Christopher Eccleston's Biography
Christopher Eccleston was born on 16 February, 1964 in Salford, Lancashire.
Eccleston studied at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. He has appeared in numerous theatrical productions and TV dramas and has received two Press Guild Awards for Best Actor. One was for his role in Hillsborough and the other for his performance in Our Friends in the North, for which he also won a BAFTA nomination.
Other TV appearances by Christopher Eccleston include roles in Cracker, Clocking Off, Flesh and Blood. He has also had guest appearances in The League of Gentleman and Linda Green.
His major film debut came when Eccleston played Derek Bentley in 'Let Him Have It' and Eccleston has gone on to have film roles in Shallow Grave, The Others, Elizabeth, eXistenZ, and Sixty Seconds. He also played the title role in Jude.
Christopher Eccleston appeared in Andrew Davies's television adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello, but has said: "I wasn't always such a great fan of Shakespeare, mind you. I can guess we all at one time had it rammed down our necks at school which tends to take the edge off it."
Christopher Eccleston was chosen as the ninth Doctor Who in the famous BBC television series. However, after the first episode was shown in March 2005, the BBC announced that Eccleston had decided to quit the show. The BBC issued a press statement wrongly attributing to Eccleston quotes that he feared being typecast and found the filming gruelling.
Ironically Eccleston's performance and the Doctor Who programme generally had been very well received. Indeed, Eccleston won the most popular actor award in the 2005 National Television Awards.
In December 2006, Christopher Eccleston was cast in the leading part of Stuart in ITV's drama, The Perfect Parents.
Christopher Eccleston was also cast in the American drama series Heroes.
