Jonathan Le Billon

Jonathan Keith Le Billon (born 20 September 1980) is a British actor known for working in feature films, television shows and performing with classical theatre companies.^[1][2]

Background

Le Billon began his professional acting career at age 13,^[1] and is a graduate of Greenhead College, Huddersfield, UK, and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

He was born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire to Keith and Janet Le Billon. His paternal grandfather moved to the British mainland from the Channel Islands during the Second World War. At aged 4 he attended The Nora Bray School of Dance (the school which trained Roy Castle) and after this, at aged 9, was accepted into the Audrey Spencer Theatre School of Dance & Drama. During the years '91-'96 he competed in around five hundred competitive presentations, winning several hundred ‘top three’ medals and trophies.

In 1996, Le Billon gained a place at Greenhead College, though he was nearly dismissed in his first year when it was considered that acting was taking too much time away from his studies.

Early career

Le Billon’s first television appearance was in 1997, in a guest role on the ITV series Heartbeat. This was followed by further guest roles in: City Central (BBC) and Cold Feet (Granada). Le Billon appeared in his first leading role in the Renaissance season of How We Used to Live playing the role of Tom Byngham, after which he returned to college to graduate.

Following on from this, Le Billon took leading roles in the Channel 4 show Hollyoaks, and the Emmy nominated series At Home with the Braithwaites, and between the two, shot over 100 episodes of series television from 1998 through 2001. Le Billon also toured for a year with the Northern Broadsides theatre company before gaining a place on the 3 yr B.A. course at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, an institution who’s alumni includes Academy Award winners Daniel Day-Lewis and Jeremy Irons, and other noted actors such as Patrick Stewart, Pete Postlethwaite and Miranda Richardson.

At drama school Le Billon played several roles, including 'Jaques' in the school’s international tour of As You Like It. He graduated with a B.A. in July 2007, and after graduation, worked for the Northcott Theatre, Exeter, on their National tour of Richard III (2008), receiving a notable mention for his performance in the role of 'Catesby'.^[3] Following on from this, Le Billon was cast in central role of 'Robert Juet' in the New York run of the play River of Tides (2009).

Early work in the U.S.

In 2010, Le Billon took roles in two film projects: Casting Shadows (2011), an adaptation of a Korean folk tale, and the feature film Bright in the Dark (2011). He was also cast for the title role in the Lewis Family Playhouse’s production of The Gingerbread Man.^[1][4] A significant boost to his profile came with a role opposite Oscar-nominated actor Robert Loggia in the feature film The Apostle Peter (2012), as well as several international commercial campaigns.

Le Billon also continued with theatrical works, appearing in stage productions of: Amadeus and The Chronicles of Narnia (both for the San Bernardino Playhouse) and on the technically challenging role of Vaslav Nijinsky in Eleanor Antin's Before the Revolution (Billy Wilder Theatre).

Filmography

Television

• How We Used to Live (1 episode, 1996) as Tom Byngham
• Heartbeat (1 episode, 1998) as Rickie
• City Central (1 episode, 1999) as Kyle Hooper
• Cold Feet (2 episodes, 2000) as Student Three
• At Home with the Braithwaites (14 episodes, 2000-2001) as Kieran
• Hollyoaks (97 episodes, 2000-2005) as Brian Drake

Film

References

External links

• Jonathan Le Billon at the Internet Movie Database