Anton Lesser


Anton Lesser is an English actor. He is particularly well known for his roles as Qyburn in the HBO series Game of Thrones, as Thomas More in Wolf Hall, as Harold Macmillan in The Crown, and as Chief Superintendent Bright in Endeavour.

Early life

Born in Birmingham, West Midlands, Anton Lesser attended Moseley Grammar School and the University of Liverpool, where he read architecture. He then went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and on graduation in 1977 he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year.
With his wife Madeleine, he has two children, Harry and Lily Lesser. Lily is an actress, who has acted alongside her father in Endeavour and Wolf Hall.

Career

As an associate artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Lesser played a considerable number of Shakespeare's great roles, including Troilus, Edgar, Petruchio, Romeo, Henry Bolingbroke, Brutus, Leontes and Richard III.
Lesser is a frequent radio contributor and played the title role in the BBC Radio adaptations of the first five Falco mysteries by Lindsey Davis. He has also recorded many audiobooks, including much of the work of Charles Dickens, and his recording of Great Expectations won him a Talkie Award. Other books range from John Milton's Paradise Lost and Homer to contemporary novels by Robert Harris and Philip Pullman. For two months in 2013, Lesser was heard as a regular cast member playing Robin Carrow in Ambridge Extra, a BBC Radio 4 Extra spin-off from the BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers.
In 2015, Lesser was announced a public supporter of Chapel Lane Theatre Company based in Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK.
Lesser portrayed Thomas More in the BBC mini-series Wolf Hall, and received a nomination for the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.

Filmography

Theatre performances