Russell Boulter was born on the 7th of April 1963 in Liverpool and as a teenager was one of the original members of the Concrete Theatre Company which toured several theatre productions across the North West of England in pubs, schools and theatres. He then trained at LAMDA ( London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art ), became a Christian, and gained a BA in theatre arts, graduating in 1984 playing the title role in 'Richard the Third'. Later that year he was offered an equity card by John Dexter for a part in his production of 'The Devil and the Good Lord' at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. However when he refused to spit on a crucifix, Dexter gave him 24 hours to consider his position and asked him to renounce his faith or lose his equity card. Russell refused, so Dexter sacked him and promised he would do everything in his power to end his acting career. After six months working in the Toy Department in Selfridges, he managed to get an audition for the RSC ( Royal Shakespeare Company) and the directors Howard Davis and Bill Alexander offered him a play as cast job with an equity card. So began his professional career at the RSC in January 1985. He stayed with the company for two years starring in six productions in Stratford and the Barbican in London, playing small roles he understudied 40 characters, as well as mounting several fringe shows at the Other Place and Almeida Theatre. His first lead role was as Angel Clare in 'Tess' at Farnham Repertory theatre and he appeared at the Edinburgh Festival several times in the 1980s, eventually producing the ACG venue at St Paul's and St George's, which included the UK premier of Maxim Gorky's play 'Vassa Zheleznova'. As well as a lead role in 'Air Guitar' at the Bristol Old Vic Studio, he played Michael Brennan in BBC Radio 4's drama series 'Citizens' from October 1987 to July 1989. On TV he played Chris, Malcolm's assistant in 5 episodes of Series 4 of the Granada Television comedy sitcom 'Watching' (1989-90).
In 1990, he worked in the West End playing Mickey in 'Blood Brothers' at the Phoenix and the Abbey Theatre, then 'Pal Joey' (1991) at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre. Returning to TV work, he appeared in three episodes of 'The Darling Buds of May' (1993) as the character Roger McGarry followed by 5 episodes of 'Heartbeat' (1993-94) as Inspector Alistair Crossley. He then played the titles roles in 'Hamlet' at the Birmingham Old Rep theatre in 1994 where Charles Spencer remarked of the thirty-year-old Russell as 'the most stolid, level-headed Hamlet I've yet seen; of the Prince's lonely speculative intellect you get no inkling.'
Having made an earlier appearance on the show as PC Trevor Gale in the 1992 episode 'A Blind Eye', Russell returned to play DS John Boulton in ITV's 'The Bill' (1992-2000) for five years during which time he set up the production company 'The 4 Amigo's' with fellow
Bill stars Mark Wingett, Huw Higginson and Tom Butcher and left 'The Bill' to start rehearsals with his new company. Even though he was sad to leave the show,
he had decided it was time for a change, admittng he didn't even see his
exit from the show. "I'd been in The Bill for five years and I was very
happy there and I just needed to leave and make as clean a break as I
could." His production of 'Lone Star' opened at The Old Red Lion, Islington, North London, then went on to tour Australia for four months where 'The Bill' was No 1 in the ratings, and he played at the Sydney Opera House. He also produced and starred in a short film called 'Crush' (2001).
During his time at 'The Bill' Russell was at a personal low after
his marriage to his artist wife Jeannie broke down.
During this difficult time he came to depend more and more on co-star Joy
Brook for friendship and support. She says: "Russ had just moved into a
flat down the road from my house in Dulwich, South London. So I did the neighbourly thing and helped him move his stuff
in and showed him around the area, where the best pub was - that sort of
thing.
That was the start of us meeting outside work, which was
quite weird to start with.
Russ and Jeannie had been apart for about a month and he
asked me out on a date."
Having reprised his role as DS John Boulton in 4 episodes of 'Beech Is Back' (2001), he played the male lead in Noel Coward's 'Star Quality' (2001) at the Apollo Theatre and then was in 'The Madness of George Dubba' (2002) at the Player's Theatre and 'Macbeth' at the Stafford Festival Theatre (2003). After a brief stint in 'Eastenders' (2004), 'Mobile' (2007) and 'Waking Dead' (2008), he returned for a year in 'Casualty' (1995-2016) as the new Security Guard Ryan Johnson, who was also Duffy's new love interest for Series 17. He had previously played the role of Terry Martin in 1995, with his character dying of aids.
Russell has worked extensively as a documentary narrator for the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, and the National Geographic and Discovery Channels including the series of 'Deep Wreck Mysteries' on the History Channel, 'A Short History of Fatherhood' on Channel 4 and the 'Revealed' series on Channel 5. He narrated for the BBC Natural History Unit and is the worldwide narrator for 'Blue Planet 2'. He has recorded over 30 titles for BBC Audio Books including 'The Lives of John Lennon'. Since 2008, he has worked as a communications coach with business people and designs and runs training courses for corporate level executives which focus on pitching, leadership, and personal impact.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/05/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians.html
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