Owen Teale
Teale in 2014
Born (1961-05-20) 20 May 1961 (age 62)
North Cornelly, Glamorgan, Wales
Alma materGuildford School of Acting
OccupationActor
Years active1984–present
Spouses
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1986, divorced)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 2001)​
Children3

Owen Teale (born 20 May 1961) is a Welsh character actor having appeared in many films, including Robin Hood (1991), The Hawk (1993), King Arthur (2004), The Last Legion (2007), Tolkien (2019), and Dream Horse (2020). On television, he has appeared in Doctor Who (1985), David Copperfield (1986), The Thin Blue Line (1995), Ballykissangel (1999), Line of Duty (2012), Stella (2012–2013), A Discovery of Witches (2018–2022), and The Rig (2023).

Teale is known mostly for his role as Ser Alliser Thorne in the HBO fantasy TV series Game of Thrones (2011–2016).

Early life

Owen Teale was born on 20 May 1961,[1] in North Cornelly, south Wales, son of Roy and Louise Teale.[2] He attended Cynffig Comprehensive School in Kenfig Hill;[1] he was suspended from the school for disciplinary offences,[1] and credits one of the teachers Mr Davis, with awakening his interest in acting.[1] He trained at the Guildford School of Acting.[1]

Career

Teale in Whitehall, London, England in 2013

In 1984, Teale made his television debut in The Mimosa Boys[1] a film about the Falklands War.[1] in 1985, he appeared in the Doctor Who serial Vengeance on Varos as "Maldak". His film debut was in War Requiem in 1989. He later appeared in Knights of God (1989), Great Expectations (1989), The Fifteen Streets (1989) and Boon (1990) before being cast as Will Scarlet in the 1991 film Robin Hood.[3][4]

He went on to appear in such series as Dangerfield, Ballykissangel,[1] The Thin Blue Line and the long-running Belonging, and later Spooks and Murphy's Law.[1][3]

He later appeared as Lophakin in the 1999 adaptation of The Cherry Orchard, opposite Charlotte Rampling as Ranevskaya and Alan Bates as Gayev. He played the infamous Nazi judge Roland Freisler in Conspiracy. He also had parts In Midsomer Murders and Lewis.[3]

In 2005, he played a lead role in Marian, Again, in which he was the abusive husband of Harrison's eponymous character.[5] He also did voice over narration for "Tales from the Green Valley", one of several farm series he has done for the BBC.[3]

In 2006, he appeared in the Torchwood episode "Countrycide".[6] Also in 2006 he had a role in the HBO UK TV movie Tsunami: The Aftermath. In 2007, he guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio drama The Mind's Eye. In the same year, he starred in The Last Legion[7] alongside Ben Kingsley and Colin Firth,[5] and was shot on location in Morocco, Tunisia and Slovakia.[5]

In 2011, Teale appeared as Ser Alliser Thorne in Game of Thrones, the HBO TV adaptation of George R. R. Martin's novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, replacing at short notice Derek Halligan.[8] He reprised this role in Season 4, Season 5, and Season 6.[9][10]

In 2012, he played Dai in the comedy-drama series Stella,[2] and Robert Holland, the fictional UK Foreign Secretary, in the drama series Kidnap and Ransom.[11] He also played Chief Constable Osborne in the BBC police drama Line of Duty. Between 2018 and 2022. he played Peter Knox in A Discovery of Witches,[3] a series based on the book of the same name by Deborah Harkness.

In 2020, he starred opposite Toni Collette and Damian Lewis in the Wales based sports comedy-drama film Dream Horse.[2]

In 2023, Teale starred as Lars Hutton, causing problems on the Kinloch Bravo oil rig in The Rig, in a cast that included Iain Glen, Emily Hampshire, Mark Addy, and Martin Compston.[12]

He has also worked as a voiceover artist for television advertisements.[13]

Personal life

In 1986, Teale married actress Dilys Watling, with whom he has a son, Ion.[14] They divorced in the mid-1990s.[15] In 2001, he married actress Sylvestra Le Touzel;[15] they have two daughters, Eliza and Grace.[5] He likes to play golf, and was made an honorary member of the Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club.[5]

Awards

Teale won the 1997 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Torvald opposite Janet McTeer in Ibsen's A Doll's House.[1][16]

Filmography

Films

Year Title Role Director Notes
1989 War Requiem The Unknown Soldier Derek Jarman
1991 Robin Hood Will Scarlet John Irvin
1993 The Hawk Ken Marsh David Hayman
1996 Marco Polo: The Missing Chapter Adolph Rafi Bukai
1999 The Cherry Orchard Lopahin Michael Cacoyannis
2001 The Search for John Gissing Giles Hanagan Mike Binder
2004 Jack Brown and the Curse of the Crown Jack Brown Andrew Gillman
King Arthur Pelagius Antoine Fuqua
2007 The Last Legion Vatrenus Doug Lefler
2008 Inconceivable Richard Newman Mary McGuckian
Love Me Forever Peter Schwarz Åsa Faringer & Ulf Hultberg
2009 It's Alive Sgt. Perkins Josef Rusnak
2011 Hunky Dory Davy's Dad Marc Evans
2013 The Fold Edward Ashton John Jencks
2016 Nocturne Murray Konstantinos Frangopoulos
2019 Tolkien Headmaster Gilson Dome Karukoski
2020 Dream Horse Brian Vokes Euros Lyn

