Russell Tovey
Russell George Tovey is an English actor. He is known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands in the BBC's supernatural drama Being Human, Rudge in both the stage and film versions of The History Boys, Steve in the BBC Three sitcom Him & Her, Kevin Matheson in the HBO original series Looking and its subsequent series finale television film , Titanic midshipman Alonso Frame in the Doctor Who episode "Voyage of the Damned" and as Henry Knight in BBC TV series Sherlock. He has also starred as Harry Doyle in the drama-thriller series Quantico on the ABC network.
Early life
Tovey was born and raised in Billericay, Essex. He is the younger of two children of Carole Haynes and George Tovey, who run a Romford-based coach service taking passengers from Essex to Gatwick Airport. Tovey has an older brother, Daniel. He attended Harold Court School in Harold Wood and Shenfield High School. As a boy Tovey said, he "was an avid collector of various things and prone to participating in fads."His parents supported his efforts, taking him to archaeological digs and museums, buying him a metal detector and going to conventions for mineralogists. For a time he wanted to be a history teacher, but after seeing Dead Poets Society, The Goonies, and Stand By Me he decided to be an actor. For a time during his teens he worked as a kitchen assistant in Billericay's King's Head pub.
Career
Tovey began his career as a child actor. He joined a local drama club and garnered the attention of a talent agent. He worked from the age of 11 and missed so much school that his father suggested he should cut back, but his mother persuaded his father to let their son continue. His TV career started in 1994, when he was cast in Mud, a children's series broadcast on CBBC.He left secondary school at the age of 16 and started a BTEC in performing arts at Barking College. He was expelled after a year for refusing a role in the school play in favour of a paying acting job. He acted in plays in Chichester under the direction of Debra Gillett, wife of Patrick Marber. He met Marber through Gillett, and Marber cast him in the play Howard Katz at the National Theatre. He also performed in His Girl Friday and His Dark Materials there.
In 2004 he took the role of Rudge in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys at the Royal National Theatre as well as touring to Broadway, Sydney, Wellington and Hong Kong and playing the role in the radio and film adaptations. He originally auditioned for the role of Crowther but agreed to act the part of Rudge after Bennett promised to beef up the role. Insecure because he had not attended drama school as many of his peers had, he enrolled in numerous workshops and readings offered by the National Theatre.
In spring 2007 Tovey had a recurring role in BBC Three comedy Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, playing Rob's producer, Ben. He played Midshipman Alonso Frame, in 2007 Doctor Who Christmas Special "Voyage of the Damned". Russell T. Davies, the show's executive producer and lead writer, had suggested Tovey as a future replacement for David Tennant, before it was announced that the Eleventh Doctor would be played by Matt Smith. Tovey reprised his role as Midshipman Alonso Frame in the 2009-10 Doctor Who Christmas special, "The End of Time".
Tovey played werewolf George Sands, one of three supernatural housemates in the drama Being Human. The pilot premiered on BBC Three on 18 February 2008. A six-part series was commissioned with the first episode broadcast on 25 January 2009. Tovey left the regular cast of the show at the start of the fourth season on 5 February 2012. In November 2012 AudioGO Ltd released an audiobook version of Mark Michalowski's Being Human tie-in novel Chasers, which is narrated by Tovey.
In a 2008 interview in Attitude Tovey expressed his desire to play darker roles: "really dark, fucked-up characters... like drag queens, rent boys, someone who has been abused, a rapist", though noting that he does not consider himself "fucked-up".
In March 2009 the actor played a leading role in A Miracle at the Royal Court Theatre as Gary Trudgill, a British soldier returning to Norfolk from abroad. On 8 March 2009 he presented the Award for Best Actress to Margaret Tyzack for her performance in The Chalk Garden at the Laurence Olivier Awards in Grosvenor House.
In 2009 Tovey worked on the film Huge and starred in two television pilots: Young, Unemployed and Lazy, renamed to Him & Her in 2010, and The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, a Channel 4 comedy with Spike Jonze and Will Arnett, written by David Cross and Shaun Pye.
He also appeared in three shorts: Drop, Roar, Roar premiered at the Palm Springs Film Festival on 24 June 2009.
In 2011, he became the voice over/narrator for the BBC Three show Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents and its spinoffs, which ran for five series up to July 2015. Tovey has narrated every episode aired.
Tovey played Budgie, one of Gavin's friends, in the BBC comedy-drama Gavin & Stacey. In January 2012, he appeared in the British crime drama Sherlock, playing Henry Knight in the episode "The Hounds of Baskerville". He had a lead role in the ITV sitcom The Job Lot which aired in 2013 and is set in a busy unemployment bureau in the West Midlands.
In 2013, Tovey signed on to appear in the American television series Looking, about a group of gay friends living in San Francisco. Its 8-episode first season broadcast on HBO in 2014. Tovey was promoted to series regular for the second season.
In 2015, Tovey starred in Banished, a historical drama series written by Jimmy McGovern about a group of British convicts in Australia in the 18th century.
In 2015 Tovey made his first of many live appearances for arts and entertainment company Pin Drop Studio, reading a short story to an audience followed by an interview by Simon Oldfield.
In 2016 Tovey was cast in the ABC network thriller drama Quantico for the series regular role of Harry Doyle.
In September 2017 it was revealed that Tovey would be voicing Ray Terrill / The Ray, a reporter who gains light-based powers after being exposed to a genetic light bomb, in the animated web series on CW Seed. Tovey appeared in "Crisis on Earth-X", the Arrowverse crossover event between Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.
