Robert Kazinsky
Kazinsky in 2015
Born
Robert John Appleby

(1983-11-18) 18 November 1983 (age 40)
Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England
Alma materGuildford School of Acting
OccupationActor
Years active2002–present

Robert John Appleby (born 18 November 1983),[1] known professionally as Robert Kazinsky, is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Casper Rose in the Sky One drama Dream Team (2005–2006) and Sean Slater in the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2006–2009, 2019, 2021–2022). In 2013, he portrayed Chuck Hansen in Pacific Rim and Macklyn Warlow in the sixth season of HBO's True Blood. In 2016, he played Orgrim Doomhammer in Warcraft and Jimmy Pritchard in the Fox television series Second Chance. In 2019, he appeared as the Don in Captain Marvel.

Early life

Kazinsky was born Robert John Appleby in Haywards Heath, Sussex, England on 18 November 1983.[2] Kazinsky is Jewish.[3] He is also a fluent speaker of Hebrew.[4] Kazinsky was educated at Hove Park School in Hove as well as K-Bis Theatre School in Brighton, from 1995 to 2000. He appeared in their productions of Bugsy Malone and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Kazinsky trained as an actor at the Guildford School of Acting from September 2002 to July 2005. He took his grandfather's middle name as his stage name.[5][6]

Career

Kazinsky appeared in Israeli television commercials before he started acting.[7] He made his acting debut in 2005, when he had a guest role in an episode of the CBBC children's programme The Basil Brush Show, playing a character named Sven Garley. Kazinsky then got a role in Sky One's football drama series Dream Team, in which he played Casper Rose from late 2005 to 2006, when he was killed off towards the end of the ninth series, after he announced his intention to leave.[5]

Kazinsky next played Sean Slater in EastEnders; he made his first appearance on 22 August 2006.[8] On 27 March 2007, Kazinsky was suspended from work on EastEnders for two months. A story in The People newspaper alleged that Kazinsky had bombarded a model with "obscene text messages and photographs." Kazinsky issued a statement apologising "for any offence caused and for bringing the show into disrepute".[9] Kazinsky announced he would be leaving the show in October 2008[10] and made his last appearance in the show on 1 January 2009. On YouTube, Kazinsky was featured as the presenter in the EastEnders launch video when they launched their own video channel on the website.

He made his film debut in 2012 when director George Lucas offered him a part in his World War II film Red Tails, in which Kazinsky plays a "pilot who has to adapt to being among African-American comrades."[11] In October 2010, Kazinsky was cast in the film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. He would have played Fili, a member of the Company of Dwarves,[12] but in April 2011, Kazinsky resigned from the role due to personal reasons.[13] On 9 January 2011, he guest starred on the drama series Brothers & Sisters as Dr Rick Appleton.[14]

On 13 November 2012, Kazinsky joined the cast of the sixth season of the fantasy drama series True Blood, which premiered in 2013.[15] That same year, Kazinsky appeared in Guillermo del Toro's science-fiction monster film Pacific Rim, as Chuck Hansen, an Australian Jaeger pilot.[16]

In March 2015, he was cast in the leading role in the Fox drama series Second Chance.[17] His character, Jimmy Pritchard, was a murdered elderly ex-cop who is genetically brought back to life as a man in his mid-30s with unusual powers. The series debuted in 2016.[18] Due to low ratings, it was cancelled after one series.[19]

Kazinsky co-starred as Orgrim Doomhammer in the fantasy adventure film Warcraft, based on the video game of the same name which was released in May 2016.[20][21] An avid World of Warcraft player, Kazinsky credits the game with giving him self-confidence during a period in which he would be harassed and attacked by people who confused him for the Sean Slater character.[22]

In 2018, he appeared in the science-fiction film Mute which premiered on Netflix. In 2019, he had a cameo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Captain Marvel.

On 17 January 2019, it was announced that Kazinsky would reprise his role of Sean Slater for a guest appearance.[23] He returned to EastEnders for a brief stint which commenced on 26 April 2019. Kazinsky returned for two further one-off appearances, in the episode broadcast on 1 November 2021, and appeared via video call on 7 April 2022.[24]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2009 Love Mikey Short
2009 Cowboy Mark Short
2012 Red Tails Chester Barnes
2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Fili Uncredited
2013 Pacific Rim Chuck Hansen as Rob Kazinsky
2013 Siren Guy
2015 Hot Pursuit Randy
2016 Warcraft Orgrim Doomhammer
2018 Spivak Chuck
2018 Mute Rob as Rob Kazinsky
2019 For Love or Money Mark
2019 Captain Marvel Biker (The Don)
2019 The Assent Joel
2020 Big America Henry
2022 The Gray Man Perini
TBA Star Trek: Section 31 TBA Filming

