Andy Serkis

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Andy Serkis

Serkis in Wellington, 2003
Born 20 April 1964 (1964-04-20) (age 44)
Ruislip, Middlesex, England
Spouse(s) Lorraine Ashbourne (22 July 2002 – present)

Andy Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor and director best known for his portrayal of Sméagol and Gollum in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

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[edit] Biography

Serkis was born and brought up in Ruislip Manor, Middlesex, England. His father is an ethnic Armenian doctor from Iraq; the family surname was originally "Sarkisian", which is a variant of one of the most common Armenian surnames. He was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing and at Lancaster University where he originally studied visual art.

His most memorable and critically acclaimed roles have been Gollum in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy (2001–03) and Kong in the 2005 version of King Kong, in which he provided the voice and movements for the CGI characters.

Serkis in his CGI suit for King Kong
Serkis in his CGI suit for King Kong

His acclaimed work on the trilogy set off a debate on the legitimacy of CGI-assisted acting. Many critics felt Serkis should have been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance since the movie used his voice, body language, and facial expressions. There is the argument that some of his CGI actions were partially, or in some cases fully animated, without his own movements, but the same can be said for actors in a traditional movie involving CGI. Some believed incorrectly that the Academy ruled that he did not qualify because he never physically appeared onscreen. There is no such prohibition, and in fact Serkis appeared onscreen as Sméagol before he became Gollum in the third film.

Andy as Sméagol
Andy as Sméagol

Continuing the development of Performance capture as an art form, Serkis is working with game developers Ninja Theory on the 2007 release of Heavenly Sword, providing the motion capture and voice for King Bohan, the game's main villain, as well as acting as Dramatic Director for the game.

He has played over 30 other roles in film and television productions throughout his career. One of his earliest feature film appearances was alongside Sacha Baron Cohen in The Jolly Boys' Last Stand.

Serkis was cast as the Moors Murderer Ian Brady in the BAFTA-nominated Longford, co-starring Samantha Morton as Myra Hindley and Jim Broadbent as Lord Longford. The film was attacked by relatives of the victims.[1] The mother of Keith Bennett, whose body has never been found, blasted Serkis when he requested a meeting with Brady in preparation for the role.

In 2006 Serkis appeared in the role of Mr. Grin in the film rendition of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider novel Stormbreaker. Also in 2006, he appeared in the film version of The Prestige as Mr. Alley, assistant to Nikola Tesla, and as the voice of Spike, one of the henchrats in the latest Aardman Animations film Flushed Away.

In 2006 Serkis further demonstrated his versatility through his work on Jim Threapleton's entirely improvised feature film debut Extraordinary Rendition. In the film he plays an interrogator working inside the CIA's controversial Extraordinary Rendition programme. The film was premiered at festivals in summer 2007.

Serkis appeared in Sugarhouse, a low-budget independently made film, playing local crimelord Hoodwink, terrorising an East London housing estate. For the role, Serkis shaved his head and underwent sessions lasting 20 hours at a time to have temporary tattoos stencilled onto his body. The film was premiered at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival and released in the UK on 24 August 2007.

Serkis has played the villain Capricorn in Inkheart, based on the novel of the same name by Cornelia Funke. The film also stars Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren and Paul Bettany. Directed by Iain Softley, it is due for release in 2008.

Serkis stars in The Cottage, about two brothers who kidnap an underworld figure and then stumble on a dark rural secret. Directed by Paul Andrew Williams and co-stars Reece Shearsmith with Jennifer Ellison and Steve O'Donnell lending support.

Serkis will be appearing in Einstein and Eddington, a joint venture between HBO and BBC. He plays Albert Einstein. The film follows Einstein's development of his theory of relativity, and also show how British scientist Sir Arthur Eddington became the first person to understand the work of genius. Eddington will be played by Doctor Who star David Tennant. This would not be the first time that the pair have worked together, since they previously starred in the stage version of the play 'Hurlyburly' at the Queens Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue in 1997.

In 2007, Serkis provided the voice over for Monkey Life, for Five (formerly known as Channel Five) broadcast for 3 weeks from 13-31 August 2007. This series is about Monkey World, the popular ape and monkey sanctuary and zoo near Wool, Dorset, England.

Serkis has also provided voice overs to a series of advertisements for Vodafone and NatWest Bank on British television.

In December 2007, it was confirmed that Serkis will reunite with Peter Jackson as a cast member in Jackson and Steven Spielberg's Tintin trilogy. He is set to start filming work on the project in September of 2008. [2]

He is most certainly due to reprise his role of Gollum in The Hobbit, and another Lord of the Rings prequel, which will be released in 2011, and 2012. Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens are to write the adapted screenplay, with Peter Jackson as Producer/executive producer.

[edit] Personal life

Serkis lives in Crouch End, North London with his wife, actress Lorraine Ashbourne and their three young children Ruby (b. 1998), Sonny (b. 2000) and Louis (b. 2004).

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] Nominations

  • Golden Globe 2008 Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini Series or Motion Picture Made for Television - Longford.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • He attended Lancaster University, where he was a member of The County College.
  • He was a vegetarian who only started to eat fish during the filming of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. He writes about it in his book Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic, published in 2004. If he continues to eat fish and no other meat, he would now be a pescitarian.
  • He was born on the same day as fellow vegetarian actor Crispin Glover.
  • He owns one of the prop rings used in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
  • Based the voice of Gollum on the sounds his cats made while coughing up furballs.
  • His family name, Serkis, is of Armenian descent like Mikhail Vartanov's and Sergei Parajanov's; these surnames originally would have been Sarkisian, Vartaniantz and Parajanian (respectively).
  • His performance as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings is ranked #10 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
  • He did a live show with Tenacious D, singing with Jack Black in Gollum's voice.
  • His banker introduced him to Heavenly Sword because the banker's brother happened to be working on Heavenly Sword and was interested in him as a character.
  • He also voices the Witch King of Angmar in The Return of The King although he is not credited.

[edit] Selected filmography

[edit] Other works

  • Heavenly Sword, a Playstation 3 title released in 2007. He stars as King Bohan, voicing him and providing a basis for his in-game face. He also acted as the dramatic director on the project.
  • His book Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic (published 2004) tells us how Andy created Gollum and how originally a three week acting job to provide a voiceover grew into a five-year commitment to breathe life and soul to Lord of The Rings' most challenging creation.

[edit] External links