Alex Jennings

Alex Jennings CBE
Born	Alex Michael Jennings (1957-05-10) 10 May 1957 Romford, Essex, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978–present
Known for	The Queen (2006) The Lady in the Van (2015) The Crown (2016–2017) Victoria (2016–2019) A Very English Scandal (2018) Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024)
Spouse	Lesley Moors (m. 2012)
Children	2

Alexander Michael Jennings CBE (born 10 May 1957) is an English actor of the stage and screen, who worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. For his work on the London stage, Jennings received three Olivier Awards, winning for Too Clever by Half (1988), Peer Gynt (1996), and My Fair Lady (2003). He is the only performer to have won Olivier awards in the drama, musical, and comedy categories.

He is known for his film work, in particular for his performance as Prince Charles, in Stephen Frears' film The Queen (2006) opposite Helen Mirren. His other film appearances include The Wings of the Dove (1997), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), Babel (2006), Belle (2013), and The Lady in the Van (2015) starring Maggie Smith.

Jennings won acclaim for his performances in television including for his portrayal of Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, in the Netflix series The Crown acting opposite Claire Foy. He also starred in the ITV series Victoria (2016–2019) opposite Jenna Coleman, as well as Stephen Frears' A Very English Scandal (2018) alongside Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw, and most recently Steve McQueen's Small Axe: Mangrove (2020) starring Letitia Wright.

Early life

Jennings was born in Romford, Essex, the son of Peggy Patricia (née Mahoney) and Michael Thomas Jennings. He attended Abbs Cross Technical High School in Hornchurch and studied English and Theatre studies at the University of Warwick, graduating in 1978. He said he saw his first theatre while in high school and went to the Old Vic Theatre, which inspired him to be an actor.

He trained as an actor for two years at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Career

1980s

In the early 1980s, Jennings began his career in regional repertory theatre. In 1985, playing a range of roles including Maximilien Robespierre in The Scarlet Pimpernel. Jennings met director Nicholas Hytner during this production and has worked with him many times since. For his performance as Gloumov in Too Clever by Half at the Old Vic, he won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1988. He was nominated in the same category the following year for portraying Dorante in The Liar. He has performed for the Royal National Theatre in a number of plays, including Leontes in The Winter's Tale and the title role in Albert Speer.

Jennings' work in television includes appearances in The State Within, Smiley's People, The Franchise Affair, Inspector Morse, Lewis, Alfonso Bonzo, the title role in Ashenden, Dead Poets Society, Inspector Alleyn, Hard Times, Bad Blood, and Peter Ackroyd's London. His many radio credits include Casino Royale, The Way of the World, Strange Meeting, Vorbis in Small Gods, and The Old Curiosity Shop.

1990s

His Royal Shakespeare Company roles include the title role in Peer Gynt (for which he won an Olivier Award 1995-06 for Best Actor), the title role in Richard II (opposite Anton Lesser as Henry Bolingbroke), Theseus/Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream (UK, American tour and Broadway), Angelo in Measure for Measure, and the title role in Hamlet.

He also appeared in War Requiem, the RSC's film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999). Jennings also appeared as Lord Mark in the romantic drama film The Wings of the Dove starring Helena Bonham Carter, Elizabeth McGovern, Charlotte Rampling, and Sir Michael Gambon. The film received great acclaim and many awards nominations including four Academy Award nominations and five British Academy Film Award nominations.

2000s

In 2002, he appeared in the Cameron Mackintosh/Trevor Nunn revival of My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and won an Olivier Award as Best Actor in a Musical. He was an Associate Artist at the Royal Shakespeare Company. That year he also appeared in The Four Feathers (2002) as Colonel Hamilton alongside Heath Ledger, Kate Hudson, and Michael Sheen.

In 2006, Jennings' made his breakthrough film role as Charles, Prince of Wales opposite Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen. The film was directed by Stephen Frears, and written by Peter Morgan. The film depicts the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August 1997 and the reaction from the British public and the British royal family. The film was an immense critical and box office success after it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The film received six Academy Award nominations including a win for Mirren's performance.

