Freddie Fox (actor)
{{short description|British actor (born 1989)}}
{{EngvarB|date=December 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Freddie Fox
| image = Fox Telegraph Magazine 2019.jpg
| caption = Fox in 2020
| birth_name = Frederick Samson Robert Morice Fox
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1989|04|05|df=y}}
| birth_place = London, England
| occupation = Actor
| years_active = 2009–present
| education = Guildhall School of Music and Drama (BA)
| father = Edward Fox
| mother = Joanna David
| relatives = Emilia Fox (sister)
| family = Fox
}}
Frederick Samson Robert Morice Fox (born 5 April 1989) is an English film and stage actor. His prominent screen performances include roles as singer Marilyn in the BBC's Boy George biopic Worried About the Boy (2010), Freddie Baxter in series Cucumber (2015) and Banana (2015), Jeremy Bamber in White House Farm (2020) and Spider Webb in Slow Horses (2022-2023).
His theatre credits include starring as Simon Bliss in Hay Fever (2012) at the Noël Coward Theatre; as Oscar Wilde's young lover Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas in The Judas Kiss (2012–2013) at the Hampstead Theatre, during a UK tour, and in a West End transfer; as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (2015) at the Sheffield Crucible and in Kenneth Branagh's 2016 production at the Garrick Theatre; as Tristan Tzara in Travesties (2016–2017) at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Apollo Theatre; as Lord Goring in An Ideal Husband (2018) at the Vaudeville Theatre; and as Edmond Rostand in Edmond de Bergerac (2019) at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and during a UK tour.
Fox appeared on the big screen in The Three Musketeers (2011), The Riot Club (2014), Pride (2014), Victor Frankenstein (2015), King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017), Black '47 (2018) and Fanny Lye Deliver'd (2019).
Early life and education
{{see also|Robin Fox family}}
Frederick Samson Robert Morice Fox{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Riggs|title=Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television: A Biographical Guide Featuring Performers, Directors, Writers, Producers, Designers, Managers, Choreographers, Technicians, Composers, Executives, Dancers and Critics in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOZkAAAAMAAJ|volume=68|date=March 2006|publisher=Cengage Gale|isbn=978-0-7876-9041-0|page=71}} was born on 5 April 1989 in Hammersmith, London. He was raised between London and the family home in Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset and was surrounded by actors and writers from a young age.{{Cite web|date=8 September 2015|title=Freddie Fox on playing Romeo|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/freddie-fox-playing-romeo-appeal-gangster-films-and-nature-vs-nurture-10491967.html|access-date=2 December 2020|website=The Independent}}{{Cite web|date=14 May 2010|title=The Freddie Fox Club|url=http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/the-freddie-fox-club-6469652.html|access-date=29 November 2020|website=Evening Standard}}
He is the son of actress Joanna David (née Joanna Elizabeth Hacking) and actor Edward Fox. He is the younger brother of actress Emilia Fox and the half-brother of Lucy Arabella Preston (the Viscountess Gormanston),{{Cite web|title=Actor Freddie Fox and sister Lucy Fox the Viscountess Gormanston...|url=http://www.wireimage.com/celebrity-pictures/Actor-Freddie-Fox-and-sister-Lucy-Fox-the-Viscountess-Gormanston/111092537|access-date=29 July 2021|website=wireimage.com}} the grandson of actress Angela Worthington Fox and theatrical agent Robin Fox, and the great-grandson of the playwright Frederick Lonsdale. He is the nephew of producer Robert Fox and actor James Fox, and a cousin to actors Laurence, Jack and Lydia Fox. He was named after Fred Zinnemann, who directed his father in The Day of the Jackal,{{Cite news|last=Paton|first=Maureen|date=5 November 2017|title=Freddie Fox: 'I was drawn to gay roles – I found them enticing'|work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/freddie-fox-drawn-gay-roles-found-enticing/|access-date=23 August 2021|issn=0307-1235}} and after his great-great-grandfather Victorian industrialist Samson Fox, who invented the corrugated boiler flue and built Harrogate's former Kursaal now known as the Royal Hall.{{Cite web|date=4 May 2012|title=Fox family actors return to great-grandfather's glittering Yorkshire hall|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2012/may/04/edwardfox-emiliafox-harrogate-royalhall-yorkshire|access-date=29 July 2021|website=The Guardian}} Asked if he believes in his acting gene, he said, "I used not to until my sister Milly was on the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?" where they discovered the thespian thread goes back 100 years.{{Cite web|date=8 September 2012|title=Freddie Fox: 'I liked throwing the toys out of my pram'|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/sep/09/freddie-fox-bosie-judas-kiss-interview|access-date=29 July 2021|website=The Guardian}}{{Cite web|title=Emilia Fox|url=https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/episode/emilia-fox/|access-date=29 July 2021|website=Who Do You Think You Are Magazine}}
From 1994 to 2002, Fox was educated at Arnold House School,{{cite web|url=http://issuu.com/urbanjuice/docs/49618_winter_assembly_newsletter_2012_a4_6pp_v9|title=ISSUU Arnold House School Winter Assembly Newsletter (page 6)|work=Arnold House School|date=Winter 2012|access-date=19 October 2014}} a preparatory school for boys in the St John's Wood area of London, where he was head boy. He was prefect during secondary school at Bryanston School, a boarding school in Dorset where he perfected his elocution and overcame fairly serious dyslexia. During his time there, he portrayed a headmaster in A Risky Business, a play written especially for him by a classics master.{{Cite web|last=The Telegraph|first=The|date=10 January 2020|title='I was told to think carefully about doing it': Freddie Fox on portraying Jeremy Bamber, the murderer still protesting his innocence|url=https://headtopics.com/uk/i-was-told-to-think-carefully-about-doing-it-freddie-fox-on-portraying-jeremy-bamber-the-murdere-10635899|access-date=29 July 2021|website=Head Topics}}{{Cite web|title=Bryanston Welcomes Industry Experts and Obs for Drama Careers Day|url=https://www.bryanston.co.uk/news/?pid=1083&nid=21&storyid=1329|access-date=30 July 2021|website=Bryanston School}}
He then attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and graduated in 2010.{{cite web |url=http://www.gsmd.ac.uk/acting/final_year_actors/graduates_2009_10/freddie_fox/ |title=Guildhall School of Music & Drama: Freddie Fox |publisher=Gsmd.ac.uk |access-date=16 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207070017/http://www.gsmd.ac.uk/acting/final_year_actors/graduates_2009_10/freddie_fox/ |archive-date=7 December 2013 |url-status=dead }} His drama teachers praised his talent for acting.
