the panel).
In October 2010 he joined the cast of Emmerdale
, playing the character Jerry Walsh.
, That Summer, The Glory Boys, Morons from Outer Space
, The Fourth Protocol
, There's Only One Jimmy Grimble
, Family Portrait (a 4 minute award winning short film) and in July 2007 he completed filming a new movie Stepdad which also stars Ricky Tomlinson
.
, United Kingdom. He took part in a question-and-answers session along with other cast members.
Jackson has been working at Calderstones School
in his home town of Liverpool since 2008 as an English teacher, but is now teaching within the Drama department.
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...
actor.
Early career
Jackson studied at the University of LondonUniversity of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and then joined repertory theatre in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, followed by Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. He appeared in several theatre productions early on in his career, including a West End production with Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
and The Watford Theatre's production of The Incident at Tulse Hill. He won the Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer Actor in 1978.
He continues to work in theatres across the country throughout his career, including a stint as Duke Frederick in Shakespeare's As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
in 2000, and most recently in 2004 when he starred as George Pye in Humble Boy
Humble Boy
Humble Boy is a 2001 English play by Charlotte Jones. The play was presented in association with Matthew Byam Shaw and Anna Mackmin, and was first performed on the Cottesloe stage of the Royal National Theatre on August 9, 2001. [1]-Background:...
at the Northcott Theatre, Devon.
Television appearances
He appeared in several television series at the beginning of his career starting with one episode of Man About The HouseMan About the House
Man About the House is a British sitcom starring Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett that was broadcast for six seasons on ITV from 1973 to 1976. It was created and written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke. The series was considered daring at the time due to its subject matter of...
in 1973, followed by Anna Karenina, The Legend of Robin Hood
The Legend of Robin Hood
The Legend of Robin Hood was a 1975 BBC television serial that told the story of the life of Robin Hood.-Plot:Robin has been raised as the son of John Hood, a groundskeeper, but learns that he is in fact the long lost son of the Earl of Huntingdon...
, 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...
, Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, One Summer
One Summer
One Summer is a British television drama series written by Willy Russell and directed by Gordon Flemyng. It stars David Morrissey and Spencer Leigh as Billy Rizley and Icky Higson, two Liverpool boys who run away to Wales one summer. It also starred James Hazeldine and Ian Hart...
and Fairly Secret Army
Fairly Secret Army
Fairly Secret Army is a British sitcom which ran to thirteen episodes over two series between 1984 and 1986. Though not a direct spin-off from The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, the lead character, Major Harry Truscott, was very similar to Geoffrey Palmer's character of Jimmy in that series, and...
. In 1987 Jackson appeared in the popular and now cult television series Wish Me Luck
Wish Me Luck
Wish Me Luck is a British television drama about the exploits of British women undercover agents during the Second World War. The series was made by London Weekend Television for the ITV network between 1987 and 1989 and created by Lavinia Warner and Jill Hyem, who had previously produced and...
, with a leading role in all three series between 1987 and 1990. Following the success of this show Jackson appeared in one-off episodes of Maigret
Maigret
Jules Maigret, Maigret to most people, including his wife, is a fictional police detective, actually a commissaire or commissioner of the Paris "Brigade Criminelle" , created by writer Georges Simenon.Seventy-five novels and twenty-eight short stories about Maigret were published between 1931 and...
, Bugs
Bugs (TV series)
Bugs was a British television drama series which ran for four series from April 1995 to August 1999. The programme, a mixture of action/adventure and science-fiction, involved a team of specialist independent crime-fighting technology experts, who faced a variety of threats based around computers...
and Ellington before undertaking a role in the popular Liverpudlian soap Brookside
Brookside
Brookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...
in 1996-1998.
Jackson also made several appearances in the television series Highlander: The Series
Highlander: The Series
Highlander: The Series is a fantasy-adventure television series featuring Duncan MacLeod of the Scottish Clan MacLeod, as the Highlander. It was an offshoot and another alternate sequel of the 1986 feature film with a twist: Connor MacLeod did not win the prize and Immortals still exist post-1985...
in 1996-1997. His next television role was in the drama Now You See Her, also starring Amanda Holden
Amanda Holden
Amanda Louise Holden is an English actress and presenter. Among her roles are Mia Bevan in Cutting It, Sarah Trevanion in Wild at Heart, and the title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award...