In 2007, he played the role of Garry Essendine in Noël Coward's Present Laughter at the NT. Also in 2007, he portrayed the Rev. Hutton in the BBC miniseries Cranford starring Judi Dench. He also played John Le Mesurier in the one-off BBC drama Hancock and Joan. In 2009, he appeared in The Habit of Art as Benjamin Britten.

In June 2008, he made his debut in the Operetta at the ENO in Robert Carsen's production of Bernstein's Candide, in which he played Voltaire and Doctor Pangloss.

He has recorded the audio versions of the books: Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer, The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham, The Horse and His Boy, Out of the Silent Planet, and Perelandra by C.S. Lewis, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, and Attention All Shipping by Charlie Connelly, which was selected in June 2008 as one of the top 40 audiobooks of all time. In 2006, he recorded an abridgement of A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. He is also a regular narrator on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime. He was also a member of the BBC's Radio Drama Company.

2010s

In 2010, he played Captain Shipshape in the CBeebies second series of Grandpa in my Pocket and starred in the film Belle. After that, he played Henry Tizard in Castles in the Sky. In 2011, he played Mikhail Bulgakov in the National Theatre's production of Collaborators. In 2014, he played the role of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical, which was directed by Sam Mendes and was performed on London's West End theatre district. He took over the role from Douglas Hodge in 2014.

From 2011 to 2014, Jennings played Alan Cowdrey QC in the BBC One legal drama Silk. He has also appeared in the PBS/Masterpiece Theatre television series Inspector Lewis (2012), and Foyle's War (2015).

Jennings portrayed playwright Alan Bennett in the 2015 film The Lady in the Van opposite Academy Award winner Dame Maggie Smith in the title role. The film is directed by Nicolas Hytner, who is a long-time collaborator from the theatre. The film also featured performances from Jim Broadbent, Claire Foy, Frances de la Tour, and James Corden. The film premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival to great acclaim, specifically for Smith's performance. To promote the film Maggie Smith, and Jennings, appeared on The Graham Norton Show, this is Smith's first chat show appearance in over 40 years.

In 2016, he reprised his role as Professor Henry Higgins in the Australian 60th anniversary production of My Fair Lady, directed by Julie Andrews. On television, from 2016 to 2017, he appeared in the Netflix series The Crown alongside Claire Foy and Jared Harris, as Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, uncle to Queen Elizabeth and great-uncle to Prince Charles (whom Jennings played in The Queen). The series has received widespread acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Jennings also portrayed King Leopold I of Belgium in the ITV/PBS series Victoria (2016–2019) alongside Jenna Coleman.

In 2018, he played Liberal MP Peter Bessell in the BBC One series, A Very English Scandal alongside Hugh Grant, and Ben Whishaw, a miniseries about the Jeremy Thorpe affair directed by Stephen Frears. The film received widespread critical acclaim with a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes with the critics consensus reading, "Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw impress in A Very English Scandal, an equally absorbing and appalling look at British politics and society". The series also received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations including a win for Whishaw for his performance.

In 2019, he played Andrew Aldridge, a Conservative MP, in the American TV miniseries Four Weddings and a Funeral.

2020s

In 2020, Jennings appeared in the Small Axe miniseries directed by Steve McQueen, specifically the television movie, Mangrove as Judge Edward Clarke alongside Letitia Wright as physician and British Black Panther Altheia Jones-LeCointe. In Mangrove, the story revolves around the true story based on the Mangrove Nine who were British black activists tried for inciting a riot at a protest, in 1970, against the police targeting of the Mangrove restaurant, Notting Hill, in West London. The film received widespread critical acclaim, with the critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reading, "Anchored by strong performances and an even stronger sense of conviction, Mangrove is a powerful indictment of institutional racism."