Career
=Beginnings=
Fox's first screen appearance was at age seven as an extra in the 1997 TV adaptation of Rebecca. In 2009, he appeared in St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold as head boy and in Agatha Christie's Marple as Tom Savage. In 2010, he starred as Jamie in the musical The Last Five Years at the Silk Street Theatre and, after a sell-out success, at the Barbican Pit Theatre.
=2010–2015: ''Worried About the Boy'', ''Cucumber'', ''Banana''=
Fox starred in his first breakthrough role as the androgynous 1980s pop star Marilyn in Worried About The Boy based on the life of the singer Boy George.{{Cite web|title=BBC – Press Office – Worried About The Boy press pack: Freddie Fox plays Marilyn|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/05_may/10/boy6.shtml|access-date=30 July 2021|publisher=BBC}} He appeared as Peter Scabius in Any Human Heart and as Guy Wells in Rosamunde Pilcher's Shades of Love. He played cleft-palated Camille Chandebise in A Flea in Her Ear at The Old Vic,{{Cite web|title=A Flea in Her Ear|url=http://www.oldvictheatre.com/whats-on/2010/a-flea-in-her-ear|access-date=3 August 2021|website=The Old Vic}} Tony Davenport in the stage play revival of Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic, and Ratallack in The Shadow Line.
His international film debut came through his role as King Louis XIII of France in The Three Musketeers (2011). In 2012, he played the title role in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. He appeared in Lewis as Sebastian Dromgoole and in Tom Stoppard's critically acclaimed period drama Parade's End as Edward Wannop. He then played Simon Bliss in Hay Fever at the Noël Coward Theatre and made an early career impact as Oscar Wilde's young lover Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas in The Judas Kiss (2012–2013) at the Hampstead Theatre, during a UK tour, and in its West End transfer. Fox voiced Prince Louis of Battenberg in Margy Kinmonth's Royal Paintbox with HRH The Prince of Wales featuring the artworks of the British royal family across centuries.{{Cite web|date=12 March 2013|title=Freddie Fox reads Prince Louis |url=https://www.foxtrotfilms.com/freddie-fox-reads-prince-louis/|access-date=6 August 2021}} He also starred as Sandy Irvine in Words of Everest.
In Lone Scherfig's The Riot Club (2014) Fox played James Leighton-Masters, the outgoing president of the ten-member elite Oxford University club. Based on Laura Wade's hit play Posh, it tackles class and social structure as a commentary on the Bullingdon Club.{{Cite web|date=27 March 2015|title=The Riot Club Review: Debauchery Breeds Contempt|url=https://collider.com/the-riot-club-review-douglas-booth/|access-date=30 July 2021|website=Collider}}{{Cite web|last=Rooney|first=David|date=6 September 2014|title='The Riot Club': Toronto Review|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/riot-club-toronto-review-730703/|access-date=30 July 2021|website=The Hollywood Reporter}} He appeared as Jeff Cole in the critically acclaimed historical comedy-drama Pride and starred in Anthony Fabian's Freeze-Frame (2014) commissioned by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to promote collaboration between China and UK's film industries.{{Cite web|title=Great British Online Film Festival goes live in China|url=https://www.thatsmags.com/china/post/7238/great-british-online-film-festival|access-date=31 July 2021|website=That's Online}}
In 2015, he played the breakout 'bisexual nympho' Freddie Baxter in the Channel 4 hit series Cucumber, a role which he reprised in E4's Banana, and appeared as himself in Tofu. Both Cucumber and Banana were nominated for the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series in 2016.{{Cite web|last=Skinner|first=Oliver|date=22 April 2015|title=Freddie Fox Opens Up: The 'Cucumber' Breakout on Sex, Typecasting and What Happens Next|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2015/04/freddie-fox-opens-up-the-cucumber-breakout-on-sex-typecasting-and-what-happens-next-215432/|access-date=30 July 2021|website=IndieWire}}{{Cite web|last=Curtis|first=Nick|date=14 January 2015|title='My relationships have been with women until this point but it does|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/my-relationships-have-been-with-women-until-this-point-but-it-does-not-mean-they-will-be-for-the-rest-of-my-life-freddie-fox-on-sex-and-sexuality-9976958.html|access-date=29 July 2021|website=Evening Standard}}{{Cite web|title=Interview {{!}} Cucumber's Freddie Fox |date=14 February 2017 |url=https://www.thegayuk.com/interview-cucumbers-freddie-fox/|access-date=30 July 2021}} i-D said of Fox, "you can't deny he's a connoisseur at picking the parts which have maximum impact." Fox then played the wealthy aristocrat Finnegan, the benefactor of the title character's Prometheus creation in Victor Frankenstein.
