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Ray Fearon
British actor From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Raymond Fearon is a British actor. He played garage mechanic Nathan Cooper on ITV's long-running soap opera Coronation Street from 2005-2006. Other credits include Band of Gold (1997), EastEnders (2001), As If (2002), the Harry Potter film series (2001-2002), His Dark Materials (2003), Doctors (2008), Raw (2010), Da Vinci's Demons (2014), Fantastic Beasts (film series) (2018-2022), Fleabag (2019), Red Dwarf (2020), Champion (2023), and The Feud (2025).
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Early life
Fearon was the youngest of ten children born to Jamaican parents living in northwest London.[1] From a young age, he joined the Royal Court Theatre[1] and Tricycle Youth Theatre,[1] before going on to study drama at Rose Bruford College.[2]
Career
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Theatre
Fearon made his reputation as a stage actor, working at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre;[2] Manchester Contact Theatre; Manchester Royal Exchange;[2] Oxford Playhouse;[2] Barn Theatre, Kent; The Almeida; The Crucible, Sheffield; The Donmar Warehouse; The Royal Shakespeare Theatres in Stratford and the National Theatre.[2] He starred in Othello—opposite Gillian Kearney's Desdemona— in Liverpool at the age of 24, becoming the first black actor to play Othello on RSC main stages for over 40 years.[3] His other early stage roles included Charles Surface in The School for Scandal;[2] Betty/Martin in Cloud 9 (play);[2] Longaville in Love's Labour's Lost;[2] Ferdinand in The Tempest;[2] and Pete in Blues for Mister Charlie.[2]
His early theatre work in London included Hugo/Frederick in Ring Round the Moon at the Lilian Baylis Theatre;[2] the title role in The Invisible Man (his one-man show) at the Bridewell Theatre;[2] and Pierre in Venice Preserv'd at the Almeida Theatre.[2]
He has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company(RSC) in their Stratford and London theatres and on tour.[2] He was the first black actor to play the title role in Othello in the main Royal Shakespeare theatre (director Michael Attenborough, 1999) giving a performance alongside Richard McCabe's strong and repressed Iago.[4] They also played opposite one another in 1996's The White Devil (Gale Edwards, Swan theatre) where he played Brachiano and McCabe the villain Flamineo.[2] Fearon was directed by Attenborough also as Romeo alongside Zoe Waites as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (RSC, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1997).[2]
Other RSC roles have included the First Knight and First Tempter in Murder in the Cathedral (Swan, 1993),[2] Stubb in Moby Dick (musical) (TOP, 1993),[2] the Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice (RST, 1994),[2] Paris in Troilus and Cressida (Ian Judge, RST, 1996),[2] the Marquis of Posa in Don Carlos (play) (1999),[2] Pericles in Adrian Noble's Pericles, Prince of Tyre (RST and Roundhouse, 2002)[2] and Mark Antony in Julius Caesar (play) (2012).[2]
In 2003, he played 'Oberon' in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre.[2] In 2004, he appeared in as Jean Kiyabe in World Music by Steve Waters at the Donmar Warehouse,[2] and in the same year at the National Theatre as Mark in Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads by Roy Williams.[2]
In 2010, he starred as Walter Lee Younger in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry,[2] the production was directed by Michael Buffong at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.[2]
In July 2013 he played Macduff opposite Kenneth Branagh (as Macbeth) and Alex Kingston (as Lady Macbeth) in Macbeth at Manchester International Festival.Manchester.[2] His performance was broadcast to cinemas on 20 July as part of National Theatre Live.[5]
In December 2017 he played Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.[2] The production was directed by Michael Buffong.[6]
Radio
In the BBC's 2003 radio adaptation of His Dark Materials, Fearon appeared as the narrator and as the angel Balthamos.[7]
Television and film
In 2001 he appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (as Firenze the centaur).[8] He had a minor role as a sentry in Kenneth Branagh's 1996 film version of Hamlet.[2]
Fearon played Nathan Cooper in Coronation Street from 2005 to 2006.[2] He was in the 2006 series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered by Camilla Dallerup, and was voted out in week 6.[2]
From 2013 to 2015, he appeared as a fictionalised version of historical figure Carlo de' Medici on the Starz series Da Vinci's Demons.[2] In 2019, Fearon played the role of Hot Misogynist in season two of the acclaimed BBC Three comedy-drama Fleabag.[1]
In 2023, he starred Beres Champion in the BBC television series Champion, about the Champion family's involvement in the black music scene of London.[9]
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Filmography
Film
Television
Radio
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References
External links
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