Anton Lesser

Early life

Anton Lesser attended Moseley Grammar School in Moseley, Birmingham and the University of Liverpool before going to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1977, where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year.

Career

As an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Lesser played a considerable number of Shakespeare's great roles, including Troilus (Troilus and Cressida), Edgar (King Lear), Petruchio, Romeo, Henry Bolingbroke, Brutus (Julius Caesar), Leontes (Winter's Tale) and Richard III.

Lesser is a frequent radio contributor and played the title role in the BBC Radio adaptations of the first five Falco mysteries by Lindsey Davis. He has also recorded many audiobooks, including much of the work of Charles Dickens, and his recording of Great Expectations won him a Talkie Award. Other books range from John Milton's Paradise Lost and Homer to contemporary novels by Robert Harris (Fatherland) and Philip Pullman. For two months in 2013, Lesser was heard as a regular cast member playing Robin Carrow in Ambridge Extra, a BBC Radio 4 Extra spin-off from the BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers.

In 2015, Lesser was announced a public supporter of Chapel Lane Theatre Company based in Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK.

Lesser portrayed Thomas More in the BBC mini-series Wolf Hall, and received a nomination for the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.

Personal life

Lesser lives in Warwickshire.

Theatre performances