= 2015–2017: ''Romeo and Juliet'', ''Travesties'', ''Dennis and Gnasher: Unleashed!'' =
In June 2016, he was announced as third prize winner at the 2015 Ian Charleson Awards, having played the role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (2015) to great acclaim at the Sheffield Crucible.{{Cite web|date=24 June 2016|title=Ian Charleson Awards 2015|url=https://www.westendtheatre.com/49778/awards/ian-charleson-awards-2015/|access-date=4 August 2021|website=westendtheatre.com}} His proficiency with the role led him to be called into service again as Romeo in Kenneth Branagh's 2016 production at the Garrick Theatre on short notice when the preceding Romeo and his understudy were both injured. With just a 2-day rehearsal after he was cast, Fox took over the role on 26 July and performed it until the end of the play's run on 13 August, garnering rave reviews and impressing cast and crew.Longman, Will. [http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/richard-madden-withdraws-romeo-and-juliet_41431.html "Richard Madden will not return to Kenneth Branagh's Romeo and Juliet"]. WhatsOnStage.com. 3 August 2016.{{Cite web|last=Luckhurst|first=Phoebe|date=1 August 2016|title=How Freddie Fox's Romeo came to the rescue in real life West End drama|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/how-freddie-fox-came-to-the-rescue-in-the-west-end-s-latest-drama-a3306626.html|access-date=29 July 2021|website=Evening Standard}} He then starred in The Northleach Horror as the maverick scientist Whitsuntide{{Cite web|title=The Northleach Horror|url=https://www.plumfilms.co.uk/the-northleach-horror/|access-date=4 August 2021|website=Plum Films}} and led the cast of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Southwark Playhouse as Nick Bottom / Demetrius.{{Cite web|title=Freddie Fox to star in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Southwark |url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/freddie-fox-midsummer-nights-dream-southwark-playhouse_40149.html|access-date=4 August 2021|website=whatsonstage.com|date=8 April 2016}}
He performed as poet Tristan Tzara, one of the founders and central figures of the Dada movement, in Tom Stoppard's Travesties from September until November 2016 at the Menier Chocolate Factory, the play being listed in The Arts Desk's Best of 2016: Theatre.{{Cite web|date=27 December 2016|title=Best of 2016: Theatre|url=https://theartsdesk.com/theatre/best-2016-theatre|access-date=6 August 2021|website=theartsdesk.com}} The following year, it ran for a West End revival from February to April 2017 at the Apollo Theatre to widespread acclaim, subsequently earning Fox nominations at the Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the WhatsOnStage Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Play.{{Cite web|date=20 February 2017|title=Whatsonstage Awards – Winners 2017 |url=https://www.westendtheatre.com/51114/awards/whatsonstage-awards-winners-2017/|access-date=30 July 2021|website=westendtheatre.com}}{{Cite web|title=Travesties – 2017 West End – Backstage & Production Info|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/shows/backstage.php?showid=331733|access-date=29 July 2021|website=broadwayworld.com}}{{Cite web|title=West End Travesties Star Freddie Fox on How Stoppard Makes You Smarter, John Hurt's Words of Wisdom & Not Going Hollywood|url=https://www.broadway.com/buzz/187626/west-end-travesties-star-freddie-fox-on-how-stoppard-makes-you-smarter-john-hurts-words-of-wisdom-not-going-hollywood/|access-date=29 July 2021|website=Broadway.com}}
He then voiced Dennis in the animated series Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed!, in its launch becoming the highest-rated animated show on CBBC for 6 to 12 year olds and one of the top 10 shows for kids across all channels.{{Cite web|date=7 July 2020|title=Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! returns for season two|url=https://toyworldmag.co.uk/dennis-gnasher-unleashed-returns-for-season-two/|access-date=4 August 2021|website=Toy World Magazine}} Its first season received nominations at the 2018 British Animation Awards as Best Children's Series,{{Cite web|date=17 January 2018|title=Finalists Announced for 2018 British Animation Awards|url=https://www.skwigly.co.uk/finalists-announced-2018-british-animation-awards/|access-date=4 August 2021|website=Skwigly Animation Magazine}} the 2019 Kidscreen Awards as Best Animated Series,{{Cite web|date=13 December 2018|title=Kidscreen Awards 2019 Shortlist Announcement|url=https://www.skwigly.co.uk/kidscreen-awards-2019-shortlist-announcement/|access-date=4 August 2021|website=Skwigly Animation Magazine}} and the 2018 International Emmy Kids Awards in the Animation category.{{Cite web|title=2018 INTERNATIONAL EMMY® KIDS AWARDS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED – International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences|url=https://www.iemmys.tv/2018-international-emmy-kids-awards-nominees-announced/|access-date=4 August 2021}} He then appeared as Rubio in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) directed by Guy Ritchie. Fox played key scenes as Mr. Sloane in Joe Orton Laid Bare, voiced a character/s in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, and voiced Corvin in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
=2018–2019: ''The Ice King'', ''An Ideal Husband'', ''Hero'', ''Edmond de Bergerac'', ''Fanny Lye Deliver'd''=
