David Threlfall

David Threlfall
Born	David J Threlfall 12 October 1953 (1953-10-12) (age 56) Manchester, Lancashire, England
Occupation	Actor & Director
Years active	1977–present
Spouse(s)	Brana Bajic (1995–present)[1]
Official website

David Threlfall (born 12 October 1953) is an English stage, film and television actor best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's Manchester-based drama series Shameless. He has also directed several episodes of the show.

Early life

The son of a young plumber, Tommy Threlfall, and his wife, he was born in Manchester, Lancashire. His introduction to drama came from school and two English teachers, at Wilbraham Road School, whose encouragement led to him playing John Proctor in a school production of The Crucible and then to his getting involved with Manchester Youth Theatre. He went to art college in Sheffield but only stayed for a year. A few months of labouring and thinking followed. Then, having consulted a magazine in the public library which listed drama colleges, Threlfall successfully applied to Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama. By graduation, he had an audition with Mike Leigh.

Threlfall has been a keen supporter of Manchester City since childhood.^[2]

Career

Threlfall graduated from The Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre. He has notched up a wide range of film and television credits since his 1974 acting debut in the Play for Today version of the film Scum as the eloquent Archer.^[3] Television appearances include Trevor in Mike Leigh's 1977 made-for-TV film Kiss of Death, Leslie Titmuss in Paradise Postponed, Edgar in the 1984 Granada Television production of King Lear opposite Laurence Olivier in the title role. He also had regular roles in the situation comedies Nightingales and Men of the World, and guest appearances in dramas such as Cutting It, The Knock, CI5: The New Professionals and Spooks. He played Prince Charles in Diana: Her True Story in 1993 and his father Prince Philip in the 2005 drama The Queen's Sister. David currently plays the key character of Frank Gallagher in Paul Abbott's Shameless. Shown on Channel 4 since its first series in 2004, the ongoing show about the residents of a fictional Manchester housing estate has now completed six series, with a seventh due early in 2010.

He also played the role of Friedrich Kritzinger in the BBC/HBO drama Conspiracy, a dramatisation of the Wannsee Conference. In 2006, he played the domineering husband of wartime diarist Nella Last, in the TV drama Housewife, 49

Film credits include John le Carré's The Russia House, Patriot Games, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Elizabeth: The Golden Age, alongside Cate Blanchett.

He also had a small role in the 2006 film Alien Autopsy, and played the character Mr Blower in the 2007 film Hot Fuzz, acting alongside Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. He recently starred in an episode of The Whistle Blowers.

He starred as the lead role in the fourth episode of the BBC Documentary-Drama series Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire as the Emperor Constantine I.

He voiced the detective Paolo Baldi in BBC Radio 4's Baldi.^[4] He also read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness for a radio adaptation.

He played Smike in the eight-hour stage version of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby for the Royal Shakespeare Company in both London And New York.

Other notable stage performances include Riddley Walker, Oedipus, Macbeth and Peer Gynt at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, Bolingbroke in Richard II and Orgon in Tartuffe at the National Theatre in London.

Threlfall played Jack in When the Whales Came(1989), opposite Paul Scofield and Helen Mirren.

Personal life

Threlfall has been married to Sarajevan actress Brana Bajic since 1995.^[1][5] They met in 1994, whilst working on The Count of Monte Cristo at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester,^[5] and have two sons, born c.1996 and c.2000.^[3][5]

References

External links

• David Threlfall at the Internet Movie Database
• AdVoice.co.uk — vocal talent agnecy.