Andy Serkis

He supports and is associated with charities like PETA and White Knot for Equality, which supports the LGBT community.

Andrew Clement G. Serkis was born on April 20, 1964 to Clement Serkis, an Armenian doctor and Lylie, a British teacher. He was born in Ruislip Manor, West London, England and has four siblings.

Serkis attended St Benedict's School, located at Ealingin London, and then went on to study visual arts at the University of Lancaster. He finally made his acting debut in the play ‘Gotcha’ by Barrie Keeffe. This was a turning point in his life as he discovered his true passion for acting.

In his final year at the University of Lancaster, he did a one-man performance of his adaptation of the graphic novel, ‘The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman’ written by Raymond Briggs.

Serkis started his acting career at Duke's Playhouse in Lancaster in order to get his Equity card. On receiving the card, he performed in multiple plays under the tutelage of Jonathan Petherbridge.

He got his first major theatre role in 1989 when he was cast in a production of ‘Macbeth’, while working for the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. His relationship with the theatre continued throughout his career as he appeared in other productions like, ‘She Stoops to Conquer’, ‘Your Home in the West’ and ‘True Nature of Love’.

It was in 1990 that Serkis delivered a breathtaking performance at the Royal Court Theatre, London with his unique interpretation of ‘The Fool’ in the adaptation of Shakespeare's play ‘King Lear’.

In 1989, Serkis started appearing on the TV series, ‘The New Statesman’ as Peter Moran. In the same year, he was also seen in ‘Morris Minor's Marvellous Motors’ as Sparky Pluggand as Dudin in ‘Saracen’. He also got an opportunity to play the major recurring role of Owen in the British TV drama, ‘Streetwise’.

While continuing with his theatre work in the 1990s, Serkis went on to appear on a number of TV shows. He played the roles of Dean Platt and Alex Rackin in ‘The Bill’. He then portrayed Pyotr in the series ‘Grushko’, and got to play the recurring role of Tom in the 1994 crime series, ‘Finney’.

Andy Serkis is credited for transcending the motion-capture art form to a new level. His performance as Gollum in ‘The Lord of the Rings Trilogy’ has been praised by many and it also nominated him for several prestigious awards.