Nathaniel Parker
Encyclopedia
Nathaniel Parker is an English actor best known for playing Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley in the BBC crime drama series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
.
chairman) Sir Peter Parker
and Jillian, Lady Parker, a writer. He was educated at Fox Primary School
, Colet Court
and Leighton Park School
in Reading
. Parker's brother is the film director Oliver Parker
. He also has another brother, Alan Parker, who is chairman of Brunswick Group Ltd. Parker is married to actress Anna Patrick. The couple live in London with their daughters Raphaella (born 1998) and Angelica (born 1996).
, and after training at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
, became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company
. He portrayed Bassanio in Peter Hall's 1989 production of The Merchant of Venice
in both London and on Broadway, co-starring with Dustin Hoffman
. In 1997, Nathaniel portrayed David as an adult in a made-for-TV movie of the life of the biblical David. In 2000, he played Bob in Rupert Goold
's West End revival of David Mamet
's Speed-the-Plow
. "With his unforced, tough demeanour and conviction Parker substantially carries the evening," wrote John Thaxter in The Stage
(6 July 2000).
In a Radio Times
interview in 2007, Parker said that his first big television break came in 1988 when he played a Battle of France pilot in ITV
's glossy six-part drama Piece of Cake
. Other early roles include playing Wilfred Owen
in Derek Jarman
's War Requiem
, a 1989 film adaptation of Benjamin Britten
's War Requiem
, co-starring Laurence Olivier
as an old soldier in his last screen role before his death, and playing Edward Rochester in John Duigan
's 1993 film adaptation of Jean Rhys
' Wide Sargasso Sea
.
Parker established his reputation by playing a variety of television costume drama roles, such as Martin Jordan in the 1995 TV production of Joanna Trollope
's A Village Affair
, Gabriel Oak in the ITV production of Far From the Madding Crowd
(1997), Martin Tanley in the comedy film Beverly Hills Ninja
(1997), Rawdon Crawley in a BBC version of Vanity Fair
(1998), and notably Harold Skimpole in the BBC1 dramatisation of Bleak House (2005). He currently stars in the Merlin (TV series)
as Lord Agravaine, Arthur's uncle.
From 2001 through 2007, Parker played Detective Inspector Lynley in the long-running BBC1 thriller series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
, co-starring Sharon Small
as his sidekick Det. Sgt. Barbara Havers. He played Edward Gracey in Disney's 2003 film adaptation of The Haunted Mansion
, Albert Speer
in the 2006 BBC production Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial
and Dunstan Thorne in the 2007 fantasy film Stardust. Parker also starred briefly in St Trinian's (directed by his brother, Oliver).
Parker is a voiceover
artist and has done work in audio books, including Eoin Colfer
's children's Artemis Fowl
series, the first three books in Charlie Higson
's Young James Bond
series, and The Gardens of The Dead by William Brodrick. He read Mark Haddon
's novel A Spot of Bother
for BBC Radio Four's Book at Bedtime
. Parker also appeared in the indie comedy-drama The Perfect Host
, alongside David Hyde Pierce
.
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries is a series of BBC television programmes about Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton of Scotland Yard and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers...
.
Personal life
Parker was born in London, the son of the businessman (and one-time British RailBritish Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
chairman) Sir Peter Parker
Peter Parker (British businessman)
Sir Peter Parker KBE LVO was a British businessman, best known as chairman of the British Railways Board from 1976 to 1983.-Early life:...
and Jillian, Lady Parker, a writer. He was educated at Fox Primary School
Fox Primary School
Fox Primary School is a primary school for boys and girls of age 4 to 11 years, in the Kensington district of London.It is located in [Edge Street], off Kensington Church Street near the junction with Notting Hill Gate....
, Colet Court
Colet Court
Colet Court is a preparatory school for boys aged 7 to 13 in Barnes, London. It forms the preparatory department of St Paul's School, to which most Colet Court pupils go at the age of 13.-History:...
and Leighton Park School
Leighton Park School
Leighton Park School is a co-educational Quaker independent school for both day and boarding pupils. It is situated in the large town of Reading in Berkshire, in South East England...
in Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
. Parker's brother is the film director Oliver Parker
Oliver Parker
Oliver Parker is an English film director.-Biography:Parker was born in London, the son of Jillian, Lady Parker, a writer and GP , and Sir Peter Parker, formerly Chief executive of British Rail...
. He also has another brother, Alan Parker, who is chairman of Brunswick Group Ltd. Parker is married to actress Anna Patrick. The couple live in London with their daughters Raphaella (born 1998) and Angelica (born 1996).
Career
Parker joined the National Youth TheatreNational Youth Theatre
The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....
, and after training at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art is a leading British drama school in west London. LAMDA's president is Timothy West and its new principal is Joanna Read, who recently succeeded Peter James...
, became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
. He portrayed Bassanio in Peter Hall's 1989 production of The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
in both London and on Broadway, co-starring with Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
. In 1997, Nathaniel portrayed David as an adult in a made-for-TV movie of the life of the biblical David. In 2000, he played Bob in Rupert Goold
Rupert Goold
Rupert Goold is an English theatre director. He is the artistic director of Headlong Theatre and from 2010 he will be an associate director at the Royal Shakespeare Company.- Early years :...
's West End revival of David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
's Speed-the-Plow
Speed-the-Plow
Speed-the-Plow is a play by David Mamet which is a satirical dissection of the American movie business, a theme Mamet would revisit in his later films Wag the Dog and State and Main ....
. "With his unforced, tough demeanour and conviction Parker substantially carries the evening," wrote John Thaxter in The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
(6 July 2000).
In a Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
interview in 2007, Parker said that his first big television break came in 1988 when he played a Battle of France pilot in ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's glossy six-part drama Piece of Cake
Piece of Cake
A piece of cake literally refers to a slice of cake. Idiomatically, the phrase refers to a job, task or other activity that is considered pleasant – or, by extension, easy or simple.Piece of Cake may also refer to:...
. Other early roles include playing Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War...
in Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
's War Requiem
War Requiem (film)
War Requiem is a film adaptation of Benjamin Britten's musical piece of the same name.It was shot in 1988 by the British film director Derek Jarman with the 1963 recording as the soundtrack, produced by Don Boyd and financed by the BBC. Decca Records required that the 1963 recording be heard on its...
, a 1989 film adaptation of Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's War Requiem
War Requiem
The War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
, co-starring Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
as an old soldier in his last screen role before his death, and playing Edward Rochester in John Duigan
John Duigan
John Duigan, is an Australian film director.Duigan emigrated to Australia in 1961, having been born to an Australian father...
's 1993 film adaptation of Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys , born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, was a mid 20th-century novelist from Dominica. Educated from the age of 16 in Great Britain, she is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea , written as a "prequel" to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.-Early life:Rhys was born in Roseau, Dominica...
' Wide Sargasso Sea
Wide Sargasso Sea (1993 film)
Wide Sargasso Sea is a 1993 film adaption of Jean Rhys's 1966 novel of the same name, directed by John Duigan.-Plot summary:For a full length summary see: plot summary of Wide Sargasso Sea.-Release:...
.
Parker established his reputation by playing a variety of television costume drama roles, such as Martin Jordan in the 1995 TV production of Joanna Trollope
Joanna Trollope
Joanna Trollope OBE , is an English novelist.-Life:Joanna Trollope was educated at Reigate County School for Girls followed by St Hugh's College, Oxford. From 1965 to 1967, she worked at the Foreign Office...
's A Village Affair
A Village Affair
A Village Affair is the name of a novel by prolific English romance author Joanna Trollope. The story concerns a housewife and mother who embarks on an affair with a female acquaintance. It was televised by ITV starring Sophie Ward, Kerry Fox and Nathaniel Parker ....
, Gabriel Oak in the ITV production of Far From the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership. Critical notices were plentiful and mostly positive...
(1997), Martin Tanley in the comedy film Beverly Hills Ninja
Beverly Hills Ninja
Beverly Hills Ninja is a 1997 action comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Mark Feldberg and Mitch Klebanoff, and starring Chris Farley. The main plot revolves around Haru , who was found by a clan of ninjas as an infant in an abandoned treasure chest and was raised by them...
(1997), Rawdon Crawley in a BBC version of Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (1998 TV serial)
Vanity Fair is a BBC television drama serial adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name broadcast in 1998. The screenplay was written by Andrew Davies....
(1998), and notably Harold Skimpole in the BBC1 dramatisation of Bleak House (2005). He currently stars in the Merlin (TV series)
Merlin (TV series)
Merlin is a British fantasy-adventure television programme by Julian Jones, Jake Michie, Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps. It began broadcasting on BBC One on 20 September 2008. The show is based on the Arthurian legends of the wizard Merlin and his relationship with Prince Arthur but differs from...
as Lord Agravaine, Arthur's uncle.
From 2001 through 2007, Parker played Detective Inspector Lynley in the long-running BBC1 thriller series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries is a series of BBC television programmes about Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton of Scotland Yard and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers...
, co-starring Sharon Small
Sharon Small
Sharon Small is a Scottish actress acclaimed for her dramatic work in film, radio, theatre and television. Her best-known TV role is that of Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers in the BBC television adaptation of the Inspector Lynley Mysteries by Elizabeth George.-Education and personal life:Small...
as his sidekick Det. Sgt. Barbara Havers. He played Edward Gracey in Disney's 2003 film adaptation of The Haunted Mansion
The Haunted Mansion (film)
The Haunted Mansion is a 2003 American comedy horror family film which is based on The Haunted Mansion attraction at Disney theme parks. The film is directed by Rob Minkoff, and stars Eddie Murphy, Terence Stamp, Jennifer Tilly, Marsha Thomason, and Nathaniel Parker...
, Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
in the 2006 BBC production Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial
Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial
Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial, is a BBC documentary film series consisting of three one-hour films that re-enact the Nuremberg War Trials of Albert Speer, Hermann Göring and Rudolf Hess...
and Dunstan Thorne in the 2007 fantasy film Stardust. Parker also starred briefly in St Trinian's (directed by his brother, Oliver).
Parker is a voiceover
VoiceOver
VoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...
artist and has done work in audio books, including Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer is an Irish author. He is most famous as the author of the Artemis Fowl series, but he has also written other successful books. His novels have been compared to the works of J. K. Rowling...
's children's Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl may refer to:* Artemis Fowl , a series of novels by Eoin Colfer** Artemis Fowl , the first book in the series** Artemis Fowl II, main character of the series** Artemis Fowl I, father of Artemis Fowl II...
series, the first three books in Charlie Higson
Charlie Higson
Charles Murray Higson , more commonly known as Charlie Higson - also Switch - is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer...
's Young James Bond
Young Bond
Young Bond is a series of five young adult spy novels by Charlie Higson featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond as a young teenage boy attending school at Eton College in the 1930s...
series, and The Gardens of The Dead by William Brodrick. He read Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon is an English novelist and poet, best known for his 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.- Life and work :...
's novel A Spot of Bother
A Spot of Bother
A Spot of Bother is the second adult novel by Mark Haddon, who is best known for his prize-winning first novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time...
for BBC Radio Four's Book at Bedtime
Book at Bedtime
Book at Bedtime is a long-running radio programme on BBC Radio 4, broadcast each weekday evening at 10.45–11.00 pm.Book at Bedtime offers fiction including modern classics, new works by leading writers and literature from around the world. Books are usually abridged and serialised each evening for...
. Parker also appeared in the indie comedy-drama The Perfect Host
The Perfect Host
The Perfect Host is a 2010 dark comedy / thriller written and directed by Nick Tomnay. The film stars David Hyde Pierce and Clayne Crawford. Filming took place in Los Angeles, California. It was photographed in 17 days. Editing took place in New York....
, alongside David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce is an American actor and comedian best known for playing psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier, for which he received many accolades including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.-Early life:Pierce, the youngest of four siblings,...
.