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Reece Dinsdale

{{short description|English actor (born 1959)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Reece Dinsdale

| image = Reece Dinsdale in Midnight Man 2008.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Dinsdale in Midnight Man 2008

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1959|8|6|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Altofts, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| website =

| occupation = Actor, director

| alma_mater = Guildhall School of Music and Drama

| yearsactive = 1980–present

| spouse = Zara Turner

| children = 2

}}

Reece Dinsdale (born 6 August 1959) is an English actor and director. His credits include Threads (1984), A Private Function (1984), Winter Flight (1984), Home to Roost (1985—1990), Haggard (1990), ID (1994), Hamlet (1996), Murder in Mind (2000), Spooks (2003), Conviction (2004), Ahead of the Class (2005), Love Lies Bleeding (2006), Life on Mars (2006), The Chase (2006), Silent Witness (2008), Midnight Man (2008), Coronation Street (2008—2010), Moving On (2011), Waterloo Road (2011), The Knife That Killed Me (2012), and Emmerdale (2020—2021).

Early life

Dinsdale was born in Normanton, West Yorkshire.{{Cite web|title= How Emmerdale actor and director Reece Dinsdale's dad inspired him to be himself |url= https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/how-emmerdale-actor-and-director-reece-dinsdales-dad-inspired-him-to-be-himself-3541606 |work= yorkshirepost.co.uk |author= Catherine Scott |date= 27 January 2022 }} He was just 12 years old when he played the lead role in Tom Sawyer at Normanton Grammar School. Dinsdale trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1977, graduating in 1980.

Career

After initially working in theatre in Exeter, Nottingham and Birmingham and at the Edinburgh Festival, Dinsdale got his first TV role in the Granada thriller Knife Edge in 1981. He followed this up by appearing in Out on the Floor a single drama for the BBC, in 1982. This led to him being cast as Albert in Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime series for ITV in 1982.

More theatre followed with Beethoven's Tenth with Peter Ustinov at the Vaudeville Theatre, London and the highly acclaimed Red Saturday at the Royal Court. He played Jimmy Kemp in Threads (1984), a-soon-to-be-father and husband caught up in a nuclear attack on Sheffield.{{Cite web |title= Acting For Camera Masterclass with Reece Dinsdale |url= https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/leeds/actupnorth-leeds/acting-for-camera-masterclass-with-reece-dinsdale/e-eblaxb |work=ticketsource.co.uk |date= 14 May 2023}} 1984 also saw Dinsdale appearing in one of his first feature films, Alan Bennett's A Private Function, and the TV movie Winter Flight opposite Nicola Cowper.

Glamour Night, another single drama for the BBC, followed in 1984 before Dinsdale was cast as Matthew Willows in the British sitcom Home to Roost written by Eric Chappell and co-starring John Thaw. Dinsdale played Thaw's unruly teenage son Matthew who comes to live with his estranged father after his mother throws him out.

Interspersed with this were many appearances on stage, including the award-winning play Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme at the Hampstead Theatre, London, in 1986, Woundings and Don Carlos at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, and Old Year's Eve at the Royal Shakespeare Company. On television he had leading roles in the three-part series Take Me Home, and The Attractions, and the single drama Coppers opposite Tim Roth. He also played Fearnot in Jim Henson's The Storyteller.

Dinsdale played the leading role of Jack Rover in Wild Oats in the inaugural production at the newly built West Yorkshire Playhouse in 1990. He then appeared in Young Catherine, a miniseries in which he played the Grand Duke Peter. He then appeared at the National Theatre in David Hare's Racing Demon.

From 1990 to 1992 he co-starred in Haggard, a comedy set in the late 18th century. In 1994, he played the leading role in ID, a British feature film charting the demise of a police officer who goes undercover to root out a firm of football hooligans.{{Cite web|title=Reece Dinsdale interviewf |url= https://entertainment-focus.com/2018/11/26/reece-dinsdale-interview/|work= entertainment-focus.com |author= Samuel Payne |date= November 26, 2018}} Based on a true story, Dinsdale won the International Critics Award for best actor at the Geneva Film Festival.

Dinsdale has continued to play leading roles on both stage and screen. Highlights include two series of Thief Takers in which he played the central role of Charlie Scott, and Kenneth Branagh's film of Hamlet in which he played Guildenstern opposite Timothy Spall's Rosencrantz. He guested in Spooks, Life on Mars, Murder in Mind, Silent Witness.

Dinsdale starred opposite Julie Walters in the ITV drama Ahead of the Class and played Robert in Conviction for the BBC (directed by Marc Munden). He starred in two series of The Chase (also for the BBC) and in two thrillers for ITV, Love Lies Bleeding and Midnight Man.