In February 2018, Fox starred as the British Commander Pope in Black '47, Ireland's first historical film on the Great Famine of 1847.{{Cite web|date=28 September 2018|title=Black '47 |website=Film Threat|url=https://filmthreat.com/reviews/black-47/|access-date=30 July 2021}} Released in the same month at the CPH:DOX to great acclaim was James Erskine's The Ice King narrated by Fox which profiles the life of John Curry who revolutionised ice skating from a dated sport into an exalted art form and became the first openly gay Olympian.{{Citation|title=The Ice King (2018)|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_ice_king|access-date=4 August 2021}} Little White Lies remarks, "Fox affects Curry's distinctive accent with remarkable accuracy."{{Cite web|title=The Ice King review – 'Beautiful and graceful'|url=https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-ice-king/|access-date=4 August 2021|website=Little White Lies}} In An Ideal Husband, which ran from May to July 2018 at the Vaudeville Theatre to critical acclaim, Freddie starred with his father Edward for the first time playing fictional father and son the Earl of Caversham and Lord Goring.{{Cite web|last=Mountford|first=Fiona|date=4 May 2018|title=Fantastic Foxes offer a Wilde West End delight in An Ideal Husband|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/an-ideal-husband-review-fantastic-foxes-team-up-for-a-wilde-west-end-delight-a3831001.html|access-date=30 July 2021|website=Evening Standard}} According to Financial Times, Freddie "effortlessly delivers that mix of insouciance and gravity"{{Cite web|title=An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde on stage in London from 20 April through to 14 July 2018 – theatre tickets and information|url=http://www.thisistheatre.com/londonshows/anidealhusband.html#1914|access-date=4 August 2021|website=thisistheatre.com}} and, for The Telegraph,"embodies the Wildean spirit of modernity".{{Cite news|last=Cavendish|first=Dominic|date=4 May 2018|title=An Ideal Husband at Vaudeville Theatre, review – a brilliant Freddie Fox embodies the Wildean spirit of modernity|work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/ideal-husband-vaudeville-theatre-review-brilliant-freddie/|access-date=6 August 2021|issn=0307-1235}}
In the same year was his directorial debut through the short film Hero (2018), which he co-wrote and co-produced, centred on an isolated young boy and a decaying old film star brought together by their shared love of the silver screen. It premiered in August at the Rhode Island International Film Festival where he won the Grand Prize (Short) for Directorial Discovery Award.{{Cite web|title=2018 RIIFF Awards|url=http://www.film-festival.org/award18.php|access-date=29 July 2021|website=film-festival.org}} It was subsequently selected at the Kerry Film Festival and the Linea d'Ombra Film Festival,{{Cite web|title=19 years of the Kerry Film Festival|url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerryman/entertainment/19-years-of-the-kerry-film-festival-37402454.html|access-date=4 August 2021|website=The independent|date=12 October 2018}}{{Cite web|title=Hero – Linea d'Ombra Festival|url=https://www.lineadombrafestival.it/2018/en/eventi/hero/|access-date=4 August 2021|website=lineadombrafestival.it}} and released on Amazon UK and ITunes in multiple countries in November 2019.{{Cite web|title=Watch Hero|url=https://www.amazon.com/Hero-Charles-Dance/dp/B07ZX73JZY|access-date=4 August 2021|publisher=Amazon}}{{Citation|title=Hero on iTunes|date=4 January 2018 |url=https://itunes.apple.com/gb/movie/hero/id1485711638|access-date=4 August 2021}}
In 2019, he headlined the English production of Edmond de Bergerac playing the titular role playwright Edmond Rostand at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre before touring the UK to great acclaim. The Guardian raved that as Edmond, Fox is "by turns a jangle of nerves, a lead weight of despondency and a blaze of success."{{Cite web|date=24 March 2019|title=Edmond de Bergerac review – all the fun of the farce|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/mar/24/edmond-de-bergerac-birmingham-rep-henry-goodman-freddie-fox-cyrano|access-date=4 August 2021|website=The Guardian}}{{Cite web|title=Review: Edmond de Bergerac (Birmingham Rep)|url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/birmingham-theatre/reviews/edmond-de-bergerac-rep-freddie-fox_48745.html|access-date=4 August 2021|website=whatsonstage.com|date=22 March 2019}}{{Cite web|last=Marcolina|first=Cindy|title=BWW Review: Edmond de Bergerac, Richmond Theatre|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/BWW-Review-EDMOND-DE-BERGERAC-Richmond-Theatre-20190501|access-date=6 August 2021|website=BroadwayWorld.com}} Fox then voiced Captain Holly in Watership Down{{Cite web|last=admin|date=22 December 2018|title=Freddie Fox Talks About BBC's Watership Down|url=https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/freddie-fox-talks-about-bbcs-watership-down/|access-date=21 August 2021|website=TRIPWIRE MAGAZINE}} and played the characters Jokannen, Dorian Gray, and Lord Goring in The Importance of Being Oscar.{{Cite web|title=The Importance of Being Oscar|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/hvy7yx/the-importance-of-being-oscar/|access-date=4 August 2021|website=Radio Times|archive-date=4 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804073544/https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/hvy7yx/the-importance-of-being-oscar/|url-status=dead}} He starred as Detective Sargeant Wilbur Strauss in the highly rated Victorian comedy Year of the Rabbit, which he described as his "first real comedy show" and "a total lesson in improvised and situational comedy" that he had never had before.{{Cite web|date=4 June 2019|title=Interview: Freddie Fox on Year of the Rabbit|url=https://www.beyondthejoke.co.uk/content/7262/interview-freddie-fox|access-date=1 August 2021|website=Beyond The Joke}} He also rendered dramatic performances in "The Class Ceiling" episode of Novels That Shaped Our World. Thomas Clay's Fanny Lye Deliver'd then premiered to positive reviews as a new cult classic set in 1657 Shropshire where Fox played Thomas Ashbury.