Anton Lesser

Anton Lesser was born in Birmingham on 14 February 1952,{{cite book |editor-last1=Gullen |editor-first1=Zoë |editor-last2=Sefton |editor-first2=Daniel |date=2006 |title=Debrett's People of Today 2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7KA-AQAAIAAJ&q=%22lesser+anton+s+of%22 |location=London |publisher=Debrett's |page=969 |isbn=9781870520324 |access-date=1 December 2023 }} the son of David Lesser and his wife Amelia Cohen.{{cn|date=September 2024}} He is of Jewish background.{{Cite web |url=https://www.jewishtampa.com/jews-in-the-news/jews-in-the-news-carl-reiner-mel-brooks-and-david-h-steinberg |title=Jews in the News: Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and David H. Steinberg | Tampa JCCS and Federation}}

He was educated at Moseley Grammar School{{cite web |url=https://moseleians.co.uk/people/famous-moseleians/|title=Moseley's Hall Of Fame|website=The Moseleians Association |access-date=8 October 2024}} and at the University of Liverpool, where he earned a degree in architecture in 1973.{{cite magazine|url=https://alumni.liv.ac.uk/media/livacuk/alumni-giving/alumnimagazine/alumni-magazine-2017.pdf |title=Alumni Profile: Anton Lesser|magazine=University of Liverpool Alumni|date=2017|access-date=8 October 2024}}

Lesser went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1974 until 1976, and on graduation in 1977{{cite web |title=Anton Lesser - RADA |url=https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/anton-lesser/ |website=Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |access-date=15 August 2019}} was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year. His final performance there was as Gethin Price in Comedians by Trevor Griffiths.{{cite web |last1=Smurthwaite |first1=Nick |title=Actor Anton Lesser: 'I'd much rather be here than stuck halfway up a mountain' |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/interviews/2019/anton-lesser-interview-game-thrones-pope/ |website=The Stage |access-date=15 August 2019 |date=28 May 2019|url-access =registration }}

Lesser was spotted in Comedians and offered a contract by the casting director for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

As an associate artist with the RSC, Lesser played many of Shakespeare's great roles. In the BBC Television Shakespeare productions he was Troilus (Troilus and Cressida), Edgar (King Lear), and Feste (Twelfth Night). On stage, he has portrayed Romeo (a titular character in his play), Prince Hamlet (the titular character of his play), Brutus (Julius Caesar), Petruchio (The Taming of the Shrew), Richard III (the titular character of his play), and others.{{Cite web |title=Anton Lesser |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0504320/otherworks |access-date=2023-03-06 |website=IMDb}}{{better source|date=November 2024}}

When he moved down to London, the reviews were less flattering than he had become accustomed to at the RSC. However he continued to win roles on stage, including as Stanley in Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, Rover in Wild Oats and Brutus in Deborah Warner's Julius Caesar in 2005.

Lesser is a frequent radio contributor and played the title role in the BBC Radio adaptations of the first five Marcus Didius Falco mysteries by Lindsey Davis. He has also recorded many audiobooks, including much of the work of Charles Dickens. His recording of Great Expectations won him a Talkie Award. Other books range from John Milton's Paradise Lost, Homer and Rumi{{Cite web |last=Arnold |first=Sue |date=2007-12-01 |title=Verse yourself in Rumi's words |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/dec/01/featuresreviews.guardianreview33 |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=The Guardian |language=en}} to contemporary novels by Robert Harris (Fatherland) and Philip Pullman. For two months in 2013, Lesser was 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.{{Cite web |last=Delaney |first=Zoe |date=2021-09-20 |title=Endeavour star Anton Lesser's secretly famous daughter who appears alongside him |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/endeavour-star-anton-lessers-secretly-25027155 |access-date=2023-03-06 |website=mirror |language=en}}

In 2013, during the third season of the HBO Max series Game of Thrones, Lesser began playing the recurring role of Qyburn, an enigmatic mad scientist who served as part of the retinue of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). Qyburn, and Lesser's portrayal of him, were popular with fans, particularly as the series went on and the character appeared more frequently and had greater influence over the narrative.{{cite web |last=Shepherd |first=Jack |website=The Independent |date=13 June 2016 |access-date=22 September 2023 |title=Game of Thrones season 6 episode 8: What rumour does Qyburn confirm for Cersei? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/game-of-thrones-season-6-episode-8-what-is-the-rumour-qyburn-confirms-for-cersei-is-she-looking-for-wildfire-a7079166.html}}{{cite web |last=Han |first=Karen |date=7 May 2019 |access-date=22 September 2023 |title=Qyburn is playing the long game (of thrones) |website=Polygon |url=https://www.polygon.com/game-of-thrones/2019/5/7/18534500/game-of-thrones-season-8-episode-4-qyburn-maester-wildfire}} The Ringer described him as "the last curious man in Westeros" and noted that the character "refuses to seem like a MacGuffin, despite totally being one."{{Cite web |last=Siquig |first=Alex |title=In Praise of Qyburn, Westeros's Resident Freak |url=https://www.theringer.com/game-of-thrones/2019/4/19/18485051/qyburn-game-of-thrones-praise-season-8 |website=The Ringer |date=19 April 2019 |access-date=22 September 2023}} The character returned across the remainder of the series run until the penultimate episode in 2019; Qyburn was one of the characters who perished in the episode, which led to many fans producing memes about his abrupt death.{{cite web |last=Taylor |first=Jordyn |website=Men's Health |date=13 May 2019 |access-date=22 September 2023 |url=https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a27451206/qyburn-death-game-of-thrones/ |title=How Fans Reacted to Qyburn's Death on Game of Thrones}}

In 2015, Lesser was announced as a public supporter of Chapel Lane Theatre Company based in Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom.{{cite news |url=http://chapellanetc.tumblr.com/post/110544744482/chapel-lane-theatre-is-delighted-to-announce |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402115733/http://chapellanetc.tumblr.com/post/110544744482/chapel-lane-theatre-is-delighted-to-announce |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-04-02 |title=New Supporter - Anton Lesser! |first=Thom |last=Harvey-Ball |website=Chapel Lane Theatre Company |access-date=21 March 2023}}

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.{{Cite web |last=Fabrique |title=BAFTA TV awards for RADA alumni — RADA |url=https://www.rada.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-press/bafta-tv-awards-rada-alumni/ |access-date=2023-03-06 |website=www.rada.ac.uk |language=en-gb}}

In 2022, Lesser played Major Partagaz, a supporting antagonist in the Star Wars spinoff Andor. His performance of Partagaz, a ranking member of the Empire's intelligence agency, the Imperial Security Bureau, was noted by critics. Digital Spy noted that Lesser delivered dialogue on Imperial bureaucracy with "powerful coolness."{{cite web |last=Griffiths |first=Al |title=What Andor gets right that the Star Wars prequel trilogy got wrong |website=Digital Spy |access-date=22 September 2023 |date=29 September 2022 |url=https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a41442590/andor-disney-plus-star-wars-prequel-trilogy-episode-4/ |language=en-gb}}

With his wife Madeleine Adams, Lesser has two children. His daughter Lilit Lesser is also an actor.{{cite news|last=Block |first=India |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/wolf-hall-the-mirror-and-the-light-cast-mark-rylance-damian-lewis-b1192891.html |title=Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light: which actors are playing famous characters from history? |newspaper=Evening Standard |date=8 November 2024}}

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• Romeo and Juliet Romeo, 1980, RSC
• Hamlet Hamlet, 1982, Donmar Warehouse, London
• Troilus and Cressida Troilus, 1981, RSC
• The Plantagenets (Henry VI, part 1–3 and Richard III) Richard III, 1988, RSC
• Two Shakespearean Actors Edwin Forrest, 1990, RSC
• Richard II Henry Bullingbrook,as spelled in The life and death of Richard II programme by the Royal Shakespeare Theatre 1990 1990, RSC
• The Taming of the Shrew Petruchio, 1992, RSC
• The Merry Wives of Windsor Frank Ford, 1992, RSC
• 'Art' Serge, 1997, Wyndham's Theatre, London
• Private Lives Elyot, 1999, Lyttelton Theatre, London
• Cymbeline Iachimo, 2003, RSC
• Julius Caesar Marcus Brutus, 2005, Barbican, London
• The Winter's Tale Leontes, 2006, RSC
• The Vertical Hour Oliver Lucas, 2008, Royal Court Theatre, London
• A Doll's House Dr. Rank, 2009, Donmar Warehouse, London
• Hamlet Ghost, 2025, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon

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• {{IMDb name|504320|Anton Lesser}}

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Lesser Anton

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century English male actors

Category:21st-century English male actors

Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Category:Alumni of the University of Liverpool

Category:English male film actors

Category:English male Shakespearean actors

Category:English male stage actors

Category:English male television actors

Category:English male voice actors

Category:Jewish English male actors

Category:Male actors from Birmingham, West Midlands

Category:People educated at Moseley School

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