Samuel Barnett

Samuel Barnett is an English actor born on 25 April 1980 in Whitby, North Yorkshire. He has four siblings. His mother comes from a Quaker background and his father was descended from Polish Jews. Barnett began performing at a young age before relocating to London to train at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

Barnett's career gained significant momentum through his involvement in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys, which he joined from its very first reading. He appeared in the original London stage production of the 2004 play and subsequently performed in productions in New York, Sydney, Wellington, and Hong Kong, as well as in radio and film versions of the work. In 2009, he played John Everett Millais in the BBC series Desperate Romantics and Joseph Severn in the film Bright Star. That same year he appeared at the National Theatre in Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women, which ran from 20 April to 4 July 2010.

From July 2012, Barnett performed in an all-male-cast production at Shakespeare's Globe in London, playing Queen Elizabeth in Richard III alongside Mark Rylance in the title role, and Sebastian in Twelfth Night. The production transferred to the Apollo Theatre in the West End, opening on 2 November 2012 for a limited engagement. Both plays subsequently transferred to Broadway in 2013, playing at the Belasco Theatre until February 2014. On Broadway, Barnett reprised the role of Elizabeth Woodville in Richard III and took on the role of Viola in Twelfth Night, a part previously played by Johnny Flynn in London.

Barnett's Broadway career spans 2006 to 2013 and includes The History Boys, the comedy Twelfth Night, and King Richard II. For his work on the Broadway production of The History Boys, he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play in 2006 and received a Tony Award nomination. He received a second Tony Award nomination in 2014, for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Twelfth Night.

Among his earlier recognition, Barnett was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Award as Most Promising Newcomer for The Marriage of Figaro in 2002. He won Best Newcomer and Best Supporting Actor in a Play at the WhatsOnStage Theatregoers Choice Awards for the original production of The History Boys, and received a nomination for the 29th annual Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. He was also nominated for the 2006 British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer for the film version of The History Boys.

In July 2018, Barnett reunited with Bennett and History Boys co-star Sacha Dhawan for Bennett's play Allelujah! at the Bridge Theatre. In 2022 at the Edinburgh Fringe, he performed the one-man show Feeling Afraid as If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen, written by Marcelo dos Santos, for which he received the Stage Edinburgh Award for excellence in acting. The production subsequently ran at the Bush Theatre in London in late 2023.

Barnett's television work includes a role in the BBC comedy Twenty Twelve and the Showtime drama Penny Dreadful. He played the lead role of Dirk Gently in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, the 2016 BBC America adaptation of the book series by Douglas Adams. Barnett is gay and in a relationship with theatre director Adam Penford. His father died from COVID-19 in 2020.