Oliver Chris

Oliver Graham Chris, born on 7 November 1978 in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, is an English actor whose career spans television, film, and stage, including productions in London's West End and on Broadway. He attended Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys after passing his eleven-plus exam, then transferred to the Michael Hall Steiner School in his fourth year. He subsequently trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and, in 2005, completed an evening class at Birkbeck College, leading to his acceptance onto a degree course in history, politics, and philosophy.

Chris built an early television profile through appearances in comedy series including The Office, Green Wing, Nathan Barley, The IT Crowd, According to Bex, Rescue Me, and Bluestone 42, the last of which ran for three series on BBC Three and centered on a British bomb disposal detachment in Afghanistan. In 2006, he played Captain Leonard in the television film Sharpe's Challenge alongside Sean Bean, and appeared as Christian in Cyrano de Bergerac at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. That same year, he co-wrote and recorded a reworded version of the Beatles' "Let It Be" as a tribute to footballer Wayne Rooney, in collaboration with actor Stephen Campbell Moore and others; a revised version recorded for the 2006 FIFA World Cup accumulated 200,000 views on YouTube. In 2007, he appeared in the television comedy Bonkers, written by Sally Wainwright, and played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew at Wilton's Music Hall.

His stage work continued to develop through the late 2000s. He made his West End debut in late 2008 in Lisa Kron's comedy Well, and later appeared in Peter Hall's production of The Portrait of a Lady. In 2010, he performed alongside Judi Dench in Hall's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Rose Theatre in Kingston. That same year, he appeared in Ben Miller's feature-length debut comedy film Huge, which premiered in June 2010. In 2011, he took on one of the leading roles in the National Theatre production of One Man, Two Guvnors alongside James Corden, a credit that would later transfer to Broadway, where Chris appeared in the production between 2012 and 2015. He also appeared in two episodes of Silent Witness in 2011, and played Dr. Richard Truscott in the ITV medical drama Breathless, set in the 1960s, which aired for one series beginning in October 2013.

From 2014 to 2016, Chris played Prince William in Mike Bartlett's play King Charles III, performing the role in the West End and on Broadway, the latter again falling within his 2012–2015 Broadway period. In May 2017, he reprised the role for the BBC Two television film adaptation. Between February and May 2017, he played Orsino in a production of Twelfth Night at the Royal National Theatre. Later that year, in December 2017, he played Friedrich Engels in Young Marx, written by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman, which served as the opening production at the Bridge Theatre in London. In 2019, he took on the dual roles of Oberon and Theseus in Nicholas Hytner's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Bridge Theatre.

In addition to performing, Chris has pursued writing for the stage. His credits include Ralegh: The Treason Trial, staged at Winchester Great Hall and subsequently at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in 2018, and Jack Absolute Flies Again, co-written with Richard Bean and based on Sheridan's The Rivals, which was scheduled for the Olivier Theatre in 2020. He has also narrated the majority of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider audiobook series, though Dan Stevens replaced him as reader for Snakehead, Crocodile Tears, and Scorpia Rising. In his personal life, Chris is the partner of actress Kate Phillips, with whom he has a daughter. Prior to that relationship, he was engaged to actress Rachael Stirling, whom he had dated since 2007, until 2012.