From 2008 to 2010, he played Joe McIntyre, in the long running soap Coronation Street to {{Cite web|url= https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/coronation-street/a28102580/coronation-street-corrie-reece-dinsdale-opens-up-father-death/|title=Former Coronation Street star Reece Dinsdale opens up after father's death|last=Warner|first=Sam|date=2019-06-19|website=Digital Spy|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-11-24}} Since then he filmed leading guest roles in Waterloo Road, Taggart and Moving On. He played Doctor Wengel in Ibsen's The Lady From the Sea at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. In 2012 he appeared in the feature film The Knife That Killed Me. In 2013, Dinsdale played the role of Walter Harrison in James Graham's hit play This House on the Olivier stage at the National Theatre, directed by Jeremy Herrin. In 2014, he played Alan Bennett in Bennett's autobiographical play Untold Stories at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

In 2015 Dinsdale played the central role of George Jones in Headlong's national tour of Sir David Hare's play The Absence of War, once again directed by Jeremy Herrin. In October 2015 Dinsdale played the title role in Shakespeare's Richard III at The West Yorkshire Playhouse.

He has an extensive list of BBC Radio Drama credits and, in 2014, he was awarded a Yorkshire Award for Services to Arts and Entertainment. In 2015, he became the first actor to be named Associate Artist at The West Yorkshire Playhouse. In 2017, Dinsdale was made a patron of the Square Chapel Arts Centre in Halifax.{{cite web|url=https://www.squarechapel.co.uk/2017/08/theatre-film-tv-actor-director-reece-dinsdale-named-patron-newly-renovated-square-chapel-arts-centre-halifax-yorkshire/|title=Theatre, film and TV Actor and Director, Reece Dinsdale named as patron of the newly renovated Square Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax, Yorkshire|date=2017-08-21|website=Square Chapel|access-date=2019-11-24}}

In 2020, Dinsdale joined the ITV soap opera Emmerdale playing the villainous Paul Ashdale. Dinsdale left the soap in 2021 when his character was killed off in an explosion.

Directing

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In January 2012 Dinsdale directed his first drama for television; a 45-minute single drama called "The Crossing" starring Lee Boardman, Ramona Marquez and Susie Blake, in the Secrets and Words series for BBC1. In July and August 2014 he directed the episode "Madge" in the Moving On series starring Hayley Mills, Kenneth Cranham and Peter Egan, again for BBC1.

In May 2015, Dinsdale completed his third drama for BBC Television, "Scratch", starring Will Ash and Chris Coghill, once again for the Moving On series. Dinsdale thereafter directed a fourth TV drama, again in the Moving On series, for Jimmy McGovern: "Eighteen", a story about the attempted deportation of an Afghan youth back to his native Kabul, starring Antonio Aakeel and Rosie Cavaliero. The series was aired in November 2016. In 2017, Dinsdale directed Sue Johnston in "Lost" by Shaun Duggan for the Moving On series. He has directed several episodes of Emmerdale and announced in spring 2022 that he is to direct episodes of Coronation Street.

Writing

In 2009, Dinsdale wrote the short film Imaginary Friend which was subsequently filmed and stars Maxine Peake and Zara Turner.{{Cite tweet|user= reece_dinsdale |number= 870588564203073536|title=A short film I wrote. #ImaginaryFriend. Directed by @ianbevitt and starring the brilliant Maxine Peake. Just sharing.https://vimeo.com/24354145 |last= Dinsdale|first=Reece|date=2017-06-02|language=en|access-date=2019-11-24}} The film premiered on 8 May 2010 at the 360/365 Film Festival in New York City.{{Cite web|url=http://nevolume.co.uk/culture/events/talk-reece-dinsdale-in-conversation-at-the-waiting-room-eaglescliffe/|title=Talk: Reece Dinsdale in Conversation at The Waiting Room, Eaglescliffe|last=Ellen Watson|first=Hayley|date=2019-10-22|website=NE Volume|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-11-24}}

Personal life

Dinsdale is a football fan and supports Huddersfield Town A.F.C.{{Cite web |last=Earnshaw |first=Tony|title= Yorkshire Live - Actor and Huddersfield Town fan Reece |url= https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/actor-huddersfield-town-fan-reece-13529595 |work= examinerlive.co.uk|date=August 2017}}

In 2017 he became a patron of the Square Chapel, an arts centre in Halifax.{{Cite web |last=Earnshaw |first=Tony |date=2017 |title=Actor and Huddersfield Town fan Reece Dinsdale "honoured and delighted" to be arts centre patron. |url=https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/actor-huddersfield-town-fan-reece-13529595 |website=Yorkshire Live}} He is also an honorary patron of The Old Courts multi-arts centre in Wigan{{Cite web |title=Our patrons |url= https://www.theoldcourts.com/about/our-patrons/ |website=The Old Courts}}

After living in London for 24 years, he married Northern Irish actress Zara Turner and they moved north back to his homeland to raise their children.

Credits (incomplete)

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References

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External links

  • {{IMDb name|id=0227827}}

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Category:1959 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Normanton, West Yorkshire

Category:English male stage actors

Category:English male soap opera actors

Category:English male television actors

Category:English television directors

Category:English soap opera writers

Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Category:Male actors from West Yorkshire

Category:Actors from the City of Wakefield