Ray Fearon

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Ray Fearon
Fearon in 2012
Alma materRose Bruford College
OccupationActor
Years active1994–present WP:SDDATES
Children3+

Raymond Fearon is an English actor. He played garage mechanic Nathan Harding on ITV's long-running soap opera Coronation Street and voiced the centaur Firenze in the Wizarding World film series Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts.

Career[edit]

Theatre[edit]

After studying drama at Rose Bruford College, Fearon went on to make his reputation as a stage actor, working at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre; Manchester Contact Theatre; Manchester Royal Exchange; Oxford Playhouse; Barn Theatre, Kent; The Almeida; The Crucible, Sheffield; The Donmar Warehouse; The Royal Shakespeare Theatres in Stratford and the National Theatre. He has also toured in the United States and Europe and the Far East.

Fearon starred in Othello—opposite Gillian Kearney's Desdemona— in Liverpool at the age of 24, becoming the first black actor to play Othello on RSC main stages for over 40 years.[1][2] His other early stage roles included Charles Surface in The School for Scandal; Betty/Martin in Cloud Nine; Longaville in Love's Labour's Lost; Ferdinand in The Tempest; and Pete in Blues for Mr Charlie.

His early theatre work in London included Hugo/Frederick in Ring Round the Moon at the Lilian Baylis Theatre; the title role in The Invisible Man (his one-man show) at the Bridewell Theatre; and Pierre in Venice Preserv'd at the Almeida.

He has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company in their Stratford and London theatres and on tour. He was the first black actor to play the title role in Othello in the main Royal Shakespeare theatre (director Michael Attenborough, 1999) giving a performance alongside Richard McCabe's strong and repressed Iago.[3] They also played opposite one another in 1996's The White Devil (Deborah Warner, Swan theatre) where he played Brachiano and McCabe the villain Flamineo. Fearon was directed by Attenborough also as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (RSC, Swan Theatre, 1997) alongside Zoe Waites as Juliet.

Other RSC roles have included the First Knight and First Tempter in Murder in the Cathedral (Swan, 1993), Stubb in Moby Dick (TOP, 1993), the Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice (RST, 1994), Paris in Troilus and Cressida (Ian Judge, RST, 1996), the Marquis of Posa in Don Carlos (1999), Pericles in Adrian Noble's Pericles, Prince of Tyre (RST and Roundhouse, 2002) and Mark Antony in Julius Caesar (2012).

In 2003, he played 'Oberon' in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre. In 2004, he appeared in as Jean Kiyabe in World Music by Steve Waters at the Donmar Warehouse, and in the same year at the National Theatre as Mark in Sing Yer Hearts Out for the Lads by Roy Williams.

In 2010, he starred as Walter Lee Younger in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. This critically acclaimed production was directed by Michael Buffong at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.

In July 2013 he played Macduff opposite Kenneth Branagh (as Macbeth) and Alex Kingston (as Lady Macbeth) in Macbeth at Manchester International Festival. His performance was broadcast to cinemas on 20 July as part of National Theatre Live.[4]

In December 2017 he played Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. The production was directed by Michael Buffong.[5]

Television, film and radio[edit]

Fearon played Nathan Harding in Coronation Street from 2005 to 2006 and in 2001 he appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (as Firenze the centaur).[6] He had a minor role as a sentry in Kenneth Branagh's 1996 film version of Hamlet.

He was in the 2006 series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered by Camilla Dallerup, and was voted out in week 6.

He also appeared as a fictionalised version of historical figure Carlo de' Medici on the Starz series Da Vinci's Demons, which ran from 2013 to 2015.

In 2019, Fearon played the role of Hot Misogynist in season two of the acclaimed BBC Three comedy-drama Fleabag.

In the BBC's 2003 radio adaptation of His Dark Materials, Fearon appeared as the narrator and as the angel Balthamos.[7]

Filmography[edit]

Film, television and radio
Year Title Role Notes
1995 Prime Suspect Mark Whitehouse "Scent of Darkness"
1996 Hamlet Francisco
1997 Band of Gold Paul 2 episodes
The Bill Foley Marsh 1 episode
1999 The Clandestine Marriage Brush
2000 A Christmas Carol Jacob Marley TV film
2001 EastEnders Lennie 2 episodes
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Firenze / Fawkes Voice / vocal effects
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Fawkes Vocal effects
The Bill Paul Sharpe 1 episode
As If Riggs 10 episodes
2003 His Dark Materials (BBC Radio 4 Dramatisation) Balthamos, narrator All episodes
Keen Eddie Georgie Pendergast 1 episode
Waking the Dead Miles Patterson 1 episode
2003,
2008
Doctors PC Vernon Samuels
Malcolm Tumelo
1 episode
18 episodes
2004 In Search of Shakespeare various characters 4 episodes
2005 Revelations Benjamin 1 episode
2005−2006 Coronation Street Nathan Harding Series regular, 99 episodes
2006 Strictly Come Dancing Himself 6 episodes
Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 6 episodes
An Audience with... Coronation Street Himself/performer 1 episode
2008 The Chef's Letter The Sous Chef
2009 Lulu and Jimi Jimi
Missing Karl Hughes 1 episode
2010 Raw Paul 3 episodes
Ein Sommer in Kapstadt Gabriel Swat TV film
Morlocks Tyrell
2011 Beate Uhse [de] Jeff
Death in Paradise Curtis 1 episode
2012 Silk Roland Boyce QC 1 episode
Hamilton: I Nationens Intresse Benjamin Lee
Julius Caesar Mark Antony
2013 National Theatre Live Macduff Stage production of Macbeth
Moving On Steve 1 episode
2014 Da Vinci's Demons Carlo de' Medici 8 episodes
The Hooligan Factory Midnight
2016 New Blood David Kumalah 2 episodes
2017 Beauty and the Beast Père Robert
The Foreigner Commander Richard Bromley
2018 2036 Origin Unknown Sterling Brooks
Origin Omar Touré 1 episode
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Fawkes Vocal cameo
2019 Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators Major Tony Suffolk TV series, 1 episode
Fleabag Hot Misogynist TV series, 3 episodes
2020 Red Dwarf Rodon Red Dwarf: The Promised Land
2021 The Protégé Duquet
Father Christmas Is Back Felix Film
The Lady of Heaven Abu Bakr Film
2022 Memory Film
One Year Off Film
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore Fawkes Vocal effects
Christmas in the Caribbean Gregory Film
2023 Champion Beres Champion TV series; main cast
Barbie Dan at the FBI Film
2024 Father Brown Silas O'Hagen TV series, 1 episode

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Albemarle – Archive". www.albemarle-london.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2007.
  2. ^ Mistress, The (23 February 2006). "Corrie Canuck: RAY FEARON: Our Nathan Cooper".
  3. ^ "First black Othello at RSC since Robeson" The Independent (Retrieved: 3 March 2010)
  4. ^ "MACBETH — Manchester International Festival". www.mif.co.uk.
  5. ^ Read-Dominguez, Jennifer (19 October 2017). "Harry Potter and Strictly Come Dancing star joins first all-black cast of Guys and Dolls in the UK". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  6. ^ Hussain, Ali (18 February 2007). "Fame and fortune: Turning into a centaur paid off for Potter star". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  7. ^ Kim Bunce (28 December 2003) "Dark Drama" The Observer. Retrieved 24 August 2015.

External links[edit]