Bertie Carvel

Early life and education

Carvel was born on 6 September 1977 in Marylebone, London, the son of a psychologist mother and John Carvel, a journalist. Carvel was educated at University College School, Hampstead. He gained a first class honours degree in English at the University of Sussex, going on to win a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (his acting training was paid for via scholarships from The Wall Trust and the Sir John Cass Foundation), graduating in 2003 after a three-year course.

Career

2003–2010

Carvel has appeared in Revelations at the Hampstead Theatre, in Rose Bernd at the Arcola Theatre, as Alexander Ashbrook in the 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 National Theatre production of Helen Edmundson's Coram Boy and in their productions of The Life of Galileo and The Man of Mode, in Parade at the Donmar Warehouse, and in Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Carvel was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his performance in Parade in 2008. He won the award in the same category in 2012 for his performance as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical, a production that won six other Oliviers. Carvel also won the UK's TMA Award for Best Performance in a Musical and was similarly nominated for the London's Evening Standard Award. He played Enrico in Damned By Despair at the National Theatre.

2011–2020

From 2011 to 2024, Carvel was the voice of the male Imperial Agent in the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic until the role was reassigned to Wilf Scolding. In March 2013, he reprised his role as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre. This won him a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical and a nomination for Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, one of only a handful of nominations for an actor portraying a character of the opposite sex. From August to October 2015, Carvel played both Pentheus and Agave in Bakkhai at the Almeida Theatre. Carvel also performed as Yank in the play The Hairy Ape at the Old Vic in November of the same year. In February 2016, Carvel announced his directorial debut. He directed the play Strife at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, which opened in August 2016.

In September 2017, Carvel played the role of Rupert Murdoch in the play Ink by James Graham, which debuted at the Almeida Theatre before transferring to the West End. In April 2019 Ink transferred to Broadway, with Carvel reprising his role. This performance won him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Carvel other project’s include The Wrong Mans, Babylon, Doctor Who (episode "The Lazarus Experiment"), Sherlock (episode "The Blind Banker"), Bombshell, Hawking, The Crimson Petal and the White, Money and Midsomer Murders (episode "The Great and the Good"). He played Lord Carmarthen in John Adams. In the television film Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures, he played Christie's second husband Max Mallowan. Carvel appeared as Bamatabois in the film Les Misérables, based on the musical of the same name. In 2009, Carvel played Wormwood in Focus on the Family's audio adaptation of The Screwtape Letters, alongside Andy Serkis as Screwtape. This production was a 2010 Audie Award finalist.

In 2015, Carvel starred as Jonathan Strange in the BBC One adaptation of Susanna Clarke's novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, opposite Eddie Marsan as Gilbert Norrell. He played Nick Clegg in the Channel 4 drama Coalition and in September appeared as the unfaithful husband of Suranne Jones's title character in the BBC One thriller series Doctor Foster. The second series of Doctor Foster started filming in September 2016 and was broadcast in September 2017.

2021–present

Since 2021, Carvel has starred as Adam Dalgliesh in Helen Edmundson's Dalgliesh. He plays former Prime Minister Tony Blair in the fifth and sixth series of The Crown. In April 2025, it was revealed that Bertie Carvel would serve as the narrator for the upcoming revival of Walking With Dinosaurs. In 2022, he returned to The Old Vic to play US President Donald Trump in The 47th, a play by Mike Bartlett.

Carvel portrays Baelor Targaryen in the series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2026). On June 9, 2025, it was reported that Carvel would play Cornelius Fudge in the upcoming Harry Potter television series.

Personal life

Carvel is a patron of the Globe Theatre's education department's 'Playing Shakespeare' programme, which provides free educational resources and free theatre tickets to secondary school students. In 2013, he ran for and was elected to Equity's 11-person Stage Committee. He was re-elected for a further two-year term in 2015.

Carvel married actress Sally Scott on 5 January 2019 after dating for ten years. Their first child was born in May 2020.