{{Cite web|last=Guerin|first=Harry|title=Freddie Fox on a new cult classic, Fanny Lye Deliver'd|url=https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2020/0627/1150088-freddie-fox-on-a-new-cult-classic-fanny-lye-deliverd/ |date=27 June 2020 |access-date=4 September 2022 |publisher=RTE}}{{Cite web|date=26 June 2020|title=Freddie Fox: 'Someone may do or say arrogant things, but that's not who they are'|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/26/freddie-fox-someone-may-do-or-say-twattish-things-but-thats-not-who-they-are|access-date=30 July 2021|website=The Guardian}}{{Cite web|last=Grater|first=Tom|date=8 October 2019|title=The Winding Journey of Puritan Western 'Fanny Lye Deliver'd': On-Set Flooding, Three Years in Post, And A Determined Director|url=https://deadline.com/2019/10/inside-story-uk-drama-fanny-lye-deliverd-flooding-three-years-post-determined-director-1202753825/|access-date=30 July 2021|website=Deadline}} The Independent said that he "gives Thomas a flash of predatory charisma,"{{Cite web|date=24 June 2020|title=English folk horror Fanny Lye Deliver'd feels busy and overworked – review|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/fanny-lye-deliverd-review-cast-director-maxine-peak-english-folk-horror-a9582911.html|access-date=30 July 2021|website=The Independent}} and according to The Irish News, "preaches 'perfect libertinism' in captivating sermons".{{Cite web|last=Smith|first=Damon|date=25 June 2020|title=Film review: Thomas Clay's Fanny Lye Deliver'd isn't averse to drawing blood|url=http://www.irishnews.com/arts/2020/06/25/news/film-review-thomas-clay-s-fanny-lye-deliver-d-isn-t-averse-to-drawing-blood-1982057/|access-date=30 July 2021|website=The Irish News}}
= 2020–present: ''White House Farm'' =
At the start of 2020, Fox delivered a persuasive performance in his role as the convicted mass murderer Jeremy Bamber in the ITV crime drama White House Farm based on the White House Farm murders in August 1985.{{Cite web|title=Rake in Progress: Freddie Fox|url=https://therake.com/stories/rake-progress-freddie-fox/|access-date=30 July 2021|website=therake.com}} In preparation, he created a psychology as convincing and enigmatic as the character should be "to leave the viewer asking questions".{{Cite web|title=Making a murderer: Freddie Fox on his new role as Jeremy Bamber|url=https://theface.com/culture/freddie-fox-actor-white-house-farm-itv-jeremy-bamber|access-date=8 August 2021|website=The Face|date=6 January 2020}} The London Evening Standard praised Fox's "ambiguous, wide-eyed look that hovers between angelic and devious, that it's hard to know whether to feel sympathy or suspicion."{{Cite web|last=Pavia|first=Lucy|date=8 January 2020|title=ITV's White House Farm is skilfully cast and carefully handled|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/white-house-farm-review-itv-a4329401.html|access-date=30 July 2021|website=Evening Standard}} The Times remarked that he managed to be both "revealing and inscrutable, which can't be easy."{{Cite news|last=Midgley|first=Carol|title=White House Farm review – a masterful portrait of a cold, arrogant killer|newspaper=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/white-house-farm-review-a-masterful-portrait-of-a-cold-arrogant-killer-twd0r2s85|access-date=30 July 2021|issn=0140-0460}} The series won as Best New Drama at the 2020 TV Choice Awards{{Cite web|title=2020 WINNERS|url=https://awards.tvchoicemagazine.co.uk/2020-winners|access-date=29 July 2021|website=TV Choice Awards}} leading to its international release on HBO Max in September 2020 and on Netflix in February 2021. Subsequently, he appeared on his co-star Cressida Bonas' podcast Fear Itself, where he expressed his fear of not reaching his full potential.{{Cite web|title=Fear of Not Reaching Your Full Potential with Freddie Fox|url=https://otocbd.com/journal/post/fear-itself-episode-4-the-fear-of-not-reaching-your-full-potential-with-freddie-fox|access-date=29 July 2021|website=otocbd.com}}{{Cite web|title=Fear of Not Reaching Your Full Potential with Freddie Fox|url=https://otocbd.com/journal/post/fear-itself-episode-4-the-fear-of-not-reaching-your-full-potential-with-freddie-fox|access-date=13 October 2021|website=otocbd.com}}{{Cite web|title=Fear Itself Podcast With Cressida Bonas – OTO|url=https://otocbd.com/journal/category/fear-itself|access-date=13 October 2021|website=otocbd.com|archive-date=23 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923123141/https://otocbd.com/journal/category/fear-itself|url-status=dead}}
In the same year, Fox guest-starred as the alcoholic busker Miles Stevens in McDonald & Dodds and as King Hugo of Sweden in Hulu's critically acclaimed comedy-drama series The Great (2020). He reprised his voice-over role as Dennis in the second season of Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! from which select episodes were condensed into the film Dennis and Gnasher: Unleashed! On the Big Screen.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} He then portrayed Margaret Thatcher's son Mark Thatcher in season 4 of the award-winning Netflix historical drama series The Crown (2020).{{Cite web|last=Rathe|first=Adam|date=22 November 2020|title=What Happened When Margaret Thatcher's Son Mark Went Missing?|url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a34655902/mark-thatcher-missing-the-crown-freddie-fox-interview/|access-date=30 July 2021|website=Town & Country}}
In 2021, Fox opened The Golden Era of Broadway episode of The Theatre Channel, singing an arrangement of "Willkommen" and "Money" from Cabaret,{{Cite web|date=1 March 2021|title=The Theatre Channel- Episode 5: The Classics of Broadway|url=https://northwestend.com/?p=2295|access-date=5 August 2021|website=North West End UK}} and starred as Tony Kroesig, a Bullingdon club member and aristocrat banker turned politician, in The Pursuit of Love.
