Dominic West

Dominic West
West in December 2011
Born	Dominic Gerard Francis Eagleton West (1969-10-15) 15 October 1969 Sheffield, England
Residence	Hammersmith, England
Education	Eton College Trinity College, Dublin
Alma mater	Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Occupation	Actor, director, musician
Years active	1991–present
Spouse(s)	Catherine Fitzgerald (m. 2010)
Children	4
Dominic West's voice. From Front Row Interviews, July 2011[1]

Dominic Gerard Francis Eagleton West (born 15 October 1969) is an English actor, director, and musician. He is best known for playing Jimmy McNulty in The Wire, and won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor at the 2012 British Academy Television Awards for portraying serial killer Fred West in Appropriate Adult.^[2] He stars as Noah Solloway on the Showtime drama series The Affair, for which he has received a Golden Globe nomination.^[3]

Early life

Dominic Gerard Francis Eagleton West^[4] was born on 15 October 1969^[5] in Sheffield, where he was raised. He is the sixth of seven siblings (five girls and two boys) born into a Roman Catholic family, largely of Irish descent.^[6][7][8] His mother, Pauline Mary "Moya" (née Cleary), was an actress, and his father, Thomas George Eagleton West, owned a plastics factory.^[9] West attended Eton College and Trinity College, Dublin.^[9][10] He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1995.^[11]

Career

Film and television

West's screen appearances include True Blue, Chicago, Richard III, and Mona Lisa Smile. His most notable television role has been starring in The Wire as the American police detective Jimmy McNulty. West was praised for the accuracy of his character's American accent.^[12][13] During his stint on The Wire, West directed the season 5 episode "Took".^[14]

West starred as Lysander in the 1999 film version of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. In feature films, he portrayed the heavy metal guitarist Kirk Cuddy in the 2001 film Rock Star.^[15]

In 2006 West made a guest appearance as an actor in a sketch in The Catherine Tate Show, alongside "Frankie Howerd impressionist". In 2007, he played the Spartan politician Theron in 300 and Detective Poppil in Hannibal Rising. West played the supervillain, Jigsaw, in the 2008 film Marvel's Punisher: War Zone. In 2010 he had a role as General Virilus in Neil Marshall's adventure thriller Centurion.^[16] West starred in the UK ghost film, The Awakening.^[17]

West has done other work on TV and radio. He appeared in the role of Oliver Cromwell in the Channel 4 series The Devil's Whore. He also performed as "Dr. West", the opening track on Eminem's 2009 album Relapse, as a doctor discharging Eminem from a rehab facility. West played the part over the phone in January 2009 while Eminem was recording it in a Miami studio.^[18]

In December 2009, West starred as Hank in a radio adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's expressionist play The Hairy Ape for BBC Radio 3,^[19] was a guest presenter on the BBC show Have I Got News for You, and ended the year alongside Joan Rivers and Sarah Jessica Parker with an appearance on Graham Norton's New Year's Eve Show.^[20]

In 2011, West appeared as a news presenter on the BBC-TV period drama series The Hour. He also played serial killer Fred West in the ITV two-part series Appropriate Adult, giving a performance that the serial killer's daughter described as capturing the "evil essence of [Fred West] - his character, his mannerisms, even his gait."^[21]

In 2012, West was offered the role of Mance Rayder in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, but turned it down due to the amount of time he would have to spend away from his family.^[22] He played gay activist Jonathan Blake in the 2014 film Pride about the 1984-1985 miners' strike in the UK. West stars as Noah Solloway on Showtime's series The Affair, which premiered October 2014. The series was renewed for a third season in 2015.^[15]

Theatre

As a theatre actor, West has played Edward in Harley Granville Barker's The Voysey Inheritance directed by Peter Gill at the Royal National Theatre in 2006.^[23] Around 2009, he starred at London's Donmar Warehouse as the protagonist in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Pedro Calderon de la Barca's existential drama Life Is a Dream, for which he received glowing reviews.^[24]

He took the title role in Simon Gray's classic comedy, Butley, playing at the Duchess Theatre in London from 1 June 2011.^[25] In the September he returned to his native Sheffield to play Iago to his former Wire co-star Clarke Peters's Othello at the Crucible Theatre.^[26]

In September to October 2012, he starred in Jez Butterworth's The River at the Royal Court Theatre in London with Miranda Raison and Laura Donnelly.^[27]

From mid December 2012 to January 2013, West starred as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.^[28]

In 2015-16 he starred alongside Janet McTeer in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Donmar Warehouse in London.^[29]

Advertising

In 2009, West starred in a series of online films known as "The Carte Noire Readers". Made to promote French coffee brand Carte Noire, they consist of actors reading love scenes from a selection of sources and acting through the commitment of justice. West reads extracts from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence; High Fidelity by Nick Hornby; The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; Life Class by Pat Barker; The Moment You Were Gone by Nicci Gerrard; and Something Childish But Very Natural by Katherine Mansfield.^[30]

Charity

West is a supporter of care charity Helen's Trust in response to their assistance to his mother prior to her death.^[31]

He led Team Canada/Australia for Walking With The Wounded, a fundraising event for wounded soldiers. He trekked to the South Pole against Team UK (led by Prince Harry) and Team America (led by Alexander Skarsgård). A few days into the trek, it was decided that the competition part of the race would be cancelled due to hazardous terrain and weather conditions, so the teams combined forces and continued. Alongside Harry, Skarsgård and several wounded soldiers, West successfully made it to the South Pole on 13 December 2013.^[32]

Personal life

In 1998, West and his then-girlfriend Polly Astor (the daughter of Michael Astor) had a daughter named Martha.^[33] West later rekindled his romance with film producer Catherine Fitzgerald, whom he had dated at university. The two married in Glin, County Limerick on 26 June 2010, and have three children.^[34] Fitzgerald, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, is the daughter of Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin and was formerly married to Edward Lambton, 7th Earl of Durham.^[9]

In August 2014, West was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.^[35]

Honours

• In November 2010, West was awarded an honorary degree for services to the Arts by Sheffield Hallam University.^[36]
• In November 2011, he was awarded the Honorary Patronage of the Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin, where he had earlier graduated with a degree in English.^[37]

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dominic West.

• Dominic West on Twitter
• Dominic West on IMDb