
Simon Russell Beale

Photo: Charlie Carter
Simon Beresford
Film
Mary Queen of Scots |
Dir: Josie Rourke Focus Features |
Radioactive |
Dir: Marjane Satrapi Studio Canal |
Operation Finale |
Dir: Chris Weitz MGM |
The Death of Stalin |
Dir: Armando Iannucci Main Journey |
Tarzan |
Dir: David Yates Warner Bros |
Into the Woods |
Dir: Rob Marshall Five Beans Productions Ltd |
My Week With Marilyn |
Dir: Simon Curtis Trademark (Marilyn) Ltd |
The Deep Blue Sea |
Dir: Terence Davis Deep Blue Sea Productions |
The Gathering |
Dir: Brian Gilbert Samuelson Films |
Alice in Wonderland |
Dir: Nick Willing Hallmark |
Hamlet |
Dir: Kenneth Branagh Fishmonger Films |
An Ideal Husband |
Dir: Oliver Parker Ideal Film Company |
Theatre
The Tragedy of King Richard The Second |
Dir: Joe Hill-Gibbins Almeida Theatre |
The Lehman Trilogy |
Dir: Sam Mendes National Theatre |
The Tempest |
Dir: Gregory Doran Royal Shakespeare Theatre |
Mr Foote's Other Leg |
Dir: RIchard Eyre Hampstead Theatre/ Haymarket (London Transfer) |
Temple |
Dir: Howard Davies Donmar Warehouse |
King Lear |
Dir: Sam Mendes National Theatre |
Privates On Parade |
Dir: Michael Grandage Noel Coward Theatre |
The Hothouse |
Dir: Jamie Lloyd Trafalgar Studios |
Timon of Athens |
Dir: Nicholas Hytner National Theatre |
Bluebird |
Dir: Gaye Taylor Upchurch Atlantic Theatre Company, New York |
Collaborators |
Dir: Nicholas Hytner National Theatre |
Death Trap |
Dir: Matthew Warchus Noel Coward Theatre |
London Assurance |
Dir: Nicholas Hytner National Theatre |
The Cherry Orchard |
Dir: Sam Mendes Brooklyn Academy/ World Tour/ Old Vic |
The Winter's Tale |
Dir: Sam Mendes Brooklyn Academy/ World Tour/ Old Vic |
A Slight Ache |
Dir: Iqbal Khan National Theatre |
Landscape |
Dir: Iqbal Khan National Theatre |
Major Barbara |
Dir: Nicholas Hytner National Theatre |
Monty Python's Spamalot |
Dir: Mike Nicholls Palace Theatre |
Much Ado About Nothing |
Dir: Nicholas Hytner National Theatre |
The Alchemist |
Dir: Nicholas Hytner National Theatre |
The Life of Galileo |
Dir: Howard Davies National Theatre |
Julius Casear |
Dir: Deborah Warner Barbican Productions |
Macbeth |
Dir: John Caird Almeida Theatre |
Monty Python's Spamalot |
Dir: Mike Nicholls Schubert Theatre, New York |
The Philanthropist |
Dir: David Grindley Donmar Warehouse |
Jumpers |
Dir: David Leveaux National Theatre/ West End |
Jumpers |
Dir: David Leveaux Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Boardway |
Humble Boy |
Dir: John Caird Gielgud Theatre |
Twelfth Night |
Dir: Sam Mendes Donar Warehouse |
Uncle Vanya |
Dir: Sam Mendes Donmar Warehouse |
Hamlet |
Dir: John Caird Royal National Theatre |
Humble Boy |
Dir: John Caird Royal National Theatre |
Candide |
Dir: John Caird Royal National Theatre |
Money |
Dir: John Caird Royal National Theatre |
Othello |
Dir: Sam Mendes Royal National Theatre |
Rosencratz & Guildenstern Are Dead |
Dir: Matthew Francis Royal National Theatre |
Volpone |
Dir: Matthew Warchus Royal National Theatre |
Richard III |
Dir: Sam Mendes Royal Shakespeare Company |
TV
Vanity Fair |
Dir: James Strong ITV/Amazon Drama |
Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe |
Dir: Sam Ward House of Tomorrow TV |
Monterverdi in Mantua |
Dir: Andy King-Dabbs BBC TV |
Penny Dreadful |
Dir: Pippa Harris (Producer) PD Film Productions |
Masterclass |
Dir: Mike Poulson Sky Arts |
Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 |
Dir: Richard Eyre BBC TV |
Spooks |
Dir: Various Kudos for BBC TV |
Dunkirk |
Dir: Alex Holmes BBC TV |
John Adams |
Dir: Peter Jones WGBH Boston |
Great Historians: Gibbon |
Dir: Johnathan Geely BBC TV |
A Dance to the Music of Time |
Dir: Alvin Rakoff/ Chris Morahan Dancetime |
Persuasion |
Dir: Roger Michell BBC TV |
Radio
Book of the Week: The Story of Alice |
Dir: Joanna Green BBC Radio |
Dead Girls Tell No Tales |
Dir: Sean O'Connor BBC Radio |
A Spy Amongst Friends |
Dir: David Roper BBC Radio |
War and Peace | Pier Productions |
The Organist's Daughter |
Dir: Martin Jenkins Pier Productions |
The Screwtape Letters |
Dir: Jane Marshall BBC Radio |
Collaborators |
Dir: Nicholas Hytner Watershed Productions |
Copenhagen |
Dir: Emma Harding (Producer) BBC Radio |
Discovering Music |
Dir: Rebecca Bean BBC Radio |
Smiley's People |
Dir: Patrick Rayner BBC Radio |
The Secret Pilgrim |
Dir: Patrick Rayner BBC Radio |
A Murder of Quality |
Dir: Marc Beeby BBC Radio |
Call for the Dead |
Dir: Patrick Rayner BBC Radio |
Chekov's Gun |
Dir: Beaty Rubens BBC Radio |
Leaving |
Dir: Marion Nancarrow BBC World Service |
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy |
Dir: Ella Littlewood BBC TV |
The Essay: Enlightenment Voices |
Dir: Beaty Rubens BBC Radio |
The Essay: Tennyson |
Dir: Beaty Rubens BBC Radio |
The Honourable Schoolboy |
Dir: Marc Beeby BBC Radio |
The Looking Glass War |
Dir: Marc Beeby BBC Radio |
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy |
Dir: Marc Beeby BBC Radio |
Words and Music: Atonement |
Dir: Lisa Davis BBC Radio |
English Misfits in France |
Dir: Robyn Read BBC Radio |
Words and Music: Joy |
Dir: Elizabeth Arno & Tony Cheevers BBC Radio |
A Shropshire Lad |
Dir: Steven Canny BBC Radio 4 |
Oedipus Rex |
Dir: Alison Rach BBC Radio |
The Early Music Show: Purcell & Shakespeare |
Dir: Rebecca Bean BBC Radio |
The Making of Music: The History of Western Classic |
Dir: Sara Conkey BBC Radio |
Tom Jones |
Dir: Claire Grove BBC Radio |
Words and Music |
Dir: Tony Cheevers BBC Radio |
Sunday Feature: Bertolt Brecht & His Composers |
Dir: Jessica Isaacs BBC Radio |
Twenty Minutes: Mozart |
Dir: Chris Wines BBC Radio |
A Certain Age |
Dir: Dawn Ellis BBC Radio |
De Profundis |
Dir: Lu Kempe BBC Radio |
Le Grand Meaulnes |
Dir: Sara Davies BBC Radio |
Trafalgar |
Dir: Lisa Osborne BBC Radio |
A Map of British Poetry |
Dir: Tim Dee BBC Radio |
Japanese Gothic Tales |
Dir: Roxanna Silbert BBC Radio |
Harriet |
Dir: Peter Kavanagh BBC Radio |
Piaf & Cocteau |
Dir: Peter Kavanagh BBC Radio |
Special Berlioz Evening |
Dir: Adam Gatehouse BBC Radio |







Skills
Accents & Dialects: |
American-Standard, London*, RP* |
Languages: (* = Native/Fluent) |
Latin |
Music & Dance: (* = highly skilled) |
Ballad*, Keyboards, Oboe*, Opera*, Organ, Piano*, Recorder, Tenor* |
Performance: | Radio Presenting, Voice Over |
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Reviews
THE LEHMAN TRILOGY
★★★★★ “Its three extraordinary actors, who are the sole occupants of the vast Lyttelton stage for nearly 180 minutes. They are SIMON RUSSELL BEALE, Ben Miles and Adam Godley. Behold them with wonder, humble theatergoer, for they are multitudes. Henry Lehman is embodied by BEALE, arguably the greatest classical actor of the present-day London stage, with a heart-stirring air of contemplative awe.”