In April 2023, it was announced that Fox had been cast as Ser Gwayne Hightower in the second season of House of the Dragon.{{cite news|last1=Moreau|first1=Jordan |title='House of the Dragon' Casts Alys Rivers and Three More Characters|url=https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/house-of-the-dragon-alys-rivers-season-2-1235592500/|work=Variety |date=24 April 2023}}
In March 2025, it was announced that he had been cast as a villain in the fifteenth series of Doctor Who.{{cite news|last1=Jeffery |first1=Morgan|title=Doctor Who first look confirms House of the Dragon star as mysterious new villain|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-freddie-fox-newsupdate/|work=Radio Times|date=6 March 2025}}
Philanthropy
Fox is a patron of the St Giles Trust{{Cite web|title=Patrons|url=https://www.stgilestrust.org.uk/who-we-are/patrons/|access-date=3 August 2021|website=St Giles}} and Future 5 – a campaign by Prostate Cancer Research Centre.{{Cite web|date=27 October 2018|title=Future 5: A campaign to raise £5m|url=https://www.prostate-cancer-research.org.uk/future-5-celebs-support-pcrc/|access-date=6 August 2021|website=Prostate Cancer Research}} He is also an honorary vice president of the Story of Christmas Appeal.{{Cite web|title=People|url=https://www.socappeal.com/people/|access-date=5 August 2021|website=The Story of Christmas|date=18 August 2014 }} In March 2015, he became the face of Live Below The Line.{{Cite web|last=Edmonds|first=Lizzie|date=3 March 2015|title=Freddie Fox plans to throw a dinner party despite living on £1 a day|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/freddie-fox-plans-to-throw-a-dinner-party-despite-living-on-ps5-a-day-as-the-face-of-live-below-the-line-10082070.html|access-date=5 August 2021|website=Evening Standard}} An avid runner himself, he supported the St James's Place Foundation Triathlon and Duathlon in 2016 which raised £1.3m for Hope and Homes for Children. He was involved with the charity when he visited orphanages in Rwanda in 2015 and in Uganda in 2018 which he wrote about in a two-part blog entry, "Love is Everything—Freddie Fox in Uganda".{{Cite web|last=Monti|first=Adrian|date=8 September 2016|title=I'm a runner: Freddie Fox|url=http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/training/motivation/a775182/im-a-runner-freddie-fox/|access-date=29 July 2021|website=Runner's World}}{{Cite web|title=Love Is Everything – Freddie Fox in Uganda – Part 1|url=https://www.hopeandhomes.org/blog-article/freddie-fox-uganda-part-1/|access-date=29 July 2021|website=Hope and Homes for Children}}{{Cite web|title=Love Is Everything – Freddie Fox in Uganda – Part 2|url=https://www.hopeandhomes.org/blog-article/freddie-fox-uganda-part-2/|access-date=29 July 2021|website=Hope and Homes for Children}} He is a frequent supporter and reader at fundraising activities and charity events of The Poetry Hour, Breast Cancer Now, the Brain Tumour Research Campaign, The Story of Christmas Appeal, and The National Brain Appeal among others.{{Cite web|title=The Poetry Hour|url=http://18.206.147.188/readers/freddie-fox|access-date=1 August 2021|website=18.206.147.188}}{{Cite web|date=18 December 2017|title=BTRC Christmas Celebration raises £23K!|url=https://btrc-charity.org/news/christmas-celebration/|access-date=1 August 2021|website=Brain Tumour Research Campaign}}{{Cite web|title=Freddie Fox|url=https://www.nationalbrainappeal.org/divi_overlay/freddie-fox/|access-date=1 August 2021|website=National Brain Appeal}}{{Cite web|title=The Story of Christmas 2020 YouTube Main Video|url=https://www.socappeal.com/the-story-of-christmas-2020-main-video-via-youtube/|access-date=5 August 2021|website=The Story of Christmas|date=16 December 2020 }}{{Cite web|last=ChurchSW1X 8SH 7pm|first=St Paul's|date=5 June 2015|title=Carols by Candlelight|url=https://breastcancernow.org/get-involved/social-events/carols-candlelight-london|access-date=5 August 2021|website=Breast Cancer Now}} In 2020, he participated in a charity reading of Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound that was produced by Lockdown Theatre in association with The Royal Theatrical Fund.{{Cite web|title=Lockdown Theatre,in association with the Royal Theatrical Fund,presents|url=https://www.trtf.com/blog/2020/10/14/ndnncacz5fwej9sxhdmiai4kc3156n|access-date=5 August 2021|website=The Royal Theatrical Fund}} In 2021, he performed with Alfie Boe on a global livestream concert, Alfie Boe & Friends Live at the Savoy "Lockdown Edition", which sold tickets to donate to Hospitality Action and the Connection at St. Martin's.{{Cite web|date=1 April 2021|title=Alfie Boe OBE and eMusic Live Launch New Livestream Event: Alfie Boe & Friends Live at the Savoy 'Lockdown Edition'|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210331006032/en/Alfie-Boe-OBE-and-eMusic-Live-Launch-New-Livestream-Event-Alfie-Boe-Friends-Live-at-the-Savoy-%E2%80%98Lockdown-Edition%E2%80%99|access-date=3 August 2021|website=businesswire.com}}
Public image
Fox was described by The Guardian as "deliciously debonair" and "at age 23, is all responsive intelligence and poised charm and is unguarded – as people happy in their own skins often are." "He is almost tyrannically polite and charming," says The Telegraph, and, "raised in a pack of upper-class thespians, his every utterance comes as a measured, um-less paragraph." Often branded as an acting royalty, he comes from a family whose decades-long performances formed a dynasty which he now fronts as the latest scion.{{Cite web|title=The Sunday Playlist: Freddie Fox shares his top 10 tracks|url=https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/article/the-sunday-playlist-freddie-fox-shares-his-top-10-tracks/|access-date=7 August 2021|website=The Gentleman's Journal}} Amidst inevitable assumptions, he clarifies that though his parents' ties may have opened doors to agents, it is "not a masonic back door to every job".
