Alex Jennings

Alex Michael Jennings is an English actor born on 10 May 1957 in Romford, Essex, to Peggy Patricia (née Mahoney) and Michael Thomas Jennings. He attended Abbs Cross Technical High School in Hornchurch before studying English and theatre studies at the University of Warwick, where he graduated in 1978. He subsequently trained for two years at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Jennings began his professional career in regional repertory theatre in the early 1980s. In 1985 he played Maximilien Robespierre in The Scarlet Pimpernel, a production through which he first worked with director Nicholas Hytner, a collaborator with whom he would continue to work for decades. His early stage work led to a long association with both the Royal National Theatre, where his roles included Leontes in The Winter's Tale and the title role in Albert Speer, and the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he took on the title roles in Peer Gynt, Richard II, and Hamlet, as well as Angelo in Measure for Measure.

Among his RSC credits, Jennings played Theseus and Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, a production that toured the United Kingdom and the United States before reaching Broadway in 1996. His performance as Gloumov in Too Clever by Half at the Old Vic earned him the Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1988, and he received a nomination in the same category the following year for Dorante in The Liar. He won a second Olivier Award for Best Actor for the title role in Peer Gynt in 1996, and a third for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as Professor Henry Higgins in the Cameron Mackintosh and Trevor Nunn revival of My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 2002. He is the only performer to have won Olivier Awards across the drama, musical, and comedy categories.

In 2004 Jennings played George W. Bush in the original National Theatre production of David Hare's Stuff Happens. In 2007 he appeared as Garry Essendine in Noël Coward's Present Laughter at the National Theatre, and in 2009 he played Benjamin Britten in The Habit of Art. In 2011 he portrayed Mikhail Bulgakov in the National Theatre's Collaborators, and in 2014 he took over the role of Willy Wonka from Douglas Hodge in Sam Mendes's West End production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical. In 2016 he reprised the role of Professor Higgins in the Australian 60th anniversary production of My Fair Lady, directed by Julie Andrews.

Jennings's film career includes the role of Lord Mark in The Wings of the Dove (1997), alongside Helena Bonham Carter, Elizabeth McGovern, Charlotte Rampling, and Michael Gambon, a film that received four Academy Award nominations and five BAFTA nominations. He appeared in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), and in 2006 played Prince Charles opposite Helen Mirren's Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears's The Queen, written by Peter Morgan, which depicts the royal family's response to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and received six Academy Award nominations. His subsequent film appearances include Babel (2006), Belle (2013), and The Lady in the Van (2015), in which he portrayed playwright Alan Bennett opposite Maggie Smith and under the direction of Nicholas Hytner. That film premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. He also appeared in The Four Feathers (2002) as Colonel Hamilton alongside Heath Ledger, Kate Hudson, and Michael Sheen.

On television, Jennings played Alan Cowdrey QC in the BBC One legal drama Silk from 2011 to 2014. From 2016 to 2017 he appeared in the Netflix series The Crown as Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, opposite Claire Foy and Jared Harris. He portrayed King Leopold I of Belgium in the ITV and PBS series Victoria from 2016 to 2019 alongside Jenna Coleman. In 2018 he played Liberal MP Peter Bessell in Stephen Frears's BBC One miniseries A Very English Scandal, alongside Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw, a production centered on the Jeremy Thorpe affair. In 2020 he appeared in Steve McQueen's Small Axe: Mangrove, starring Letitia Wright. His earlier television credits include Inspector Morse, Lewis, Foyle's War, the title role in Ashenden, the Rev. Hutton in the BBC miniseries Cranford starring Judi Dench, and John Le Mesurier in the BBC drama Hancock and Joan. In June 2008 he made his operetta debut at the English National Opera in Robert Carsen's production of Bernstein's Candide, playing both Voltaire and Doctor Pangloss.

Jennings has also maintained an extensive presence in radio and audio recording. His radio credits include Casino Royale, The Way of the World, Strange Meeting, and Vorbis in Small Gods, and he has served as a regular narrator on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime. His audiobook recordings include works by Jeffrey Archer, John Wyndham, C.S. Lewis, Jules Verne, and Mark Haddon, among others.