In April 2017 Tovey returned to the Royal National Theatre to appear in Marianne Elliot's revival of the Tony Kushner play Angels in America, opposite Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane.
In 2019 Tovey co-starred in an ensemble cast on the show Years and Years, and appeared with Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen in the drama film The Good Liar.
Writing
Tovey is also an author, playwright and screenwriter. He has written three plays, and one of his short stories was published in women's magazine Company. He also wrote a short film, Victor and as of August 2010 was seeking funding to produce the picture.Personal life
Tovey is openly gay. During his adolescent years, Tovey's homosexuality caused friction within his family. Although he says he came out to himself when he was 15 or 16, he came out to his parents when he was 18. Tovey and his father subsequently had a serious disagreement, with his father suggesting that, had he known earlier, he would have asked Tovey to take hormones or undergo some other medical treatment to "fix the problem". Tovey says his parents were deeply concerned about the possibility he might contract HIV, which might have contributed to the disagreement. The birth of Tovey's nephew Nathan in October 2004 helped them mend their relationship.In 2015, Tovey was the subject of public criticism from the LGBT+ press regarding comments he made about effeminate gay men. In his interview with Tom Lamont of The Observer, the actor stated that his schooling made him feel as though he "had to toughen up", going on to say "If I'd have been able to relax, prance around and sing in the street, I might be a different person now." Much of the criticism centred on what was perceived to be a passive criticism of effeminate gay men, with Tovey saying that "I thank my dad for that, for not allowing me to go down the path." Tovey later apologised for the remarks and suggested they did not reflect his views.
Tovey was reported to be dating rugby coach Steve Brockman from early 2016. They became engaged in February 2018 but separated in June of the same year. They reconciled in 2019.
Filmography
Film
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1994 | Mud | Bill Bailey | All episodes |
| 1996 | Spywatch | Dennis Sealey | All episodes |
| 1998 | ' | Stable Boy | Episode: "" |
| 2000 | Hope and Glory | Gary Bailey | Episode 2.2 |
| 2001 | Agatha Christie's Poirot | Lionel Marshall | Episode: "Evil Under the Sun" |
| 2001 | ' | Tyro Shaw | 2 episodes |
| 2001 | Holby City | Jerome Hibbert | Episode: "Borrowed Time" |
| 2002 | Ultimate Force | Weasel | Episode: "The Killing House" |
| 2002 | Silent Witness | Josh Palmer | Episode: "Kith and Kill" |
| 2002 | ' | Kieran Elcott | Episode: "068" |
| 2003 | William and Mary | Aaron Patterson | Episode 4 |
| 2003 | Servants | John Walters | Episode 4 |
| 2005 | Holby City | Adam Spengler | Episode: "Soft Centred" |
| 2005 | Messiah IV: The Harrowing | Robbie McManus | 3 episodes |
| 2005 | My Family and Other Animals | Leslie Durrell | Television film |
| 2007–2009 | Gavin & Stacey | Budgie | 4 episodes |
| 2007 | Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive | Ben | 5 episodes |
| 2007 | Doctor Who | Midshipman Alonso Frame | Episode: "Voyage of the Damned" |
| 2008–2012 | Being Human | George Sands | 24 episodes |
| 2008 | Ashes to Ashes | Marcus Johnstone | Episode: "Episode 5" |
| 2008 | Mutual Friends | Estate Agent | Episode 5 |
| 2008 | Little Dorrit | John Chivery | 10 episodes |
| 2009 | Agatha Christie's Marple | PC Terence Reed | Episode: "Murder is Easy" |
| 2009 | ' | Dave Mountford | Pilot |
| 2010 | Doctor Who | Midshipman Alonso Frame | Episode: "The End of Time" |
| 2010–2013 | Him & Her | Steve Marshall | 25 episodes |
| 2010–2011 | Doctor Who Confidential | Narrator | 14 episodes |
| 2011–2015 | Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents | Narrator | |
| 2012 | Sherlock | Henry Knight | Episode: "The Hounds of Baskerville" |
| 2013 | Talking to the Dead | DS Huw Brydon | 2 episodes |
| 2013 | ' | Narrator | 10 episodes |
| 2013 | What Remains | Michael Jenson | 4 episodes |
| 2013–2015 | ' | Karl Lyndhurst | 18 episodes |
| 2014–2015 | Looking | Kevin Matheson | 15 episodes |
| 2015 | Drunk History | King Charles II | Episode 6 |
| 2015 | Banished | James Freeman | 7 episodes |
| 2016 | ' | Kevin Matheson | Television film |
| 2016 | ' | Andy Coulson | Television film |
| 2016 | ' | Simon Ogilvey | Episode 1 |
| 2016–2018 | Quantico | Harry Doyle | Series regular |
| 2018 | Shane the Chef | Shane | All episodes |
| 2017 | Queers: More Anger | Phil | BBC4 TV monologue |
| 2017 | ' | Ray Terrill / The Ray | Episode: "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3" |
| 2017 | Legends of Tomorrow | Ray Terrill / The Ray | Episode: "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 4" |
| 2019 | Himself | Channel 4's Great British Bake Off Special for Stand Up To Cancer - Series 2, Episode 2 | |
| 2019 | Years and Years | Daniel Lyons | Main role Nominated — Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries |
| 2019 | Supergirl | Ray Terrill / The Ray | Uncredited; Episode: "Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 1" |
| 2020 | Flesh and Blood | Jake | 4 episodes |