← Back to explore

Rupert Graves

Acting

Born June 30, 1963 · Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England, UK

Biography

Rupert S. Graves (born 30 June 1963) is an English film, television, and theatre actor. He is known for his roles in A Room with a View (1985), Maurice (1987), The Madness of King George (1984), and The Forsyte Saga (2002). Since 2010, he has starred as DI Lestrade in the BBC television series Sherlock. Graves first came to prominence in costume-drama adaptations of E. M. Forster's novels A Room with a View (1985), and Maurice (1987), before going on to appear in films including A Handful of Dust (1988), The Madness of King George (1994), Different for Girls (1996), and Intimate Relations (1996). Graves's role in Intimate Relations won him the Best Actor award at the 1996 Montreal World Film Festival. He was also acclaimed for his portrayal of Young Jolyon Forsyte in the television miniseries The Forsyte Saga. Later, he appeared in films such as V for Vendetta (2005), Death at a Funeral (2007), Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans (2019), and Emma (2020), and in TV series such as Charles II: The Power & the Passion (2003), A Waste of Shame (2005), Sherlock (2010–), The Crimson Field (2014), and The Family (2016).

Awards & recognition

  • Theatre World Award · 1999

Filmography50+ titles

Lion Brothers: Cubs to Kings

2019as Narrator (voice)

Sherlock

2010as DI Greg Lestrade

Smyrna

2021as George Horton

V for Vendetta

2005as Dominic

The Forsyte Saga

2002as Young Jolyon Forsyte

Inspector Morse

1987as Billy

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride

2016as DI Lestrade

Agatha Christie's Marple

2004as Lance Fortescue

Merchant Ivory

2023as Self

Ashes to Ashes

2008as Danny Moore

Spooks

2002as William Sampson

McDonald & Dodds

2020as Gordon Elmwood

Doctor Who

2005as Riddell

Maurice

1987as Alec Scudder

The Crimson Field

2014as Major Edward Crecy

Death in Paradise

2011as James Lavender

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

as Arthur Huntingdon

12 Monkeys

2015as Sebastian

Garrow's Law

2009as Sir Arthur Hill

Wallander

2008

The White Queen

2013as Thomas Stanley

Scott & Bailey

2011as Nick Savage

New Tricks

2004as Adrian Levene

Open Fire

1994as David Martin

Waking the Dead

2001as Colonel John Garrett

All My Loved Ones

1999as Nicholas Winton

Different for Girls

1996as Paul Prentice

Krypton

2018as Ter-El

Secret State

2012as Felix Durrell

Emma.

2020as Mr. Weston

Law & Order: UK

2009

A Room with a View

1986as Freddy Honeychurch

Death at a Funeral

2007as Robert

Bent

1997as Officer on Train

God on Trial

2008as Mordechai

The Madness of King George

1994as Greville

The War of the Worlds

2019as Frederick

Made in Dagenham

2010as Peter Hopkins

Cleopatra

1999as Octavian

Damage

1992as Martyn Fleming

Where Angels Fear to Tread

1991as Philip Herriton

A Working Mom's Nightmare

2019as Eddie

The Family

2016as John Warren

Dreaming of Joseph Lees

1999as Joseph Lees

The Reunion

2022as Richard Degalais

Silencio

2018as Peter

The Last King

2003as George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham

Surface

2022as Henry Huntley

The Plot to Kill Hitler

1990as Axel von dem Bussche

Juliet & Romeo

2025as Prince Escalaus