A History Of Liverpool Thespians - Jason Isaacs

 

Jason Isaacs was born on the 6th of June 1963 in Liverpool to Jewish parents, mother Linda and his father Eric who was a jeweller. He has two older brothers and one younger brother and spent his early childhood in the Liverpool suburb of Childwall, in a 'insular and closely knit' Jewish community co-founded by his Eastern European Jewish great-grandparents. He has stated that being Jewish played a big role in his childhood, as he attended a youth club in the local synagogue of King David High School in Childwall as well as a cheder twice a week as a young adult. When he was 11, he moved with his family to London where he attended the Haberdasher's Aske's Boys' School in Elstree at the same time as David Badiel, Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Kermode and Matt Lucas. He describes the bullying and intolerance he observed during his childhood as "preparation" for portraying the "unattractive" villains he has most often played. As a Jewish teenager in London, he endured antisemitism by the National Front with his parents eventually immigrating to Israel. Following in the footsteps of his three brothers (one who became a doctor, one a lawyer, and one an accountant), Jason studied law at Bristol University from 1982 to 1985 but fell in love with the theatre and directed, produced and appeared in dozens of productions there, at the National Student Theatre Festival and at the Edinburgh Festival. He graduated in 1985 but then attended the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and began working in 1988.

Jason and Emma 1987

Jason moved in with his girlfriend, BBC documentary filmmaker Emma Hewitt, at drama school in 1987. They began dating while studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama and were married in 2001. Although Jason has previously said in 2004, "We're not actually married, although we call each other husband and wife otherwise people get rather peculiar. It seems a bit weird to call someone your girlfriend when you have a child. I have proposed and, bizarrely, Emma accepted, but every time we think about arranging a wedding I get a job. So we will get married one day, probably when Lily comes back from school and says: 'You two have to get married, you're really embarrassing me'." They have two daughters now, Lily (born 2002) and Ruby (born 2005).

Having emerged from his native Liverpool he soon became an established and respected performer, Jason became casting directors' ideal choice for playing imperious screen villains in the early 2000s. Possessing a steely gaze and stentorian tones, he lent an elegant evil to such onscreen bad guys. Most people will know him as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, the father of Draco Malfoy. He portrayed the despicable, but somehow still charismatic wizard from the second movie in the franchise in 2002 until the very last one in 2011. However no matter what role he takes on, it’s always memorable. Star Trek fans will see Captain Gabriel Lorca, the rather cold and secretive Starfleet officer, others will recognise the British Colonel William Tavington, the ruthless antagonist in 'The Patriot' (2000) who made life more than miserable for Americans and Mel Gibson. Or maybe you will be reminded of his intimidating portrayal of Captain Hook in the version of 'Peter Pan' (2003). Also there is 'Armageddon' (1998), 'A Cure for Wellness' (2016), 'The Death of Stalin' (2017), 'Mass' (2021).... and that’s just for starters. He showed more complex sides to his talent in films like 'The End of the Affair' (1999) and as Ranger Commander Captain Steele in 'Black Hawk Down' (2001), though his finest showcases came on television series like 'Brotherhood' (Showtime, 2006-08) as Michael Caffee, for which he was nominated for the Satellite Award for Best Actor- Television series Drama, and 'The State Within' (BBC, 2006), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, which earned him widespread acclaim, and propelled him to stardom in America. By the time he reprised Death Eater Lucius Malfoy for 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows' (2010), Jason had established himself as one of England's most versatile talents who had managed to also become a star in America.

as Michael Cafee in Brotherhood

He had started on TV with an appearance in the series 'This is David Lander' (1988) before starring in all 23 episodes of 'Capital City' (1989-90) as Chas Ewall. Then in 1992 he was in all 6 episodes of 'Civvies' as Frank Dillon. He was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Harry H. Corbett in 'The Curse of Steptoe' (2008). Other noteable roles were as Michael Britten in the BBC series 'Awake' (2012) and then as a private investigator Jackson Brodie in 'Case Histories' (2011-13), as Peter Connelly, an FBI agent stationed in Jerusalem. He was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best Actor and won the Satellite Award for Best Actor for this role. There followed 14 episodes of 'OA' (2016-19), an American mystery drama television series with science fiction, supernatural, and fantasy elements. More recently he appeared in 'Good Sam' (2022), an American medical drama series created by Katie Wech for CBS, in which he played Dr. Rob 'Griff' Griffith. He has also appeared on stage as Louis Ironson in Declan Donnellan's 1992 and 1993 Royal National Theatre premiere of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize winning play 'Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes', and as hitman Ben in a 2007 revival of Harold Pinter's 1957 play 'The Dumb Waiter' at Trafalgar Studios in London's West End.

His voice acting roles include Admiral Zhao in the first season of 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' (2005) and the second season of 'The Legend of Korra' (2013), the Grand Inquisitor / Sentinel in 'Star Wars Rebels' (2014–2016), The Judge in 'Castlevania' (2020), and Billy Butcher in 'The Boys Presents: Diabolical' (2022). 

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/07/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-ian.html