Ben Brantley – New York Times
★★★★ “SIMON RUSSELL BEALE is particularly compelling in his portrait of the disturbingly single-minded (and latterly demon-haunted) Philip Lehman in the second generation (“Pure money! Pure adrenaline!”), but can metamorphose, with the tiniest shifts of gesture, into a demure 19th-century Alabama girl, a doddery old rabbi, or a society spouse turned spiteful lush through neglect.”
Paul Taylor – Independent
★★★★★ “This engrossing play about the banking family provides a history of western capitalism and an acting masterclass from SIMON RUSSELL BEALE, Ben Miles and Adam Godley. The result is an intimate epic that becomes a masterly study of acting as well as of the intricacies of high finance.”
Michael Billington – The Guardian
THE DEATH OF STALIN
★★★★★“For decades, I wondered if this extraordinary theatre actor would ever get a screen role worthy of his stage career. Now at last he has. His Beria is the dark heart of the film.”
- Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)
★★★★“Simon Russell Beale, acclaimed for his stage work, is the standout as odious secret police chief Beria.”
- Jordan Farley (GamesRadar)
★★★★★“He’s the primary villain in a film that’s overflowing with them, and Russell Beale brings oily glee to the role.”
- Phil De Semlyen (Time Out)
★★★★★“(Beale is) on inspired form as Beria […] and keeps the rest of the cast on their toes.”
- Chris Hunneysett (Mirror)
“One of the delights of the film is Simon Russell Beale’s creepy but comic turn as Beria.”
- Geoffrey Macnab (Independent)
“Beale is divine as Beria, a conniver who prides himself on always being three moves ahead of his opponents.”
- Tim Grierson (Screen Daily)
“Beria is a man of great evil, and that Beale is able to incorporate a comedy into the role is a mastery of writing and performance.”
– Christopher Marchant (Blasting News)
“Shining brightest among this luminous cast is Simon Russell Beale, a theatrical giant on a too-rare screen break, who invests Stalin’s poisonous security chief Lavrentiy Beria with the ideal mix of the slimy and the sinister.”
- Matthew Norman (Evening Standard)
“His juiciest screen role to date.”
- Tim Robey (The Telegraph)
“Simon Russell Beale, who plays security chief Lavrentiy Beria as a murderous gangster deserves special mention.”
- Joe Bond (Spectator Life)
★★★★“The sinister chief of the secret police superbly played by Simon Russell Beale.”
- Brian Viner (The Daily Mail)
“Beale is simply terrific, investing Beria with a casual cruelty is genuinely disturbing.”
– Matthew Turner (iNews)
“Pitching Russell Beale and Buscemi against each other is one of the masterstrokes of casting that make the film such a joy to watch: Russell Beale, brimful of Shakespearean subtlety, has both deeply funny bones and a ready access to the realm of the sinister.”
– Lisa Mullen (BFI)
“Beale plays Beria as a wheedling, charming man, personally releasing former victims with an amiable air. Beale finds his most charismatic film role as Beria”
– Nick Hasted (The Arts Desk)
“Beale is mesmeric.”
– Danny Leigh (Financial Times)
★★★★★“(Beale) portrays Beria with remarkable sensitivity, and whose unrivalled dramatic talents find as welcome a place onscreen as onstage. In light of current Hollywood scandal, his harrowing abuse of power breaks down the wall of distance the audience has from the past, and the modern parallels swell in the foreground.”
– Lillian Crawford (Varsity)