Sean Pertwee

Early life

Pertwee was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of English actor Jon Pertwee, known for his role in The Navy Lark (and later the television series Doctor Who and Worzel Gummidge), and his German second wife Ingeborg Rhoesa. He attended Teddington School in London.

Career

In the early 1980s, Pertwee was cast as Captain Fitzpatrick in the play Tom Jones, based on the novel by Henry Fielding. After leaving Sunbury College, Pertwee trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and, after graduating in 1986, toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company for three years. In 1999 he portrayed Brutus in the Hallmark Channel film Cleopatra. He co-owned the Natural Nylon film production company along with Sadie Frost, Jude Law, Jonny Lee Miller, and Ewan McGregor. The company folded in 2003. Pertwee is perhaps best known for his varying portrayals of grimacing death in many of his film roles, a skill that led to him being awarded 'best death face' at Bristol Old Vic.

Pertwee starred in the 2008 film Doomsday as Doctor Talbot. His voice is frequently heard in a variety of television commercials, documentaries and video games, including the medieval empire-building computer game Medieval: Total War and futuristic war games Killzone (as Colonel Gregor Hakha), Killzone 2 (as Colonel Mael Radec) and Fire Warrior (as Governor Severus). He is also the voice behind the Northeast's tourism advertisement which started broadcasting at the start of 2009. He was the narrator of Masterchef: The Professionals, replacing India Fisher for the fourth series which began on 7 November 2011.

Sean appeared in the film Devil's Playground, a zombie horror film directed by Mark McQueen. He starred alongside Danny Dyer, Jaime Murray, Janet Montgomery and Craig Fairbrass. The film was released in October 2010. Pertwee appeared in the Nazi zombie film The 4th Reich which he filmed in 2010, directed by Shaun Smith.

Pertwee has been in several dramatic works for BBC Radio 4, including playing the actor Oliver Reed in the play Burning Both Ends by Matthew Broughton in 2011.

In 2014, Pertwee was cast in Fox's TV series Gotham, a series presenting an origin for the characters of the Batman franchise. Pertwee portrays Alfred Pennyworth, a tough-as-nails ex-special forces from east London who works as the Wayne family's loyal butler. After Thomas and Martha Wayne are murdered, he becomes guardian and mentor to their young son Bruce — the boy who will one day become Batman.

Personal life

Pertwee is the brother of actress Dariel Pertwee, grandson of actor and screenwriter Roland Pertwee, and is more distantly related to actor Bill Pertwee. He married make-up artist Jacqueline Jane ″Jacqui″ Hamilton-Smith, daughter of Anthony Hamilton-Smith on 12 June 1999 at the House of Lords. His wife gave birth to twins, Alfred and Gilbert, around Christmas 2001. They were born prematurely; Gilbert died four days later.

Politics

Pertwee has been a supporter of the Labour Party and did a party political broadcast in the run up to the 2010 UK general election. In the broadcast he makes reference to his father's resolve.