Biography
Alun Armstrong is a prolific English character actor. Armstrong grew up in County Durham in North East England. He first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began in the early 1970s, he has played, in his words, "the full spectrum of characters from the grotesque to musicals... I always play very colourful characters, often a bit crazy, despotic, psychotic." His numerous credits include six different Dickens adaptations and seven series as eccentric ex-detective Brian Lane in New Tricks. Armstrong is also an accomplished stage actor who spent nine years with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He originated the role of Thénardier in the London production of Les Misérables and he won an Olivier Award for playing the title role in Sweeney Todd.
Awards & recognition
- Laurence Olivier Award — Best Actor in a Musical
- Laurence Olivier Awards
Filmography50+ titles
Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary
The Storyteller
Enemy at the Door
Bleak House
Tales from the Crypt
The Sweeney
Braveheart
Inspector Morse
Penny Dreadful
Little Dorrit
Carrie's War
Married... with Children
The Hollow Crown
Garrow's Law
This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper
Prime Suspect: Tennison
New Tricks
Sleepy Hollow
The Duellists
A Bridge Too Far
David Copperfield
After the Flood
Year of the Rabbit
Get Carter
Sherwood
Breeders
Thriller
Frontier
Oliver Twist
Father Brown
Black Beauty
Patriot Games
Out of Innocence
Harrison's Flowers
The French Lieutenant's Woman
Van Helsing
Millions
The Mummy Returns
American Friends
White Hunter Black Heart
Funny Cow
Golden Years
The Choral
Dark Angel
Possum
Proof of Life
Onegin
The Saint
Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire
Krull