David Schofield

David Schofield is an English actor born on 16 December 1951 in Wythenshawe, Manchester, one of ten children raised in a working-class family. He attended St. John Fisher and Thomas More R.C. Primary School alongside his brother Peter, and had his first acting experience at Manchester Boys' School at the age of 12. In 1967, at 15, he was accepted as a student assistant stage manager at a local repertory theatre, where he worked across every department — as a prop-maker, sound operator, writer, stage sweeper, waiter, and tea-maker — putting in 14-hour days six days a week. After two seasons, he enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, which he left early to begin working as a professional actor.

Schofield made his Broadway debut in 1974 in As You Like It. His stage career extended to major British institutions, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and the Royal Exchange in Manchester. In 1977 he developed the physical posture for and originated the role of John Merrick in Bernard Pomerance's The Elephant Man at the Hampstead Theatre, later reprising the role at the Royal National Theatre in 1981. His RSC work in 1983 included Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, Angelo in Measure for Measure, and the Duke of Buckingham in Henry VIII, all at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, with Measure for Measure subsequently transferring to the Barbican. He played Pompey in Antony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre in 1987, and in 1993 portrayed Roy M. Cohn in Tony Kushner's Angels in America at the National Theatre, a production that also featured Daniel Craig and Jason Isaacs. His work at the Royal Exchange, Manchester included The Crucible, The Beggar's Opera, Blues for Mister Charlie, and The Entertainer, in which he played Archie Rice in 2009.

On screen, Schofield first gained wider recognition playing the paranoid darts player in the Slaughtered Lamb pub scene in An American Werewolf in London (1981). Subsequent film appearances include The Dogs of War (1980), Tree of Hands (1989), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Anna Karenina (1997), Gladiator (2000), and From Hell (2001). He is perhaps most widely recognized for his role as Ian Mercer in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). Further film credits include Valkyrie (2008), in which he played anti-Hitler conspirator Erwin von Witzleben, The Wolfman (2010), Burke and Hare (2010), Lord of Tears (2013), Last Passenger (2013), Darkest Hour (2017), Mary Magdalene (2018), in which he appeared as Thomas the Apostle, and Mad Heidi (2022), where he played the grandfather figure Alpöhi.

Schofield's television work spans several decades. He played the title role in Shackleton (1983), appeared alongside Michael Caine in Jekyll & Hyde (1990), and portrayed DCS John Salway in the BBC series Our Friends in the North (1996). He guest starred as King Alined in the BBC fantasy series Merlin in 2009, played Police Sergeant Foley in Hugo Blick's seven-part BBC Two series The Shadow Line (2011), and appeared as Odin in the Doctor Who episode "The Girl Who Died" in 2015. He starred as Abbot Eadred in The Last Kingdom from 2015 to 2017. Additional television credits include Band of Gold, Footballers' Wives, Holby City, Father Brown, and The Coroner. In radio, he voiced Javert in a BBC adaptation of Les Misérables in 2001–02 and has played Frank Twist in the BBC Radio 4 drama series Brief Lives since 2007.

Schofield is married to Lally, and they have two children, Fred and Blanche. He is a patron of the Gesar Foundation.