Hugh Quarshie
| Hugh Quarshie | |
|---|---|
| Born |
22 December 1954 Accra, Ghana |
| Nationality | British |
| Education |
Bryanston School Dean Close School |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Organization | Royal Shakespeare Company |
| Television | Holby City (2001–present) |
Hugh Anthony Quarshie (born 22 December 1954) is a Ghanaian-born British actor of stage, television and film. Some of his best-known roles include his appearances in the films Highlander (1986) and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), and his long-running role as Ric Griffin in the BBC medical drama Holby City (2001–present).
Early and personal life
Quarshie is of mixed Ghanaian, English and Dutch ancestry. He was born in Accra, Ghana, to Emma Wilhelmina (née Philips, 1917–2004) and Richard Quarshie, an African of chiefly ancestry, emigrating with his family to the United Kingdom at the age of three.[1] He was educated at Bryanston School in Dorset and Dean Close School in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (during which time he played the role of Othello at the Tuckwell Theatre), before reading PPE at Christ Church, Oxford.
Career
Quarshie had considered becoming a journalist before taking up acting. He is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has appeared in many stage productions and television programmes, including the serial Behaving Badly with Judi Dench. He is well known for playing the roles of Sunda Kastagir in Highlander, Captain Panaka in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and Ric Griffin in the TV series Holby City. He attended the Star Wars fan event "Star Wars Celebration" in 1999.
He appeared in the 2007 two-part Doctor Who episode "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks" as Solomon, the leader of the shanty town Hooverville. He headed the cast of Michele Soavi's The Church (1989) as Father Gus, and played Aaron the Moor in the BBC Television Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.
Quarshie has also narrated for TV. His work includes the 2006 documentary Mega Falls of Iguacu (about the Iguaçu Falls), the 2009 adaptation of Small Island, and the 2010 BBC Wildlife series Great Rift: Africa's wild heart. In September 2010, he featured in an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, in which he traced his Ghanaian and Dutch origins.[2][3] The episode revealed one of his ancestors to be Pieter Martinus Johannes Kamerling, a Dutch official on the Gold Coast, making Quarshie a distant relative of Dutch actor Antonie Kamerling.[4]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Scene (TV series) | 1 episode ("Wide Games") | |
| 1979 | The Knowledge (TV film) | Champion | |
| 1980 | Buccaneer (TV series) | Major Ndobi | 2 episodes |
| 1980 | The Dogs of War | Zangaron Officer | |
| 1981 | Wolcott (TV mini-series) | Dennis St George | |
| 1981 | The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (TV film) | Danny Young | |
| 1981 | A Midsummer Night's Dream (TV film) | Philostrate | |
| 1983 | Rumpole of the Bailey | Jonathan Mazenze | 1 episode ("Rumpole and the Golden Thread") |
| 1983 | Angels (TV series) | Turi Mimi | 2 episodes |
| 1984 | Sharma and Beyond (TV film) | Man on Stairs | |
| 1985 | Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend | Kenge Obe | |
| 1985 | Titus Andronicus (TV film) | Aaron | |
| 1985 | Alas Smith and Jones (TV series) | 1 episode | |
| 1986 | Highlander | Sunda Kastagir | |
| 1986–89 | Screenplay (TV series) | Mike/Wallace | 2 episodes |
| 1988 | A Gentleman's Club (TV series) | Baba | 1 episode |
| 1989 | La Chiesa | Father Gus | |
| 1989 | Behaving Badly (TV mini-series) | Daniel | |
| 1990 | Nightbreed | Detective Joyce | |
| 1991 | Chancer (TV series) | Kazeem | 2 episodes |
| 1991 | Press Gang (TV series) | Inspector Hibbert | |
| 1992 | Surgical Spirit (TV series) | Fergus Debonaire | 1 episode |
| 1992 | Virtual Murder (TV series) | Dr Mellor | |
| 1992 | The Tomorrow People (TV series) | Professor John Galt | All 6 episodes |
| 1992–94 | Medics (TV series) | Dr Tom Carey | |
| 1993 | The Comic Strip Presents ... (TV series) | Lieutenant Delaney | |
| 1993 | Red Dwarf (TV series) | Computer Voice | 1 episode ("Emohawk: Polymorph II") |
| 1994 | Horizon (TV documentary) | Narrator | |
| 1994 | The Chief (TV series) | Vincent Pierce | 1 episode |
| 1994 | MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis (TV film) | Inspector Rhodes | |
| 1994 | Shakespeare: The Animated Tales (TV series) | Cassius | |
| 1999 | Star Wars: The Phantom Menace | Captain Panaka | |
| 2003 | Conspiracy of Silence |
Selected theatre performances
- Goethe's Faust as Mephistopheles (RSC, 1995)
- Julius Caesar as Mark Antony (RSC, 1995)
References
- ↑ Hugh Quarshie at TheGenealogist.co.uk.
- ↑ Hugh Quarshie, BBC Who Do You Think You Are? magazine, 2010.
- ↑ Hugh Quarshie — Holby City's African chief, BBC News, 6 September 2010.
- ↑ Hugh Quarshie is related to Antonie Kamerling through Pieter Martinus Johannes Kamerling's brother Anthony Wilhelm Constantinus Gerardus Kamerling (1824-1875). Source: GoldCoastDataBase.
External links
- Hugh Quarshie at the Internet Movie Database
- Hugh Quarshie at Starwars.com
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