Christopher Eccleston
Birthday – February 16, 1964
Birth Place – Little Hulton, Lancashire, England
Christopher Eccleston is a very popular television, film and stage actor known for his brilliant performances on several projects. He took birth in Langworthy, Salford in a blue collar family. He has two elder twin brothers namely Alan and Keith. Until the late 1960s, their family lived in a small house in Blodwell Street and they later moved to Little Hulton. He enrolled in Joseph Eastham’s High School, Little Hulton. During his childhood, he had great interest for Granada and BBC1. He grew up with the dream to be a team member of Manchester United. At 19, after getting inspired by Boys from the Blackstuff and some other television drams, Christopher realized that he could be a better actor than footballer. He then joined a two year Performance Foundation Course at Salford Tech. Ken Loach’s Kes and Albert Finney’s performance in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning had been one of his early influences. Christopher then started performing classics. Bristol Old Vic’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire was the project through which Christopher made his stage debut. Success didn’t come in a night and Christopher Eccleston had to take various odd jobs.
Year 1991 helped Christopher to become a known face. In the same year, he was seen on Let Him Have It portraying the character of Derek Bentley. He also portrayed an important character of Inspector Morse entitled ‘Second Time Around’. UK audience started recognizing him after he made a brilliant performance on Cracker, a television series. He was also seen on Agatha Christie’s Poirot in the same time period. In 1994, Christopher appeared on Danny Boyle’s film Shallow Grave. It was a low budget movie and Christopher was seen along with Ewan McGregor. He soon got the character of Nicky Hutchinson on Our Friends in the North and this appearance helped him to be a renowned face throughout UK. His next appearance was on Jude. In 1998, Christopher appeared on Elizabeth. In the following year, he was seen on eXistenZ. He then made appearance on Gone in Sixty Seconds. It was 2001, when we saw Christopher on ‘The Others’. In the following year, he appeared on 24 Hour Party People and in the same year, he made an appearance on 28 days later. On Alex Cox’s Revengers Tragedy, he played the role of protagonist. Christopher was then seen on smaller independent films namely A Price Above Rubies and The Invisble Circus. Among his popular television roles are Hearts and Minds, Clocking Off, Flesh and Blood, Hillsborough, Othello. On ‘The Second Coming’, the religious telefantasy epic, Christopher portrayed the character of the son of God, Steve Baxter. On Linda Green and The League of Gentleman, he made guest appearances.
He has received nomination for the Best Actor Category at British Academy Television Awards. He received first nomination for his role on Our Friends in the North in 1997. It was 2004 when Christopher was again nominated for the same category for his role on The Second Coming. At the 1997 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards and the Royal Television Society Awards, he received awards. For his brilliant performance on Flesh and Blood, he won the RTS Best Actor Award. In July 2004, he was selected as the 19th Most Powerful Person in Television Drama by Radio Times Magazine.
On the popular BBC series Doctor Who, Christopher appeared as the ninth incarnation of the doctor. He was rumored to appear on one more season of the show but Christopher refused, fearing of typecasting. At the 2005 National Television Awards, he was voted as the Most Popular Actor for his appearance on ‘The Doctor’. The response which he received from children boosted up his confidence to a great level. In October, 2005, he was seen on stage at the Old Vic Theater in London. Two months later, in December, 2005, he narrated in a production of Romeo and Juliet. Next year, Christopher filmed a movie named New Orleans, Mon Amour etc. Later that year, he made appearance on an ITV drama Perfect Parents. In 2007, he became a part of NBC TV series Heroes as Claude. He had the power to be invisible and was seen helping Peter Petrelli. In the movie adaptation of The Dark is Rising, he played the character of The Rider. On the live action G.I Joe film G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Christopher portrayed the character of villainous Destro. He was also seen as a leading character on an episode of The Sarah Silverman Program.
Christopher Eccleston is an atheist. He had a relationship with Siwan Morris, an actress. They broke up in 2005.