Another Magazine remarked that at the age of 23, Fox "has surprisingly well-formed opinions on men's style."{{Cite web|last=AnOther|date=5 October 2012|title=Freddie Fox on Men's Style|url=https://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/2249/freddie-fox-on-mens-style|access-date=31 July 2021|website=AnOther}} According to The Gentleman's Journal, whose cover he headlined on their Autumn 2014 issue,{{Cite web|title=FREDDIE FOX|url=http://www.hollymacnaghten.com/freddie-fox|access-date=31 July 2021|website=Holly Macnaghten}} Fox "continues to impress commentators with his suave, dandy-esque style."{{Cite web|date=27 October 2014|title=The men you need to emulate this season|url=https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/men-need-emulate-season/|access-date=31 July 2021|website=The Gentleman's Journal}} He was featured in The Chap{{'}}s Summer 2018 edition in what the magazine boasts of as their best edition, saying that "no previous issue has so comprehensively gathered so many vital strands of 'anarcho-dandyism'".{{Cite web|date=8 May 2018|title=chap summer 2018|url=https://thechap.co.uk/2018/05/08/summer-18-edition/|access-date=6 August 2021|website=The Chap |author1=Delta }} Fox launched the opening of White Shirt Week in St James's, London in 2013.{{Cite web|title=Actor Freddie Fox launches White Shirt Week in St James's, London.|url=https://news.cision.com/sister/r/actor-freddie-fox-launches-white-shirt-week-in-st-james-s--london-,c9368592|access-date=31 July 2021|website=News Powered by Cision|date=11 February 2013}} His commentary on the role his costume played in The Riot Club was featured on Financial Times.{{Cite web|last=Kasia|first=Delgado|date=19 September 2014|title=Freddie Fox on the role his costume plays in 'The Riot Club'|url=https://www.ft.com/content/5d70a828-39ab-11e4-83c4-00144feabdc0|access-date=31 July 2021|website=Financial Times}}
Averse to social media, he said that he keeps a boundary while talking about things he is interested in to preserve his mystery as an actor "so that there's still an element of surprise about where characters come from."
Personal life
Fox dated Tamzin Merchant, his co-star in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, for two years until September 2013.{{Cite news|last=Harvey|first=Chris|date=17 November 2020|title=Freddie Fox interview: 'I could have been a transgender plumber…'|work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/freddie-fox-crown-interview-could-have-transgender-plumber/|access-date=3 August 2021|issn=0307-1235}} In June 2020, it was reported that he was dating Sex Education star Tanya Reynolds, whom he met in 2016 during production of Fanny Lye Deliver'd. While promoting Cucumber in 2015, Fox stated that he hopes to "fall in love with another person, as opposed to a sex" and expounded further in 2020 saying that "being able to say that you have a more rounded experience as a human being, whether it be through sexuality, or whatever, is now perceived as a real advantage".
Filmography
=Film=
class="wikitable"
|+Key | style="background:#FFFFCC;"| {{dagger|alt=Indicates works not yet released}} | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |
Year
! Title ! class="unsortable" | Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
---|
2009
| St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold | Head boy | |
2011
| data-sort-value="Three Musketeers, The" | The Three Musketeers | King Louis XIII | |
2013
| Prince Louis of Battenberg (voice) | Documentary |
rowspan="2" | 2014
| data-sort-value="Riot Club, The" | The Riot Club | James Leighton-Masters | |
Pride
| Jeff Cole | |
2015
| Finnegan | |
rowspan="2"|2018
| Commander Pope | |
data-sort-value="Ice King, The" | The Ice King
| Narrator / John Curry (voice) | Documentary |
2017
| King Arthur: Legend of the Sword | Rubio | |
2019
| Thomas Ashbury |
2020
| Dennis and Gnasher: Unleashed! On the Big Screen | Dennis (voice) | |
rowspan="2" | 2022
| Eric Ravilious - Drawn to War | Eric Ravilious (voice) | Documentary |
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
| RAF officer | |
2023
| Coffee Wars | Hans | |
2024
| data-sort-value="Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, The" |The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare |
=Television=
class="wikitable sortable" |
Year
! Title ! class="unsortable" | Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
---|
2009
| Tom Savage | TV film |
rowspan="3" | 2010
| Marilyn | TV film |
Any Human Heart
| Peter Scabius | 2 episodes |
Rosamund Pilcher's Shades of Love
| Guy Wells | Episode: "Family Secret" |
2011
| data-sort-value="Shadow Line, The" | The Shadow Line | Ratallack | Recurring role |
rowspan="3"| 2012
| data-sort-value="Mystery of Edwin Drood, The" | The Mystery of Edwin Drood | Edwin Drood | Miniseries; main role |
Lewis
|Sebastian Dromgoole | Episode: "Generation of Vipers" |
Parade's End
| Edward Wannop | |
2013
| Words of Everest | |
rowspan="2" | 2015
|Freddie Baxter |Main role |
Banana
|Freddie Baxter |Main role |
2016
|Holocaust Memorial Day 2016 |Himself (participant) | |
2017–2021
| Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! | Dennis the Menace (voice) | Main role{{cite web |last=Beano |date=16 March 2017 |title=Freddie Fox: The Voice of New Dennis and Gnasher Unleashed! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTmPgG2R_7A |via=YouTube}}{{cite web |title=Freddie Fox (visual voices guide) |url=http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Freddie-Fox/ |access-date=25 September 2024 |publisher=Behind The Voice Actors}} A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. |
rowspan="2" | 2017
| Joe Orton Laid Bare | Mr Sloane | |
Saturday Mash-Up!