Television

Year Title Character Production Notes
1985 Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos Maldak BBC 2 episodes
1986 David Copperfield Ham Peggotty BBC 5 episodes
1989 The Fifteen Streets John O'Brien Part of a collection of small-screen epics based on the best-selling books of Catherine Cookson
1995 The Thin Blue Line Gary BBC Season 1, Episode 2 "Fire and Terror"
1996 Dangerfield PC Dave Chapman BBC "Scars" series 3, Episode 4
1999 Ballykissangel Connor Devlin BBC Season 5
2001 Conspiracy Roland Freisler
2004 Spooks Robert Morgan BBC "Frequently Asked Questions" – Series 3, Episode 9
2005 Midsomer Murders Little Mal Kirby ITV "Second Sight" – Series 8, Episode 5
2005 Timewatch Erucius BBC Episode: "Murder in Rome"
2005 Tales from the Green Valley narrator BBC2
2006 Torchwood Evan Sherman BBC "Countrycide" – Series 1, Episode 6
2007 Inspector Lewis Nicky Turnbull ITV "Old School Ties" – Series 1, Episode 3
2011, 2014–2016 Game of Thrones Alliser Thorne HBO Recurring role
19 episodes
2012 The Hollow Crown – Henry V Fluellen BBC "Henry V"
2012 Kidnap and Ransom Robert Holland ITV1 3 episodes
2012, 2021 Line of Duty Chief Inspector/Chief Constable Phillip Osborne BBC 3 episodes (2012)
2012–2013 Stella Dai Kosh Sky 1 20 episodes
2015 River CSupt Marcus McDonald BBC One 6 episodes
2017 Pulse Chad Berger ABC TV Recurring role
2018–2022 A Discovery of Witches Peter Knox Sky 1 18 episodes
2021 The Pembrokeshire Murders Gerard Elias QC ITV1 3 Part Mini-Series
2023 The Rig Lars Hutton Amazon Prime Video 6 episodes
2023 Wolf Oliver Anchor-Ferrers BBC One

Theatre

Year Production Role Ref.
1996 A Doll's House Torvald
2003 The Dance of Death Kurt
2008 Macbeth Macbeth
2013 Passion Play James [17]
2014 Under Milk Wood Narrator [18]
2015 The Broken Heart BASSANES [19]
2016 No Man's Land Briggs [20]
2016 Gaslight Jack Manningham [21]
2022 A Christmas Carol Ebenezer Scrooge [22]
2023 [23]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Game of Thrones' Owen Teale on his best teacher: Mr Davis". tes.com. 1 May 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Williams, Kathryn (31 May 2021). "From Line of Duty to Game of Thrones: Owen Teale, the Welsh actor who has been in a host of the biggest shows in TV history". WalesOnline. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Owen Teale cv". independenttalent.com. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  4. ^ "Owen Teale cv". tvguide.com. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e "'No more Mr Nice Guy' says Owen Teale". walesonline.co.uk. 2 September 2005. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  6. ^ "Torchwood Recap: Season 1, Episode 6: "Countrycide" | The House Next Door | Slant Magazine". slantmagazine.com. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  7. ^ "Movie Review: The Last Legion – History of the Ancient World". historyoftheancientworld.com. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  8. ^ Profile, winteriscoming.net; accessed 18 March 2015.
  9. ^ "'Game of Thrones' death: Longtime actor exits with touching interview". ew.com. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  10. ^ "Game of Thrones' Owen Teale on Jon Snow, That Hanging Scene, and Why He Didn't Enjoy Playing Ser Alliser". vulture.com. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  11. ^ "Game Of Thrones' Owen Teale, Helen Baxendale and Trevor Eve cast in ITV's Kidnap and Ransom | Unreality TV". primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk. 5 September 2011. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  12. ^ "Meet the cast of The Rig". radiotimes.com. 6 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Deliveroo. We get it". Red Facilities. 29 April 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  14. ^ Hayward, Anthony (31 August 2021). "Dilys Watling obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  15. ^ a b D'Emilio, Isabella (1 February 2022). "ITV Midsomer Murders star Owen Teale's love life from first wife in Coronation Street and marriage to Endeavour actress". MyLondon. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  16. ^ "The 1997 Tony Award Winners". The New York Times. 3 June 1997. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Owen Teale, Samantha Bond and More Join Zoe Wanamaker in London Passion Play Revival | Broadway Buzz | Theatre.com". www.theatre.com. 8 March 2013. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016.
  18. ^ "INTERVIEW: Game of Thrones star Owen Teale talks to Simon Lockyer about Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood". northdevonjournal.co.uk. 22 May 2014. Archived from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  19. ^ "Shakespeare's Globe". www.shakespearesglobe.com. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  20. ^ "Odds & Ends: Game of Thrones' Owen Teale Set for Ian McKellen & Patrick Stewart's No Man's Land & More". broadway.com. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  21. ^ "Sparring Game of Thrones actors a highlight of Gaslight: review | Toronto Star". thestar.com. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  22. ^ "Owen Teale will be Scrooge in Old Vic's A Christmas Carol | Playbill". playbill.com. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  23. ^ "A Christmas Carol 2023". Marriner Theatres. Marriner Group. 28 September 2023. Archived from the original on 25 October 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.

External links

Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play
Authority control databases
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