| Ray Fearon | |
|---|---|
| Born | Fitzroy Raymond Fearon[1] 1 June 1967 [1] London, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
Fitzroy Raymond "Ray" Fearon[1] (born 1 June 1967 in London, England[1]) is a British actor who has worked extensively in theatre, and is known for playing garage mechanic Nathan Harding on ITV's long-running soap opera Coronation Street.
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The son of West Indian parents, with 7 brothers and sisters He was a promising junior tennis player in his early teens.
After studying drama at Rose Bruford College of speech and drama, Fearon went on to make his reputation as a stage actor, working at Liverpool Everyman Theatre; Manchester Contact Theatre; Manchester Royal Exchange; Oxford Playhouse; Barn Theatre, Kent; The Almeida; The Crucible, Sheffield; The Donmar Warehouse; The Royal Shakespeare Theatres in Stratford and the National Theatre. He has also toured in the United States and Europe and the far east.
His early stage roles included Othello in Othello — opposite Gillian Kearney's Desdemona — in Liverpool at the age of 24; Charles Surface in The School for Scandal; Betty/Martin in Cloud Nine; Longaville in Love's Labour's Lost; Ferdinand in The Tempest; and Pete in Blues for Mr Charlie.
His early theatre work in London included Hugo/Frederick in Ring Round the Moon at the Lilian Baylis Theatre; the title role in The Invisible Man (his one-man show) at the Bridewell Theatre; and Pierre in Venice Preserv'd at the Almeida.
He has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company in their Stratford and London theatres and on tour. He was the first black actor to play the title role in "Othello" in the main Royal Shakespeare theatre (director Michael Attenborough, 1999) giving a powerful and sexy performance alongside Richard McCabe's strong and repressed Iago.[2] They also played opposite one another in 1996's The White Devil (Deborah Warner, Swan theatre) where he played Brachiano and McCabe the villain Flamineo. Fearon was directed by Attenborough also as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (RSC, Swan Theatre, 1997) alongside Zoe Waites as Juliet.
Other RSC roles have included the First Knight and First Tempter in Murder in the Cathedral (Swan, 1993), Stubb in Moby Dick (TOP, 1993), the Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice (RST, 1994), Paris in Troilus and Cressida (Ian Judge, RST, 1996), the Marquis of Posa in Don Carlos (1999) and Pericles in Adrian Noble's Pericles, Prince of Tyre (RST and Roundhouse, 2002).
In 2003 he made a notable Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre. In 2004 he appeared in as Jean Kiyabe in World Music by Steve Waters at the Donmar Warehouse, and in the same year at the National Theatre as Mark in Sing Yer Hearts Out for the Lads by Roy Williams.
Fearon played Nathan Harding in Coronation Street and appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (as Firenze the centaur). He was in the 2006 series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered by Camilla Dallerup, and was voted out in Week 6.
Fearon has a daughter, Rosa May,
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Prime Suspect | Mark Whitehouse | "Scent of Darkness" |
| 1996 | Hamlet | Francisco | |
| 1997 | Band of Gold | Paul | 2 episodes |
| 1997 | The Bill | Foley Marsh | 1 episode |
| 1999 | The Clandestine Marriage (film) | Brush | |
| 2000 | A Christmas Carol | Jacob Marley | TV film |
| 2001 | Eastenders | Lennie | 1 episode |
| 2001 | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Firenze | Voice |
| 2002 | The Bill | Paul Sharpe | 1 episode |
| 2002 | As If | Riggs | 10 episodes |
| 2003 | Keen Eddie | Georgie Pendergast | 1 episode |
| 2003 | Waking the Dead | Miles Patterson | 1 episode |
| 2003– 2006 |
Doctors | Malcolm Tumelo | 19 episodes |
| 2004 | In Search of Shakespeare | various characters | 4 episodes |
| 2005 | Revelations | Benjamin | 1 episode |
| 2005 | Coronation Street | Nathan Cooper | 75 episodes |
| 2005 | This Morning | Himself | 1 episode |
| 2006 | Strictly Come Dancing | Himself | 6 episodes |
| 2006 | Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two | Himself | 6 episodes |
| 2006 | Children in Need | Himself | 1 episode |
| 2006 | Loose Women | Himself | 1 episode |
| 2006 | Breakfast | Himself | 1 episode |
| 2006 | The Paul O'Grady Show | Himself | 1 episode |
| 2006 | An Audience With... Coronation Street | Himself/performer | 1 episode |
| 2008 | The Chef's Letter | The Sous Chef | |
| 2009 | Lulu and Jimi | Jimi | |
| 2009 | Missing | Karl Hughes | 1 episode |
| 2010 | Raw | Paul | 3 episodes |
| 2010 | Ein Sommer in Kapstadt | Gabriel Swat | TV film |
| 2010 | Morlocks | Tyrell | Post-production |
| 2011 | Beate Uhse - Ich will Freiheit für die Liebe | Jeff | Filming |
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