| Himself (celebrity guest) | Series 1, episode 7 |
rowspan="2" |2018
| Himself (celebrity sitter) | Season 4, episode 3 |
Watership Down
| Captain Holly (voice) |
rowspan="3" | 2019
| Wilbur Strauss | Main role |
data-sort-value="Importance of Being Oscar, The" | The Importance of Being Oscar
| Various (Jokannen, Lord Goring, Dorian Gray) | |
Novels That Shaped Our World
| (Actor) | Series 1, episode: "The Class Ceiling" |
rowspan="2"| 2020 |
McDonald & Dodds
| Miles Stevens | Series 1, episode 2 |
2020–2023
| data-sort-value="Great, The" | The Great | King Hugo | Guest (season 1); recurring (season 2); main (season 3) |
2020
| data-sort-value="Crown, The" | The Crown | Series 4, 2 episodes |
2021
| data-sort-value="Pursuit of Love, The" | The Pursuit of Love | Tony Kroesig |
2022
| Cameo |
2022–2023
| Spider Webb | Recurring role |
2023
| Edward Bellingham |
2024
| data-sort-value="Gentlemen, The" | The Gentlemen | Max | 2 episodes |
2024 |
2025
| TBA |
=Theatre=
class="wikitable" |
Year
! Title ! Role ! Director ! Playwright !Theatre |
---|
2010
| The Last Five Years: The Musical | Jamie | Christian Burgess |
rowspan="2" | 2011
| Camille Chandebise |
Cause Célèbre
| Tony Davenport |
2012
| Hay Fever{{cite web|author=Theatre |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/9203563/A-constellation-of-future-stars.html |title=A constellation of future stars |work=The Telegraph|date=16 April 2012 |access-date=16 November 2012}} | Simon Bliss |
2012–2013
| Hampstead Theatre |
2015 |
rowspan="2" | 2016
| Nick Bottom / Demetrius |
Romeo and Juliet
| Romeo Montague (replacement) |
2016–2017 |
2018
| Lord Goring |
2019
|Roxana Silbert UK tour |
2022
|Guildford Shakespeare Company |
2023-2024
|Charles Marlow |
=Web=
class="wikitable" |
width="80px" | Year
! width=150 | Title ! width=100 | Role ! width=300 | Notes |
---|
2015
| Tofu | Himself | Documentary |
2021
| The Theatre Channel | Himself | Episode 5: "The Golden Era of Broadway" |
=Directed film=
class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
!scope="col" rowspan="2" width="70px" | Year ! rowspan="2" scope="col" width=200 | Title ! colspan="3" scope="col" | Credited as ! rowspan="2" scope="col" class="unsortable" width=130 | Notes ! rowspan="2" scope="col" class="unsortable" width=250 | Distributor |
Director
!Writer !Producer |
---|
scope="row"|2018
| Hero |{{yes}} |{{yes}} |{{yes}} |Short film |Shorts International, Ziggo Movies & Series XL |
=Concert performance=
=Video games=
class="wikitable" |
width="80px" | Year
! width=200 | Title ! width=200 | Role ! width=300 | Voice Director ! width=200 | Game Studio |
---|
rowspan="2" |2017
|(Voice) |Adam Chapman and Jimmy Livingstone |
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
| Jimmy Livingstone & Matt Roberts |
Radio and audio
Since 2010, Freddie Fox has voiced characters in numerous radio productions of the BBC.
class="wikitable" |
width="200px"| Title
! Role ! width=190| Writer ! width=150| Broadcast ! Date |
---|
Once Upon A Time
| Billy | BBC Radio 4 | Apr 2010 |
rowspan="2" | Life and Fate
| rowspan="2" | Seryozha Shaposhnikov | rowspan="2" | Vasily Grossman | BBC Radio 4 | Sep 2011 |
BBC Radio 4 Extra
|Dec 2019 |
Cause Celebre: Radio Play
| Tony Davenport | BBC Radio 4 | Jun 2011 |
A Midsummer Night's Dream
| BBC Radio 3 | Sep 2011, May 2012, Jun 2018 |
Dead End
| Hugo | BBC Radio 4 | Dec 2012 |
rowspan="2" |Present Laughter
| rowspan="2" | Roland Maule | rowspan="2" | Noël Coward | BBC Radio 4 | Apr 2013, Jan 2015 |
BBC Radio 4 Extra
|Oct 2017 |
Home Front
| Freddie Graham | Various writers | BBC Radio 4 | Aug 2014 – present |
The Knights of the Apocalypse
|Sir Guy of Gisburne |ITV |May 2016 |
As Innocent As You Can Get
| Nathaniel | Rex Obano | BBC Radio 3 | Feb 2016 |
Boswell's Life of Byron
| BBC Radio 4 | Mar 2018 |
The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, The Seagull
| Ensemble Cast | Audible.com | May 2018 |
The Quanderhorn Xperimentations
| Troy Quanderhorn | Andrew Marshall and Rob Grant | BBC Radio 4 | Jun 2018 |
King of Sherwood{{Cite web|title=Spirit of Sherwood: RoS Episode Guide|url=https://www.robinofsherwood.org/episodes-audio.html|access-date=6 August 2021|website=robinofsherwood.org}}
|Sir Guy of Gisburne |Paul Birch & Barnaby Eaton-Jones |Spiteful Puppet |Dec 2018 |
The Trial of John Little
|Sir Guy of Gisburne |Spiteful Puppet |Dec 2018 |
What Was Lost (Part I&II)
|Sir Guy of Gisburne |Iain Meadows |Spiteful Puppet |Dec 2018 |
Quanderhorn 2
| Troy Quanderhorn | Andrew Marshall and Rob Grant |BBC Radio 4 Extra |Apr–June 2020 |
The Rival
| Jude Cook | BBC Radio 3 | Jun 2021 |
Mr Waring of the BBC
| Freddie Phillips | BBC Radio 4 | Jun 2021 |
Nuremberg
| Airey Neave | BBC Radio 4, BBC Sounds | Aug 2021 |
Awards and nominations
class="wikitable sortable" |
Year
! Association ! width=250 | Category ! Work ! Result |
---|
2015 |
rowspan="2" | 2017 |
WhatsOnStage Awards
| Best Supporting Actor in a Play |
2018
| Rhode Island International Film Festival | Directorial Discovery Award Grand Prize (Short) | Hero (2018) |
References
{{reflist|
refs=
}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{IMDb name}}
{{Robin Fox family tree}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Freddie}}
Category:21st-century English male actors
Category:English male film actors
Category:English male stage actors
Category:English male television actors
Category:People educated at Arnold House School
Category:Actors educated at Bryanston School
Category:Male actors from London
Category:People from Hammersmith
Category:English male voice actors
Category:English male radio actors
Category:English male Shakespearean actors
Category:English video game actors
Category:English film directors
Category:English film producers
Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Category:Male actors from Dorset
Category:English male web series actors
Category:Ian Charleson Award winners
Category:Actors from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham