Paul Birchard is an American actor living in Scotland and working worldwide. In 1986 he wrote and recorded the song "Diamonds Rap (We Are The Diamonds)", promoting the Glasgow Diamonds American football team. CBS Sports created a video package called the "CBS Video Bowl" for the half-time interval of their worldwide broadcast of the Super Bowl in January 1987, and in a countdown from seven to one, "Diamonds Rap (We Are The Diamonds)" beat more polished rap videos by NFL teams to take the top spot.

Some of his most notable roles have been at the National Theatre. He also played Benjamin's father in the London run of The Graduate

The Graduate

The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...

. Birchard's more recent roles have been in Spooks

Spooks

Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...

 as a rogue CIA operative, in Inherit the Wind

Inherit the Wind

Inherit the Wind may refer to:* Inherit the Wind , a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee* Inherit the Wind , directed by Stanley Kramer; starring Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, and Gene Kelly...

 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...

 in London, where he played the town mayor and was understudy to Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...

, and in Edward Albee

Edward Albee

Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...

's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh . He provided the voice over for 1998 computer game Plane Crazy (video game) as well as voice of one of the main characters in Crysis 2

Crysis 2

Crysis 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Crytek, published by Electronic Arts and released in North America, Australia, and Europe in March 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360...

 in 2011.

Birchard produced, directed and appeared in the feature length documentary film U & M & Tennessee - an American romance.., which deals with the epistolary romance between playwright Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams

Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...

 and Konrad Hopkins. This film was an official selection at the Raindance Film Festival

Raindance Film Festival

Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates from various cities including: London, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin and Brussels...

 and at the Mardi Gras Film Festival

Mardi Gras Film Festival

The Sydney Mardi Gras Film Festival is held as part of the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebrations every year. It is hosted by the non profit organization, Queer Screen and is one of the worlds largest platforms for LGBT cinema....

.

He is a lifelong devotee of Meher Baba

Meher Baba

Meher Baba , , born Merwan Sheriar Irani, was an Indian mystic and spiritual master who declared publicly in 1954 that he was the Avatar of the age....

.

Filmography

• 2011 - Outpost: Black Sun
• 2011 - Hannah
  Hannah
  Hannah or Hanna may refer to:*Hannah , a given name*Hannah , a family name*Hannah , the mother of Samuel*Hannah Montana, a television series on the Disney Channel-Places:* Hanna, Alberta, a town in Alberta, Canada...
  
  
• 2007 - The Dark Knight
• 2007 - 1408
• 2001 - Revelation
  Revelation
  In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...
  
  
• 2001 - The Fourth Angel
  The Fourth Angel
  The Fourth Angel is a 2001 British thriller directed by John Irvin and written by Allan Scott, from a novel by Robin Hunter. It stars Jeremy Irons as a man who seeks justice after a terrorist attack on the plane in which his family is travelling...
  
  
• 2001 - The Tailor of Panama
  The Tailor of Panama
  The Tailor of Panama is a 2001 American film based on the 1996 spy novel of the same name by John le Carré, which was inspired by Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana...
  
  
• 1998 - Sista Kontraktet
  Sista kontraktet
  The Last Contract is a 1998 Swedish thriller film directed by Kjell Sundvall. It is a work of fiction about the circumstances surrounding the actual murder of the Swedish Social Democratic Prime Minister Olof Palme on 28 February 1986. A Swedish police officer discovers the plan to assassinate...
  
  (The Last Contract)
• 1990 - Memphis Belle
  Memphis Belle (film)
  Memphis Belle is a 1990 film directed by Michael Caton-Jones and written by Monte Merrick, starring Matthew Modine and Eric Stoltz and introducing Harry Connick Jr. in his screen debut...
  
  
• 1989 - Batman
  Batman (1989 film)
  Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
  
  

TV

• 2007 - Waterloo Road
  Waterloo Road (TV series)
  Waterloo Road is an award-winning British television drama series, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 9 March 2006. Set in a troubled comprehensive school in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, the series focuses on the lives of the school's teacher and students, and confronts social...
  
  
• 2004 - A Line In The Sand

Radio

Date	Title !! Role !! Director !! Station
	Maigret: A Man's Head		Ned Chaillet Ned Chaillet Edward William "Ned" Chaillet, III is a radio drama producer and director, writer and journalist.Ned Chaillet, American by birth, was born in Boston, Mass. but is a "native of Washington" according to the New York Times. He has lived in Britain since 1973.His newspaper career began at the...	BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...  Afternoon Play Afternoon Play The Afternoon Play is a long-running drama programming strand, broadcast every weekday at 2.15pm on BBC Radio 4. Each play lasts for 45 minutes, and roughly 190 new Afternoon Plays are broadcast each year....
	One for the Road: Are You Lonely	Reader	Eilidh McCreadie Eilidh McCreadie Eilidh McCreadie is a radio drama director and producer for BBC Radio Drama at Pacific Quay, Glasgow. She directed two episodes of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency broadcast on Christmas Day 2009.-Radio Plays:-References:...	BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the... Afternoon Reading

External links

• 'Diamond Rap' on YouTube