Allan Corduner
Corduner in 2012
Born	(1950-04-02) 2 April 1950 (age 73) Stockholm, Sweden
Years active	1973–present
Spouse	Juha Leppäjärvi ​ (m. 2013)​

Allan Corduner (/kɔːrˈdjuːnər/;^[1] born 2 April 1950) is a British actor. Born in Stockholm to a German mother and a Russo-Finnish father, Corduner grew up in a secular Jewish home in London. After earning a BA (Hons) in English and Drama at Bristol University he trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He has worked extensively on stage, TV, and film, both in the UK and in the United States. His voice is familiar from many BBC radio plays, audio books and TV documentaries.

Corduner made his feature film debut in Yentl, with Barbra Streisand and Mandy Patinkin. Of his 44 films, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Sir Arthur Sullivan in Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy. He also voiced Gehrman the first hunter in the 2015 video game Bloodborne.

Early life

Corduner grew up in a secular Jewish home in North London with his parents and younger brother.^[2]

His mother had escaped to Great Britain from Nazi Germany with her family in 1938. His father was born in Helsinki, Finland, of a Finnish-born mother and a Ukrainian-born father. Corduner's parents first settled in Stockholm, where he was born, but the family moved to London when he was one year old.^{[citation needed]}

Interest in arts and music was always encouraged at home, and Corduner's early ambition was to become either an orchestra conductor or a concert pianist. He attended University College School in Hampstead, London. Although Corduner developed into a skilled jazz and classical pianist, musical aspirations had taken second place by the time he went to study at Bristol University and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.^{[citation needed]}

Acting career

Corduner has worked extensively in theatre in London's West End and on Broadway, television as well as in film. He has also appeared in several BBC Radio plays including The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Insignificance, and Fanny and Alexander.

His voice is familiar to listeners of audio books including The Book Thief. TV appearances include Exile, ITV's Midsomer Murders, Stephen Poliakoff's Dancing on the Edge, and as Andrea Verrocchio in seasons 1 and 2 of the Starz original series Da Vinci's Demons. He appears on seasons 5 and 6 of the Showtime TV series Homeland.

After drama school, Corduner's first two years as a professional actor were spent playing a wide variety of parts at Newcastle Repertory Theatre. Spells at the Birmingham Rep and the Actors' Company followed, until Corduner returned to London to make his West End debut in Mary O'Malley's Once a Catholic at the Wyndham's Theatre. Corduner has appeared several times at the Royal Court Theatre, in plays such as Three Birds Alighting on a Field, Fucking Games, Ice Cream, and most notably Caryl Churchill's satirical Serious Money, which subsequently transferred to London's West End and Broadway in New York.

He garnered acclaim on Broadway for the role of Etches in the musical Titanic. In February 2014, he played Etches again in a one-off concert version of Titanic at Avery Fisher Hall (now David Geffen Hall) in New York, re-uniting him with the original cast of the musical. He played Fritz Litten in Mark Hayhurst's Taken at Midnight, first at Chichester Festival Theatre, and subsequently at Theatre Royal Haymarket in West End.

One of his first film roles was in Yentl in 1982, with Barbra Streisand. He is probably best known for his portrayal of Sir Arthur Sullivan in Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy (1999), his first leading role in a feature film. Corduner's film work spans a variety of genres, such as action-adventure film Defiance, horror comedy film Burke and Hare,^[3] and western Medicine Men. Recent films include Woman in Gold (2015) and Tár (2022).

Voice acting

Corduner's voice is familiar to listeners of BBC radio plays such as Insignificance, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and Fanny and Alexander. He was also the subject of BBC Radio 3 Private Passions.^[4]

Corduner has provided voices for various video game characters, notably the first, second, third and fifth Harry Potter video games (namely as, among others, Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Fillius Flitwick and Argus Filch). He also voiced Apus, the pet parrot belonging to Queen Cassiopeia, the primary antagonist, for the English version of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White White which was released in February 2013. In 2015, Corduner voiced Gehrman, the First Hunter in Bloodborne.^[5]

Audiobooks and narration

Corduner is also known for solo narration of TV documentaries such as Fish Warrior for the National Geographic Channel, and various audiobooks for Simply Audiobooks, notably The Book Thief and Inkdeath.^[6] He also narrated Magyk written by Angie Sage and produced by Harper Audio. He has received two Earphones Awards by AudioFile His narration of "Anna and the Swallow Man" earned the Odyssey Award in 2017.

Personal life

Corduner's mother was from Berlin, Germany, and his father was born in Finland. He was born in Stockholm but grew up in London.^[7]

Corduner and his partner Juha Leppäjärvi met in 2006 in London, formed their civil partnership in December 2009, and married in New York City in August 2013. Corduner is a trustee of the children's arts charity Anno's Africa.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Theatre

• My Fair Lady; Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway, New York City
• Murder on the Orient Express; McCarter Theatre
• Show Boat; Sheffield Crucible
• Taken at Midnight; Chichester Festival Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket*
• Passion; Donmar Warehouse*
  • Winner of the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical 2010
• Hello, Dolly!; Regent's Park Open Air Theatre*^[9]
  • Winner of the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical 2009
  • Winner of the 2010 Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival, Best Choreography, Best Actress in a Musical (Samantha Spiro)
• A View from the Bridge; Duke of York's Theatre*
• Born in the Gardens; Theatre Royal, Bath
• The Grouch; West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
• The Birthday Party; McCarter Theatre, Princeton, United States^[10]
• Two Thousand Years; Royal National Theatre*
• The Comedians; Acorn Theater, New York City
• Fucking Games; Royal Court Theatre*
• The Heart of Art; Off-Broadway, New York City
• Titanic; Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Broadway, New York City
• Rosmersholm; Young Vic*
• Three Birds Alighting on a Field; Royal Court Theatre*
• The Boys Next Door; Comedy Theatre*
• Marya; Old Vic*
• The Beaux Stratagem; Royal National Theatre*
• Ice Cream; Royal Court Theatre*
• Serious Money; Royal Court Theatre & Wyndham's Theatre*; Broadway, New York City
• A Midsummer Night's Dream; Regent's Park Open Air Theatre*
• No End of Blame; Oxford Playhouse, Oxford & Royal Court Theatre
• Once a Catholic; Wyndham's Theatre*
• Misalliance; Birmingham Rep
• The Amazons; Actor's Company
• The Entertainer; Actor's Company
• The Motive and the Cue; Noel Coward Theatre, London's West End

Audiobooks

• Inkdeath
• Magyk
• The Book Thief
• The Castle
• The Keys to the Kingdom
• Smoke
• The Vorrh
• Magpie Murders
• Moonflower Murders