. He went on to appear in The White Knight Stratagem, Dalziel and Pascoe
Dalziel and Pascoe (BBC TV series)
Dalziel and Pascoe is a popular British television crime drama based on the Dalziel and Pascoe books by Reginald Hill, which was first broadcast in March 1996. It is set in Yorkshire, and is about two detectives...
and Judge John Deed
Judge John Deed
Judge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove...
.
In 2002 Jackson appeared in the television drama Birthday Girl
Birthday Girl
Birthday Girl is a 2001 British-American drama and crime film directed by Jez Butterworth. The plot focuses on English bank clerk John Buckingham who orders a Russian mail-order bride, Nadia. It becomes clear upon her arrival that Nadia cannot speak English, and early into her stay, two mysterious...
starring Sarah Lancashire. His next television role was as a doctor in the popular BBC soap/drama Doctors
Doctors (BBC Soap Opera)
Doctors is a British daytime television soap opera, set in the fictional Midland town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the City of Birmingham. It was created by Chris Murray; Mal Young drove its development, and Carson Black was the original producer. The first episode was broadcast on...
from 2003-2004. He has since appeared in 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...
, Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
, Faith, Dream Team
Dream Team (TV series)
Dream Team is a British television series produced by Hewland International which aired on Sky1 and Sky3 from 1997 to 2007; it chronicled the on-field and off-field affairs of the fictional Harchester United Football Club....
and more recently the ITV drama Mobile
Mobile (TV series)
Mobile is a 3-part British television drama series with an interweaving plot based around a fictional mobile phone operator and the adverse-effect of mobile phone radiation to health. The series was screened by ITV in the UK, during March 2007. The cast includes Jamie Draven, Neil Fitzmaurice,...
which was screened in May 2007.
During October/November 2007 Jackson took part in a reality television show Make Me A Film Star. He was on the judging panel auditioning many hopeful actors up and down the country for a role in a new film which he will co-direct with Phil Middlemiss (also on the panel).
In October 2010 he joined the cast of Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
, playing the character Jerry Walsh.
Filmography
Jackson's films include Sweeney 2Sweeney 2
Sweeney 2 is a 1978 film that is a sequel to the 1977 film Sweeney! which was itself a spin-off from the popular British TV show The Sweeney. Some of the action was transferred from the usual London setting to Malta. Denholm Elliot appears as a corrupt ex-officer, who asks his former subordinates...
, That Summer, The Glory Boys, Morons from Outer Space
Morons from Outer Space
Morons from Outer Space is a 1985 comedy/science-fiction film directed by Mike Hodges.-Plot:The story begins on a small spaceship docking with a refueling station. On board are a group of four aliens, Bernard, Sandra, Desmond, and Julian...
, The Fourth Protocol
The Fourth Protocol (film)
The Fourth Protocol is a 1987 Cold War spy film starring Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan, based on the novel The Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth.- Plot :The plot centres on a secret 1968 East-West agreement to halt nuclear proliferation...
, There's Only One Jimmy Grimble
There's Only One Jimmy Grimble
There's Only One Jimmy Grimble is a 2000 film set around Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The film centred on one young boy's dream to play for Manchester City F.C.-Plot:...
, Family Portrait (a 4 minute award winning short film) and in July 2007 he completed filming a new movie Stepdad which also stars Ricky Tomlinson
Ricky Tomlinson
Eric Tomlinson , known by his stage name Ricky Tomlinson, is an English actor and comedian, best known for his roles as Bobby Grant in Brookside, DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and James "Jim" Royle in The Royle Family....
.
Trivia
In 1999 Jackson attended the Chronicles 1999 Highlander convention in BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, United Kingdom. He took part in a question-and-answers session along with other cast members.
Jackson has been working at Calderstones School
Calderstones School
Calderstones School is an English comprehensive school and specialist science college, located opposite Calderstones Park on Harthill Road in the Liverpool suburb of Allerton.The school's post code is L18 3HS...
in his home town of Liverpool since 2008 as an English teacher, but is now teaching within the Drama department.