Work

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	War Requiem	Blinded Soldier
1996	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Theseus/Oberon
1997	The Wings of the Dove	Lord Mark
2002	The Four Feathers	Colonel Hamilton
2004	Five Children and It	Father
2004	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Horatio
2006	Babel	Ken Clifford
2006	The Queen	Prince Charles
2008	The Disappeared	Adrian Ballan
2010	Words of the Blitz	George Orwell
2013	Trap for Cinderella	Chance
2013	Belle	Lord Ashford
2014	Castles in the Sky	Henry Tizard
2015	The Lady in the Van	Alan Bennett
2016	Denial	Sir Charles Gray
2021	Munich – The Edge of War	Sir Horace Wilson
2021	Operation Mincemeat	John Masterman
2022	Your Christmas or Mine?	Humphrey Hughes
2023	Your Christmas or Mine 2	Humphrey Hughes

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Smiley's People	P.C. Hall	"Episode No. 1.1"
1986	Kit Curran	PC Woods	Episode: "A Sick Society"
1988	The Franchise Affair	Nevil Bennet	6 episodes
1989	The Return of Shelley	Jeremy	Episode: "The Gospel According to Shelley"
1990	Inspector Morse	Victor Preece	Episode: "The Sins of the Fathers"
1990	Alfonso Bonzo	Alfonso Bonzo	6 episodes
1991	Ashenden	John Ashenden	4 episodes
1991	Bye Bye Columbus	King Ferdinand	Television movie
1992	Screenplay	Byron	Episode: "Dread Poets' Society"
1993	Alleyn Mysteries	Sebastian Parish	Episode: "Death at the Bar"
1994	Hard Times	Bitzer	Episode: "Episode No. 1.1"
1997	Liberty! The American Revolution	King George III	6 episodes
1999	The Hunley	Lt. Alexander	Television movie
2000	Too Much Sun	Julian Edgbaston-Bowles	6 episodes
2001	Bad Blood	Joe Harker	Television movie
2002	Great Britons	Churchill	Voice; Episode: "Sir Winston Churchill"
2004	London	Stephen Spender	Television movie
2005	A Very Social Secretary	Alastair Campbell	Television movie
2005	Riot at the Rite	Sergei Diaghilev	Television movie
2005	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Dr Roberts	Episode: "Cards on the Table"
2006	Spooks	James Allan	Episode: "Episode No. 5.4"
2006	The State Within	James Sinclair	6 episodes
2007	Waking the Dead	James Andrews	2 episodes
2008	10 Days to War	Vincent	Episode: "Failure Is Not an Option"
2008	Fairy Tales	Roger Bateman	Episode: "Rapunzel"
2008	Hancock & Joan	John Le Mesurier	Television movie
2008	The 39 Steps	Captain Kell	Television movie, BBC
2009	The Last Days of Lehman Brothers	Timothy Geithner	Television movie
2009	Agatha Christie's Marple	Inspector Curry	Episode: "They Do It with Mirrors"
2007–2009	Cranford	Reverend Hutton	7 episodes
2009–2010	Whitechapel	Commander Anderson	5 episodes
2010	Masterpiece Classic	Captain Kell	Episode: "The 39 Steps"
2010	Grandpa in My Pocket	Captain Shipshape	Episode: "Captain Shipshape and a Fish Called Bryan"
2010	On Expenses	Andrew Walker	Television movie
2012	Being Human	Griffin	Episode: "Eve of the War"
2012	Lewis	Rev Conor Hawes	Episode: "The Soul of Genius"
2012	New Tricks	Prof. Blake	Episode: "Body of Evidence"
2011–2014	Silk	Alan Cowdrey, QC	13 episodes
2012	We'll Take Manhattan	John Parsons	Television movie
2013	The Lady Vanishes	The Professor	Television movie
2015	Churchill's Secret	Anthony Eden	Television movie, PBS
2015	Foyle's War	Clive Ord-Smith	Episode: "Trespass"
2016–2019	Victoria	King Leopold I	9 episodes
2016–2017, 2022	The Crown	Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor	Main role (Seasons 1–2); Guest role (Season 5)
2017	The Halcyon	Lord Hamilton	Episode: #1.1
2018	A Very English Scandal	Peter Bessell	3 episodes
2018	Unforgotten	Tim Finch	6 episodes
2019	Four Weddings and a Funeral	Andrew Aldridge	Miniseries, Hulu
2019	Gold Digger	Ted Day	6 episodes
2020	Small Axe	Judge Clarke	Episode: "Mangrove"
2022	This Is Going to Hurt	Nigel Lockhart	7 episodes
2022	The Undeclared War	David Neal	5 episodes
2023	Unforgotten		season 3
2024	Mr Bates vs The Post Office	James Arbuthnot	4 episodes
TBA	A Very Royal Scandal	Sir Edward Young	In production

