David Suchet

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Image:David Suchet is Hercule Poirot.jpg

David Suchet (born May 2, 1946) is a British actor best known for his television portrayal of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. His brother is news reader John Suchet.

Born in London, he took an interest in acting and joined the National Youth Theatre at 18. He studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, where he now serves as a council member.

He began his acting career at the Watermill Theatre, and retains a great affection for the place saying it "fulfils my vision of a perfect theatre".

In 1973, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. The 1970s also saw his first appearance on screen. His first appearance on film came with 1980's A Tale of Two Cities. In 1985 he played Blott in the television series Blott on the Landscape. He was awarded the Royal Television Society's award for best male actor for A Song for Europe in 1985. His performance as the title character in Poirot earned him a 1991 British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) nomination. He was given a Variety Club Award in 1994 for best actor for portraying John in David Mamet's play Oleanna at the Royal Court Theatre. Suchet later won another Variety Club Award for his portrayal of Antonio Salieri in Amadeus.

Suchet was nominated for another Royal Television Society award in 2002 for his performance as Augustus Melmotte in The Way We Live Now, which also earned him a BAFTA nomination. The same year he was appointed an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2003 he played ambitious 16th-century English primate, Cardinal Wolsey, in the 2-part ITV drama Henry VIII opposite Ray Winstone as Henry VIII and Helena Bonham Carter as Anne Boleyn.

He has also appeared in a number of films, including Executive Decision (1996), A Perfect Murder (1998), and Wing Commander (1999).

David is the brother of John Suchet, a former ITV News presenter. David married Sheila Ferris in 1976, and their son, Robert, graduated from the University of Birmingham in July 2002.

David is vice-president of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Trust, whose most challenging achievement to date has been securing funding (both via an appeal, and from influencing government decisions) concerning the building of the new M6 Toll motorway where it cuts the lines of the Lichfield Canal and the Hatherton Canal, both of which the Trust wishes to see reopened.

Suchet also does numbers of small appearances and voiceovers for religious dramatic works in accord with his own Christian faith (see [1]). He also provided the voice of Aslan in Focus on the Family's radio version of C.S. Lewis's the Chronicles of Narnia.

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