Thomas Aldridge
Encyclopedia
Thomas Aldridge, also known as Tom Aldridge, is an English television and theatre actor.
play Fifteen Streets, at the Queen's Theatre
Hornchurch. He then went on to feature in programs such as Our Boy with Ray Winstone
, The Bill
, London's Burning
before appearing as Jenkins in Boyz Unlimited and Danny in the second series of the BBC
drama Hope and Glory
.
In 2000 Aldridge gained a scholarship to the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts
in London where he trained for three years. In his graduate year he played Jesus
in the concerts for the Andrew Lloyd Webber
musical Jesus Christ Superstar
in a two week run at the Actors' Church in London's Covent Garden
. Since then, Aldridge has continued to work concurrently in both television and theatre, appearing as Aaron in Eastenders
, Jason in the BBC
drama Killers
written by David Eldridge
and Tony Jordan
, Warren in the second series of the ITV
sci-fi drama Primeval, Reece in the second series of Law and Order UK, and most recently, as Stewart Taylor in the ITV
and ABC America series Titanic written by Downton Abbey
and Gosford Park
creator Julian Fellowes
. Film roles include Mikey in Elsa O'Tooles's Blasted
as well as Phillip Patel in MI 9-2-5 made by the National Film and Television School
and directed by Blackadder
director Richard Boden.
On stage Aldridge was part of the original national tour cast of the Cole Porter
musical High Society
which starred Susie Blake
and Liza Goddard
, before appearing in the West End
production, which starred Jerry Hall
, at the Shaftesbury Theatre
, London. Other West End credits include Francis Flute
in A Midsummer Night's Dream
, Curtis in The Taming of the Shrew
and Puppy in Babe
(Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
). For the Royal Shakespeare Company
, Aldridge created the role of Bruce Bogtrotter in the development of Matilda
with music written by Australian comedian Tim Minchin
.
Most recent roles include Billy Kostecki in the first ever national tour of the musical Dirty Dancing
, Dickon
in West Yorkshire Playhouse
and Birmingham Rep's new production of The Secret Garden
, Roger Parslow in the national tour of His Dark Materials
based on the Philip Pullman
trilogy and adapted for the stage by Nicholas Wright
, Munchkin Mayor in the RSC
version of The Wizard of Oz
(West Yorkshire Playhouse
), as well as the role of Tootles
in the original cast of George Stiles
and Anthony Drewe
's musical adaptation of J.M Barrie's Peter Pan
at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre
. and the West Yorkshire Playhouse
, for which he features on the original cast recording album.
Aldridge also featured in the Oasis
number one music video Go Let It Out
and has appeared in numerous commercials most recently for Mars
, Gamestation
, and Paddy Power
Biography
Born in Essex, Aldridge has been working in professional theatre and television since the 1990s. He made his professional theatre debut at the age of twelve in the Catherine CooksonCatherine Cookson
Dame Catherine Cookson DBE was a British author. She became the United Kingdom's most widely read novelist, with sales topping 100 million, while retaining a relatively low profile in the world of celebrity writers...
play Fifteen Streets, at the Queen's Theatre
Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
The Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch is a 500-seat theatre located in Hornchurch in the London Borough of Havering, east London.The theatre opened in its current purpose-built site on Billet Lane, Hornchurch in 1975....
Hornchurch. He then went on to feature in programs such as Our Boy with Ray Winstone
Ray Winstone
Raymond Andrew "Ray" Winstone is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his "tough guy" roles, beginning with that of Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and as Will Scarlet in the cult television adventure series Robin of Sherwood. He has also become well known as a voice over...
, The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, London's Burning
London's Burning
London's Burning was a British television drama programme produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network that focused on the lives of members of the London Fire Brigade, principally those of the Blue Watch at a fictional fire station called Blackwall.It was broadcast between 1986 and...
before appearing as Jenkins in Boyz Unlimited and Danny in the second series of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
drama Hope and Glory
Hope and Glory (TV series)
Hope and Glory is a BBC television drama about a comprehensive school struggling with financial, staffing and disciplinary problems, and faced with closure...