Acting credits

Film

Television

Theatre

Video games

Audio

Accolades

Theatre

Television

References

References

1. (9 June 2019). "73rd Tony Awards". CBS.
2. Kellaway, Kate. (4 December 2011). "Bertie Carvel: 'The Trunch needs to be a tyrant over 5-year-olds'". The Guardian.
3. (October 2012). "Damned by Despair programme". National Theatre.
4. [http://ashbee.net/rada/grad03/car.html Profile] {{webarchive. link. (5 October 2011, ashbee.net; accessed 14 September 2014.)
5. Taylor, Paul. (18 November 2005). "Coram Boy, National Theatre, Olivier, London". The Independent.
6. (15 April 2012). "Carvel Takes Home Best Actor". [[Olivier Awards]].
7. (7 November 2011). "Evening Standard Theatre awards". [[London Evening Standard]].
8. (9 October 2012). "Bertie Carvel: My Damned By Despair character is on a bender of violence". [[Metro (British newspaper).
9. (23 May 2024). "Game Update 7.5 "Desperate Defiance" coming May 29th!".
10. (8 November 2012). "Olivier Winner Bertie Carvel to Reprise Role as Evil Headmistress Miss Trunchbull in Matilda on Broadway". Broadway World.
11. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/177440-Nominations-Announced-for-67th-Annual-Tony-Awards-Kinky-Boots-Earns-13-Nominations "Nominations Announced for 67th Annual Tony Awards"] {{webarchive. link. (21 October 2013 , Playbill.com; 30 April 2013.)
12. [http://broadwayworld.com/article/2013-Drama-Desk-Nominations-Announced-GIANT-HANDS-ON-A-HARDBODY-Lead-with-9-Followed-by-MATILDA-PASSION-DROOD-20130429 2013 Drama Desk Nominations Announced - Giant & Hands On A Hardbody Lead with 9, Followed by Matilda, Passion & Drood], broadwayworld.com; 29 April 2013.
13. Clapp, Susannah. (2015-08-02). "Bakkhai review -Ben Whishaw and Bertie Carvel share the honours". The Guardian.
14. Sulcas, Roslyn. (21 September 2017). "Writing Rupert, Playing Murdoch, Making 'Ink'". The New York Times.
15. (10 October 2013). "Bertie Carvel and Eddie Marsan to Star in BBC's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell". Broadway World.
16. "Dalgliesh's Bertie Carvel says series is "about the first year of grief"".
17. Baker, Emily. (24 November 2021). "Bertie Carvel on joining The Crown season 5: 'I can't tell the whole truth of Tony Blair'".
18. "Walking With Dinosaurs – BBC Factual and PBS release trailer and confirms award-winning actor Bertie Carvel as narrator for the new series".
19. Vary, Adam B.. (18 June 2024). "'Game of Thrones' Spinoff 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' Begins Filming as 'The Crown,' 'True Detective' Actors Join Cast". Variety.
20. (9 June 2025). "Look: Bertie Carvel, Katherine Parkinson join 'Harry Potter' series cast".
21. (9 June 2025). "'Harry Potter' HBO Series Finds Molly Weasley, Draco and Lucius Malfoy and More Hogwarts Students".
22. (Spring 2011). "Drama and Me: Bertie Carvel". Teaching Drama Magazine.
23. Smith, Alistair. (15 July 2013). "Bertie Carvel among new faces elected to Equity committees". The Stage.
24. Billen, Andrew. (30 January 2020). "From Matilda to Agatha Christie: why Bertie Carvel is the great transformer". [[The Times]].
25. "Big Cats". [[BBC iPlayer]].
26. "Almeida - the Bakkhai - cast bios".
27. Szalwinska, Maxie. (20 June 2005). "My Party This Way/Faustus". The Guardian.
28. Taylor, Paul. (21 December 2006). "Coram Boy, National Theatre, London". The Independent.
29. "Olivier Winners 2008".
30. (2011-11-20). "Evening Standard theatre awards: pair win joint prize for Frankenstein roles".
31. (9 June 2013). "The 2013 Tony Awards: The Complete Winners List".
32. "Matilda & Pippin Top Winners' List at 2013 Drama Desk Awards".
33. "Drama League".
34. Cox, Gordon. (2013-04-23). "Drama League Spreads the Wealth With 2013 Nominations".
35. Cox, Gordon. (2013-04-22). "'Pippin' Hot With Outer Critics Circle Nominators".
36. "Pippin, Kinky Boots & Vanya Lead Winners' List for 2013 Outer Critics Circle Awards".
37. Thompson, Jessie. (2017-12-04). "These are the winners of the 2017 Evening Standard Theatre Awards".
38. "Olivier Awards 2018".
39. "Winners".
40. "Hadestown Leads Winners of 2019 Outer Critics Circle Awards".
41. (January 10, 2024). "Nominations Announced for the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®". [[Screen Actors Guild]].