Alec Newman

Alec Newman (born Mark Newman; 27 November 1974) is a Scottish actor.

Early life

Newman was born in Glasgow. His father is Sandy Newman, a member of Scottish band Marmalade. He has a brother named John James Newman who appeared on The Voice UK in 2012. Prior to joining the National Youth Theatre in London at age 17, he considered becoming a professional footballer. He trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career

Newman starred as Paul Atreides in the Sci Fi Channel's 2000 miniseries adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune and reprised the role in its 2003 sequel Children of Dune. He has had guest appearances on U.S. television series Angel, Star Trek: Enterprise and Tru Calling. He also guested on the British spy drama Spooks and played the Rebus-inspired Jim Buchan in BBC 4's Reichenbach Falls. He took the title role of Victor Frankenstein in the 2004 Frankenstein US TV miniseries, opposite Donald Sutherland and William Hurt.

On film in the UK, Newman played the lead role in Penny Woolcock's 2003 "The Principles of Lust", nominated for a British Independent Film Award and selected for competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Other British films include Long Time Dead for Working Title, G;MT (produced by Taylor Hackford), and the Stephen Fry directed "Bright Young Things".

In 2004, he landed the much-sought-after role of Barnabas Collins in a pilot for a revival series of Dark Shadows on the WB Network. The pilot was not picked up that year, but In 2008 Newman guest-starred in the Dark Shadows audio dramas Clothes of Sand and The Ghost Watcher for Big Finish Productions.

Other films in the US included Four Corners of Suburbia, Constellation, and the Lions Gate release The Gene Generation. An attempt at an old Hollywood musical, Moonlight Serenade, saw Alec in a film that did not get a theatrical release.

Returning to the UK in 2006, Newman appeared in his only stage musical: Angus Jackson's staging of Desperately Seeking Susan set to the music of Blondie. Despite the musical orchestration of Martin Koch, the man responsible for the sound of "Mamma Mia", the show played only a few short weeks at the Novello Theatre before closing.

Newman starred in the short-lived BBC One series Hope Springs as Euan Harries in 2008. He also played the recurring role of Robert Ludlow in Casualty for a run of 10 episodes in 2010 as well as guesting in a "Silent Witness" two-parter entitled "Run".

The same year Newman starred with Sean Harris and Melissa George in Julian Gilbey's action-oriented "A Lonely Place To Die". The film gained critical praise on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 2010/11 he played Edmund in the Donmar Warehouse production of Shakespeare's King Lear. The production subsequently toured the UK and played a six week engagement at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in Brooklyn, New York. This followed massive critical success in the National Theatre's production of Danton's Death, in which Newman portrayed the powerful, persuasive Saint Just. Both productions were directed by Michael Grandage.

On 30 May 2011, it was announced that Newman had joined the cast of BBC One drama series Waterloo Road in the role of the new head teacher, Michael Byrne. He completed series 7 and 8 as the character, leaving the show in early 2013, after its relocation to Greenock in Scotland.

He is also the voice of a character on the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic and regularly lends his voice to other high-profile video games and movie tie-ins including Goldeneye, Dragon Age II, Fable 3, and Brink. In addition, he has voiced commercials for Baxters Soup, and various documentaries for the BBC and Discovery Channel.

In early 2013, he became an ambassador for the Blind Veterans UK charity, to help them reach 68,000 blind veterans unaware of the assistance the charity can provide. This was in conjunction with Alec playing Mal Walker, a blind veteran of Afghanistan in the feature film Greyhawk, directed by Guy Pitt.

In August 2013, he began work on Season 2 of Directv's series Rogue. The series aired in 2014.

Guest Star appearances on NBC's "Dracula", and a recurring role in "24- Live Another Day" kept Newman's US TV presence current as did an appearance in BBC America's series "The Last Kingdom".

Newman is currently filming for the Fox pilot "The Bastard Executioner" in Wales.

Personal life

In February 2013, Newman became engaged to Heather Stewart. They married in Ayrshire, Scotland in June 2014.

External links

• Alec Newman at the Internet Movie Database