.
In 2000 Aldridge gained a scholarship to the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts
Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts
Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts is an independent drama school situated in the Wood Green area of North London. It was founded in 1945 by Peter Coxhead and Ralph Nossek as 'The Mountview Theatre Club', an amateur repertory company staging a new production for a six-day run every second week...
in London where he trained for three years. In his graduate year he played Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
in the concerts for the Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
musical Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
in a two week run at the Actors' Church in London's Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
. Since then, Aldridge has continued to work concurrently in both television and theatre, appearing as Aaron in Eastenders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, Jason in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
drama Killers
Killers (TV movie)
Killers is a short BBC film written by David Eldridge and directed by Mike Wadham.Part of the drama lab series on BBC Three, Killers is set in a house in east London in which a group of lads are having a party. It looks at the relationships between young lads and how those relationships change when...
written by David Eldridge
David Eldridge
David Eldridge is the earliest known person of European descent to die in the Western Reserve, and the first person to be buried in the newly-created city of Cleveland...
and Tony Jordan
Tony Jordan
Tony Jordan is a British television writer. He was listed as the number 1 television screen writer in the UK by Broadcast magazine and among British Broadcastings Top 20 in The Stage ., He currently resides in Hertfordshire, UK.For many years, he was lead writer and series consultant for BBC One...
, Warren in the second series of the 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...
sci-fi drama Primeval, Reece in the second series of Law and Order UK, and most recently, as Stewart Taylor in the 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...
and ABC America series Titanic written by Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey is a British television period drama series, produced by NBC Universal-owned British media company Carnival Films for the ITV network. The series is set during the late Edwardian era and the First World War on the fictional estate of Downton Abbey in Yorkshire, and features an...
and Gosford Park
Gosford Park
Gosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon...
creator Julian Fellowes
Julian Fellowes
Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, DL , known as Julian Fellowes, is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, as well as a Conservative peer.-Early life:...
. Film roles include Mikey in Elsa O'Tooles's Blasted
Blasted
Blasted is the first play by British author Sarah Kane. It was first performed in 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London. This performance was highly controversial and the play was fiercely attacked by most newspaper critics, many of whom regarded it as a rather immature attempt to...
as well as Phillip Patel in MI 9-2-5 made by the National Film and Television School
National Film and Television School
The National Film and Television School was established in 1971 and is based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, and it is located close to Pinewood Studios.-History:...
and directed by Blackadder
Blackadder
Blackadder is the name that encompassed four series of a BBC1 historical sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. All television programme episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as anti-hero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick...
director Richard Boden.
On stage Aldridge was part of the original national tour cast of the Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
musical High Society
High Society (musical)
High Society is a musical with a book by Arthur Kopit and music and lyrics by Cole Porter.Based on the Philip Barry play The Philadelphia Story and the 1956 musical screen adaptation with Porter's songs, High Society, the plot centers on pretentious Long Island socialite Tracy Lord, who is planning...
which starred Susie Blake
Susie Blake
Susie Blake is a British actress.-Personal life:Blake trained at the Arts Educational School and LAMDA in London. She is the granddaughter of the actress Annette Mills and a great - niece of the actor Sir John Mills...
and Liza Goddard
Liza Goddard
Liza Goddard is an English television and stage actress best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s.-Early life:Goddard was born in Smethwick, West Midlands, England...
, before appearing in the 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...
production, which starred Jerry Hall
Jerry Hall
Jerry Faye Hall is an American model and actress, also known for her long-term relationship with Mick Jagger, with whom she had four children.-Early life:...
, at the Shaftesbury Theatre
Shaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
, London. Other West End credits include Francis Flute
Francis Flute
Francis Flute is a character in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream. His occupation is a bellows-mender. He is forced to play the female role of Thisbe in "Pyramus and Thisbe", a play within the play which is performed for Theseus' marriage celebration....
in A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, Curtis in The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
and Puppy in Babe
Babe
Babe is generally a slang term of endearment, but may also refer:-Entertainment:* Babe, the title character of the Dick King-Smith book The Sheep-Pig** Babe , a 1995 Australian film based on the book...
(Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
Regent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
). For 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...
, Aldridge created the role of Bruce Bogtrotter in the development of Matilda
Matilda (musical)
Matilda is a musical written by Dennis Kelly with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. It is based on the children's novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. The musical was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company starting in December 2010 and running through January 2011...
with music written by Australian comedian Tim Minchin
Tim Minchin
Timothy David "Tim" Minchin is a British-Australian comedian, actor, and musician.Tim Minchin is best known for his musical comedy, which has featured in six CDs, three DVDs and a number of live comedy shows which he has performed internationally. He has also appeared on television in Australia,...
.
Most recent roles include Billy Kostecki in the first ever national tour of the musical Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romantic film. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino, the film features Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the lead roles, as well as Cynthia Rhodes and Jerry Orbach...
, Dickon
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in the autumn of 1910, and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children's...
in West Yorkshire Playhouse
West Yorkshire Playhouse
The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, England is a theatre which opened in March 1990 as part of the regeneration of the Quarry Hill area of the city...
and Birmingham Rep's new production of The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in the autumn of 1910, and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children's...
, Roger Parslow in the national tour of His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...
based on the Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
trilogy and adapted for the stage by Nicholas Wright
Nicholas Wright (playwright)
Nicholas Wright is a British dramatist. He opened and ran the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, was joint artistic director of the Royal Court and is a former literary manager and associate director of the Royal National Theatre. Wright began acting as a child, and trained at The...
, Munchkin Mayor in the RSC
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...
version of The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (adaptations)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum, which has been adapted into several different works, the most famous being the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland...
(West Yorkshire Playhouse
West Yorkshire Playhouse
The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, England is a theatre which opened in March 1990 as part of the regeneration of the Quarry Hill area of the city...
), as well as the role of Tootles
Tootles
Peter Pan's Lost Boys are characters in J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up and subsequent adaptations and extensions to the story. They are boys who fall out of their prams when the nurse isn't looking and were lost by their nannies in places such as Kensington Gardens...
in the original cast of George Stiles
George Stiles
George William Stiles is an English composer of musicals for stage and screen.-Education:From 1974 to 1979, he was educated at Gresham's School, in Norfolk.George Stiles also went to Exeter University.-Collaboration with Anthony Drewe:...
and Anthony Drewe
Anthony Drewe
Anthony Drewe is a British lyricist and book writer for Broadway and West End musicals. He is best known for his collaborations with George Stiles.-Work with George Stiles:*additional songs for the musical Mary Poppins*Tutankhamun*Honk!...
's musical adaptation of J.M Barrie's Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England...
. and the West Yorkshire Playhouse
West Yorkshire Playhouse
The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, England is a theatre which opened in March 1990 as part of the regeneration of the Quarry Hill area of the city...
, for which he features on the original cast recording album.
Aldridge also featured in the Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
number one music video Go Let It Out
Go Let It Out
"Go Let It Out" is a song by the English rock band Oasis, written by the band's lead guitarist, and chief songwriter, Noel Gallagher. It was released in 2000 as the first single from the fourth studio album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. The song peaked at #1 in the UK charts where it went...
and has appeared in numerous commercials most recently for Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, Gamestation
Gamestation
Gamestation is a chain of UK retail shops selling used and new video games, and was the second-largest specialist video game retailer in the UK until it was bought out by Game in 2007...
, and Paddy Power
Paddy Power
Paddy Power is Ireland’s largest bookmaker. Offline it conducts business through a chain of licensed betting offices and by operating Ireland's largest telephone betting service. Online it offers sports betting, online poker, online bingo, online casino games and spread betting...
External links
- Bio at Birmingham Rep
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/wyplayhouse/4071831492/in/set-72157622724078490/
- http://www.digyorkshire.com/visuals/410x311/85/4285.jpg
- The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
