Craig Fairbrass

Early life

Craig John Fairbrass was born at Mile End Hospital in London on 15 January 1964, the son of seamstress Maureen (née Bryan) and dock worker Jack Fairbrass. He grew up in Stepney and has a younger sister named Lindsey. After being expelled from Eaglesfield Boys Comprehensive School in Woolwich at the age of 15, he successfully auditioned for the National Youth Theatre. He then began searching for a talent agent to represent him, supporting himself financially by working as a roofer in the daytime, and working evenings as a doorman, at what he would later call some of the "less desirable nightspots" in southeast London. From these jobs, he saved enough money to buy a small sandwich shop at Woolwich Market, for a while, until he began to secure more acting roles.

Career

After a few years of walk-on roles in Emmerdale, Three Up Two Down, and Shelley, Fairbrass made his first real TV appearance as an actor in the 1984 BBC television series Big Deal as Nev in the episode "Fighting chance" followed by another BBC role in Tucker's Luck. He made his feature film acting debut as D.C. Challoner in the 1988 Working Title thriller For Queen and Country opposite Academy Award winner Denzel Washington.

Film and television appearances quickly followed, including the Ray Winstone film Tank Malling, and the 1990 Channel 4 Film The Final Frame, playing Franklin, the right-hand man of pop star East, who was played by former Madness frontman Suggs. He also landed a regular role as Gary "Technique" Pagnall in the ITV drama series London's Burning in 1990. That same year, Fairbrass was cast opposite Helen Mirren as Detective Inspector Frank Burkin in the BAFTA/Emmy Award-winning original Prime Suspect 1 and 2.

In 1991, he travelled to Los Angeles and secured his first Hollywood acting role in the 1993 action blockbuster Cliffhanger with Sylvester Stallone. This led to roles in independent films with lead roles in Beyond Bedlam (1994), with Elizabeth Hurley, Galaxis (1995), with Brigitte Nielsen, Proteus, Killing Time, and Darklands.

In 1999, Fairbrass landed the regular role of Dan Sullivan in EastEnders, leaving the show in August 2001. He then took the lead role of Ray Betson in the Channel Five crime drama The Great Dome Robbery.

Fairbrass returned to the U.S., starring in the Chris Klein comedy, The Long Weekend, and as Henry Caine opposite Nathan Fillion in White Noise 2. In February 2007, he appeared as the renegade Jaffa, Arkad, in the episode "Talion" in the final season of Stargate SG-1, as a guest lead in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, opposite Lena Headey, and as guest lead Devon Burke, a rogue MI5 agent in David Mamet's hit show The Unit.

In 2007, he starred in the feature film Rise of the Footsoldier, as real life gangster Pat Tate, and opposite Jason Statham in The Bank Job. The following year, he joined Til Schweiger in the game-based action film Far Cry (2008). In 2011, Fairbrass took the co-lead in the crime thriller St George's Day; other lead roles include Vikingdom 3D, House of the Rising Sun, opposite Dave Bautista, Hijacked, and Get Lucky and Let me Survive.

In 2012, Fairbrass took his first lead role in a US action thriller The Outsider, which starred Jason Patric, James Caan and Shannon Elizabeth. In Bula Quo!, he co-starred alongside Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi. In 2014, he took the lead alongside James Cosmo, Bruce Payne, Emmett Scanlan, and Olivia Grant in the psychological thriller Breakdown.

In 2015, he played the lead role of Jack Cregan in the revenge thriller London Heist alongside Steven Berkoff, which he also co-wrote. The film was produced by his son Luke Fairbrass. Craig Fairbrass went on to win the Best Actor Award at the 2016 Marbella International Film Festival for the role.

In 2017, Fairbrass reprised his role of Pat Tate in Rise of the Footsoldier 3: The Pat Tate Years, a prequel to the 2007 original and proved to be Fairbrass's most powerful performance to date, winning him the best actor award at the 2018 National Film Awards in London.

In 2020, Fairbrass played Eddie Franks in the London crime thriller Villain. He reprised his role of Pat Tate in the fifth instalment of Rise of the Footsoldier Origins, directed by Nick Nevern.

In 2022, Fairbrass starred in Ross McCall's A Violent Man.

Voice

Fairbrass provided additional voices in the video game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007), then again as one of the most iconic characters in the game's history as Ghost in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and as various characters in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Fairbrass also voiced a main role in the video game *Battlefield V * (2018) during the War Stories campaign mission, “Under No Flag” as George Mason.

Personal life

Fairbrass married former Page Three glamour model Elke Kellick in 1987. They have two sons together.

Fairbrass has been typecast as a hard British gangster and while he enjoys playing film roles revolving around knife crime, criminal gangs and violence, Fairbrass stated in a 2020 interview: "Every time I meet on these films I always talk about 'Can we turn the violence down? Can we stay away from certain things where we don't want to glorify?' I'm very wary of the violence that is in the films. It's like playing Call of Duty [...] people say to me, 'How do you feel that you're [...] voicing characters in games that could be the instigation for someone to go out and commit murder?' I'm just an actor. At the end of the day, it's all make believe. Some people take it a step further."

Filmography

Television

Film

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. (26 October 2023). "Craig Fairbrass: A British Actor's Powerful Rise to Iconic Status".
2. "Resume of work for Craig Fairbrass the actor".
3. Foster, Tom. (8 August 2017). "Five Things You Didn't Know about Craig Fairbrass". TVOvermind.
4. Roberts, Jerry. (2009). "Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors". Scarecrow Press.
5. "Craig Fairbrass credits". tvguide.com.
6. (24 January 2017). "The Stars of EastEnders – Then and Now". [[Vedomosti]].
7. Sandwell, Ian. (17 March 2015). "'Gunned Down' starts London shoot". [[Screen International.
8. (19 July 2016). "Awards 2016". Marbella Film Festival.
9. Smith, John. (14 September 2017). "EWN EXCLUSIVE: The glitz and glitter of the Marbella International Film Festival returns". [[EuroWeekly News]].
10. (29 March 2018). "Winners announced at the 4th annual National Film Awards UK". National Film Awards.
11. Felperin, Leslie. (1 February 2022). "A Violent Man review – hardnut prison drama is guilty as charged".
12. Morgan, Sally. (24 March 2001). "Interview: How I muscled into the Square; Craig Fairbrass talks about his transformation from Hollywood beefcake to Albert Square's latest bad guy.". [[Daily Mirror.
13. "VILLAIN: Craig Fairbrass Interview (2020) British Gangster Films".
14. "Craig fairbrass Awards". IMDb (Index source only).
15. "Winners at the 4th annual National Film Awards UK 2019". National Film Awards.
16. "Nominees for the 8th annual National Film Awards 2022 announced". National Film Awards.