Alun Armstrong

Alan Armstrong (born 1946), known professionally as Alun Armstrong, is an English character actor. He grew up in County Durham in North East England, and first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began in the early 1970s, he has played, in his words, "the full spectrum of characters from the grotesque to musicals... I always play very colourful characters, often a bit crazy, despotic, psychotic". His credits include several Charles Dickens adaptations, and the eccentric ex-detective Brian Lane in New Tricks. He is also an accomplished stage actor who spent nine years with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He originated the role of Thénardier in the London production of Les Misérables, and won an Olivier Award in the title role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Early life Born Alan Armstrong in Annfield Plain, County Durham, his father was a coal miner and both his parents were Methodist lay preachers. He attended Annfield Plain Junior School, then Consett Grammar School, where a teacher inspired him to try acting. In the lower sixth, he played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, a role he later played with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Armstrong took part in the National Youth Theatre summer school in 1964, but his background and northern accent made him feel out of place. He auditioned for RADA but was not accepted. He instead studied fine art at Newcastle University. He found the course pretentious and felt that he did not fit in, and he was sent down after two years when he stopped attending classes.