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2005 The Basil Brush Show Sven Garley Episode: "Basil's Brush with Fame"
2005–2006 Dream Team Casper Rose 30 episodes
2006–2009, 2019, 2021–2022 EastEnders Sean Slater Series regular
2010 Law and Order: Los Angeles Ronnie Powell Episode: "Sylmar"
2010 Brothers and Sisters Dr Rick Appleton 2 episodes
2013 Robot Chicken George Jetson Voice
Episode: "Robot Fight Accident"
2013 True Blood Macklyn Warlow 9 episodes
2016 Second Chance Jimmy Pritchard (revived younger version) 11 episodes
2016 Face Off Himself Guest judge

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2017 Mass Effect: Andromeda Archon Voice

Awards and nominations

Year Group Award Nominated work Result
2006 British Soap Awards Sexiest Male EastEnders Nominated
2006 Villain of the Year Nominated
2007 Sexiest Male Nominated
2007 Villain of the Year Nominated
2007 Inside Soap Awards Sexiest Male Nominated
2007 Best Bad Boy Nominated
2008 All About Soap Awards Fittest Fella Nominated
2008 British Soap Awards Sexiest Male Nominated
2008 Villain of the Year Nominated
2008 Inside Soap Awards Sexiest Male Won
2008 Best Actor Won
2008 Best Bad Boy Nominated
2008 Digital Spy Soap Awards Most Popular Actor Nominated
2008 Sexiest Male Nominated
2008 Villain of the Year Nominated
2008 Soaper Star Awards Best Actor Won
2008 Best Bad Boy Nominated
2008 Sexiest Male Won
2009 EastEnders Awards Male Hottie Won
2009 All About Soap Awards Killer Secret Nominated
2009 Fatal Attraction Won
2009 British Soap Awards Best Actor Won
2009 Sexiest Male Nominated

References

  1. ^ "Robert Kazinsky, Louis Smith and Bill Dare". BBC. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  2. ^ "New soap star suspended after phone pest claims". The Argus. 9 January 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  3. ^ Dan, Verbin (25 October 2010). "Robert Kazinsky Cast as Dwarf in The Hobbit". Shalom Life. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
  4. ^ Taylor, Charlotte (11 September 2006). "From Mid Sussex to Bad Boy of EastEnders". Mid Sussex Times. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Web Chat: Robert Kazinsky". Harchester United. 23 April 2006. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Robert Kazinsky". Jewish United Fund.
  7. ^ "Jewish actor joins EastEnders". TotallyJewish.com. Retrieved 8 January 2006.
  8. ^ "Look at EastEnders' Sean Slater now!". Daily Mirror. May 2015.
  9. ^ "BBC soap suspends 'obscene' actor". BBC News. 8 January 2007.
  10. ^ "EastEnders' Sean Slater to make dramatic Christmas exit". 14 October 2008.
  11. ^ "Ex-Eastender Rob Kazinsky lands..." March 2009. Archived from the original on 14 May 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  12. ^ Tobin, Christian (22 October 2010). "Warner Bros confirms 'Hobbit' cast". Digital Spy. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  13. ^ "Rob Kazinsky quits 'The Hobbit'". Digital Spy. 24 April 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  14. ^ Marsi, Steve (11 November 2010). "Rob Kazinsky to Guest Star on Brothers & Sisters". TV Fanatic. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  15. ^ Christian Tobion (13 November 2012). "True Blood casts ex-EastEnders star Rob Kazinsky". Digital Spy.
  16. ^ "Rob Kazinsky Pacific Rim". IGN. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  17. ^ Miska, Brad (3 March 2015). "Rob Kazinsky, is set to play the monster in Fox's "Frankenstein"". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  18. ^ La Vigna, Christopher (3 March 2015). ""PACIFIC RIM" Actor Rob Kazinsky Tapped as Fox's "FRANKENSTEIN"". Fangoria. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  19. ^ "'Second Chance' canceled at Fox". EW.com. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  20. ^ Collura, Scott (4 December 2013). "Ben Foster and Dominic Cooper Head for Warcraft". IGN. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  21. ^ Schwartz, Terri (27 August 2014). "'Warcraft': Rob Kazinsky says Azeroth 'exceeds every expectation'". Zap2it. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  22. ^ Team Coco (29 January 2016), Robert Kazinsky: "World Of Warcraft" Saved My Life - CONAN on TBS, archived from the original on 14 December 2021, retrieved 7 July 2020
  23. ^ "EastEnders star Rob Kazinsky defends surprise comeback as Sean Slater". www.whatsontv.co.uk. 26 January 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  24. ^ Lee, Jess (17 January 2019). "EastEnders shock comeback for Sean Slater as Rob Kazinsky returns". Digital Spy. Retrieved 17 January 2019.

External links

British Soap Award for Best Actor
Authority control databases
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