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Playwright	Venue	Ref.
1985	The Scarlet Pimpernel	Performer	Baroness Orczy	Her Majesty's Theatre
1987–88	Measure for Measure	Lucio	William Shakespeare	Royal Shakespeare Company
1988	Too Clever by Half	Yegor Dimitrich Gloumov	Alexander Ostrovsky	Old Vic Theatre, London
1988	The Country Wife	Performer	William Wycherley	Royal Exchange, Manchester
1989	Ghetto	Kittel	Yehoshua Sobol	National Theatre
1990	The Wild Duck	Hjalmar Ekdal	Henrik Ibsen	Peter Hall Company
1990	The Liars	Dorante	Henry Arthur Jones	Old Vic Theatre, London
1990	Richard II	Richard II	William Shakespeare	Royal Shakespeare Company
1992	The Recruiting Officer	Captain Plume	George Farquhar	National Theatre
1993	The Importance of Being Earnest	John Worthing	Oscar Wilde	Aldwych Theatre
1994	Peer Gynt	Peer Gynt	Henrik Ibsen	Royal Shakespeare Company
1994–95	Measure for Measure	Angelo	William Shakespeare	Royal Shakespeare Company
1996	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Oberon/Theseus	William Shakespeare	Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Broadway
1996	Hyde Park	Performer	James Shirley	Royal Shakespeare Company
1996	The Taming of the Shrew	Lucentio	William Shakespeare
1997	Hamlet	Hamlet	William Shakespeare
2000	Albert Speer	Albert Speer	David Edgar	Lyttelton Theatre, London
2001	The Winter's Tale	Performer	William Shakespeare	Royal National Theatre
2001	The Relapse	Foppington	John Vanbrugh
2001	My Fair Lady	Prof. Henry Higgins	George Bernard Shaw
2007	Present Laughter	Garry Essendine	Noël Coward	Royal National Theatre
2009	The Habit of Art	Henry	Alan Bennett	National Theatre of Great Britain Lyttelton Theatre in London
2011	Collaborators	Mikhail Bulgakov	John Hodge	National Theatre of Great Britain Cottesloe Theatre in London
2012	Hymn/Cocktail Sticks	Performer	Alan Bennett	National Theatre of Great Britain Lyttelton Theatre in London
2013	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	Willy Wonka	Roald Dahl	Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London
2016	My Fair Lady	Prof. Henry Higgins	George Bernard Shaw	Sydney Opera House
2019	Hansard	Robin Hesketh	Simon Woods	Royal National Theatre
2019	The Light in the Piazza	Signor Naccarelli	Elizabeth Spencer	Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles Civic Opera House Chicago
2022	The Southbury Child	David Highland	Stephen Beresford	Chichester Festival Theatre Bridge Theatre, London

Filmed Theatrical Events

• 1999: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as Butler
• 2010: National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art as Henry / Benjamin Britten
• 2011: National Theatre Live: Collaborators as Mikhail Bulgakov
• 2013: National Theatre Live: 50 Years on Stage as Henry Higgins
• 2019: National Theatre Live: Hansard as Robin Hesketh

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result	Ref.
1988	Olivier Award	Best Comedy Performance	Too Clever by Half	Won
1996		Best Actor	Peer Gynt	Won
2003		Best Actor in a Musical	My Fair Lady	Won
2019	British Academy Television Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Unforgotten	Nominated

On 14 June 2024 Jennings was awarded a CBE for services to drama in the King's Birthday Honours.

External links

• Alex Jennings at IMDb
• Alex Jennings at the Internet Broadway Database