Adrian Lester

Adrian Anthony Lester (born Anthony Harvey; 14 August 1968) is an English actor, director and writer. He is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award, an Evening Standard Theatre Award and a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for his work on the London stage, and has also been nominated for a Tony Award. Early life Lester was born in Birmingham, the son of Jamaican immigrants, Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. From the age of nine, Lester sang as a boy treble in the choir of St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham. At 14, he began acting with the Birmingham Youth Theatre. After leaving Archbishop Masterson RC School, he attended Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College for one year, before completing three years of training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Career Theatre Lester received an Ian Charleson Award commendation and a Time Out Award for his 1991 performance as Rosalind in Cheek by Jowl's all-male production of As You Like It. In 1992 he played Paul in the UK premiere of John Guare’s Six Degrees Of Separation, alongside Stockard Channing at the Royal Court Theatre in a production that transferred to the West End’s Comedy Theatre. In 1993, he played Anthony Hope in the National Theatre's production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He has also appeared on stage as Robert in the Donmar Warehouse production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Company, for which he won an Olivier Award, and in the title role of Hamlet (Carlton TV Theatre Award).