Eddie Marsan

Edward Maurice Charles Marsan was born on 9 June 1968[1] in the Stepney district of London, to a working-class family; his father was a lorry driver and his mother was a school dinnerlady and teacher's assistant.[2][3] He was brought up in Bethnal Green and attended Raine's Foundation School.[4] He left school at 16 and initially served an apprenticeship as a printer, before beginning his career in theatre.[3] He trained at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, graduating in 1991, and went on to study under Sam Kogan[5] and the Kogan Academy of Dramatic Arts, of which Marsan is now a patron.[6][7]

Marsan's first television appearance was in 1992, as a "yob", in the London Weekend Television series The Piglet Files. One of his more significant early television appearances was in the popular mid-1990s BBC sitcom Game On as a bungling bank robber. Marsan went on to have roles in Casualty, The Bill, Grass, Kavanagh QC, Grange Hill, Silent Witness, Ultimate Force, Southcliffe, and more. He also voiced the Manticore in the Merlin episode "Love in the Time of Dragons".

In 2012, he played Dr Ludwig Guttmann in the television film The Best of Men. He portrays Terry Donovan, brother to the lead character in Showtime's drama series Ray Donovan. In May 2015, Marsan appeared as the practical magician Gilbert Norrell in the BBC period drama Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

Marsan has appeared in numerous and varied film roles, as the main villain in the 2008 superhero film Hancock alongside Will Smith and as Inspector Lestrade in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. His other films include Sixty Six, Gangs of New York, 21 Grams, The Illusionist, V for Vendetta, Gangster No. 1, Miami Vice, Mission: Impossible III, I Want Candy, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky, Filth, Tyrannosaur, and Heartless.[8]

Marsan married make-up artist Janine Schneider in 2002. They have four children.[9]

Marsan won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Happy-Go-Lucky. Marsan also won the latter for his performance in Vera Drake.

For his performance in Happy-Go-Lucky, Marsan also earned other nominations, such as the Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor, and the Women Film Journalists Awards for Best Supporting Actor.

In 2014, Marsan earned the Best British Actor award at the 2014 Edinburgh International film festival and the Best Actor award at the VOICES film festival in Vologda, Russia, for his performance in Still Life.[12]

• Eddie Marsan on IMDb