David Harewood

Early life

David Michael Harewood was born in the Small Heath area of Birmingham, on 8 December 1965. He has one sister and two brothers. His parents were part of the Windrush generation and had moved to England from Barbados in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His mother worked as a caterer and his father was a lorry driver. Harewood attended St Benedict's Junior School and Washwood Heath Academy. He later joined London's National Youth Theatre. In his youth, he worked at a wine bar in Birmingham city centre. At the age of 18, he gained a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

Harewood began acting in 1990 and has appeared in films such as The Hawk, Great Moments in Aviation, Harnessing Peacocks, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Blood Diamond, The Merchant of Venice and Strings. He is known for his television appearances on Ballykissangel, The Vice and Fat Friends. He played Don Coleman in Hustle (Series 7 The Fall of Railton FC (2011)). In 1997, he was the first black actor to play Othello at the National Theatre in London.

In 2008, he played Major Simon Brooks in The Palace; he also appeared (that December) on Celebrity Mastermind, with specialist subject Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. He appeared in the BBC film adaptation of the Philip Pullman novels The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North, both of which are titles from the Sally Lockhart Mysteries.

In 2009, Harewood appeared in the BBC single drama Mrs Mandela, playing Nelson Mandela. He played Brother Tuck in the third series of Robin Hood. He appeared in the Doctor Who story "The End of Time". He played Martin Luther King Jr. in the premiere of The Mountaintop, written by American playwright Katori Hall, directed by James Dacre, which opened at Theatre503 in London on 9 June 2009.

Harewood next appeared in two episodes of Chris Ryan's Strike Back as Colonel Tshuma. From June to September 2010, he played Theseus in the premiere of Moira Buffini's play Welcome to Thebes at the National Theatre in London. He played Martin Viner in an episode of New Tricks. He narrated Welcome to Lagos, a BBC documentary about Lagos, Nigeria. He also starred in British independent film The Hot Potato, the film also starred Ray Winstone, Colm Meaney and Jack Huston. He played Frankenstein's monster in the TV live event Frankenstein's Wedding.

From 2011, Harewood starred as David Estes, the director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, in the Showtime series Homeland. After appearing in 24 episodes, his character was killed off in a bomb explosion at the end of season 2. Also in 2011, he voiced Captain Quinton Cole in the video game Battlefield 3.

In June 2014, he appeared in Tulip Fever. In October 2015, he appeared as a core cast member on the CBS television series Supergirl as Hank Henshaw. Since his character was revealed (in the episode "Human for a Day") to be J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter posing as Henshaw, he portrays J'onn J'onzz with Henshaw's likeness as his human form and has a dual recurring role as the real Hank Henshaw / Cyborg Superman.

In 2017, Harewood was in London to attend the British Urban Film Festival. The following year, for his performance in "Free in Deed", Harewood won Best Actor at the 2018 British Urban Film Festival awards. Harewood was included in the 2019 edition of the Powerlist, ranking the 100 most influential Black Britons. Also in 2019, he played the position of goalkeeper for England in Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2019. Psychosis and Me, a documentary hosted and produced by Harewood received a BAFTA Television Award nominated for Single Documentary.

In October 2021, it was revealed that Harewood would make his feature directorial debut with For Whom The Bell Tolls, a boxing film about the rivalry between Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn.

In November 2021, The Guardian published an article focusing on Harewood and actor Ricardo P Lloyd comparing both of their lives and careers and the struggles black British actors face in the UK. This was part of Black British culture matters, curated by Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder for The Guardian Saturday Culture Issue No7.

Harewood was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to drama and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to drama and charity. Harewood delivered the 2023 Richard Dimbleby Lecture.

In February 2024, Harewood was announced as the new President of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Later that year, he appeared in the season finale of the Star Wars series The Acolyte portraying Rayencourt, a member of the Galactic Senate pushing for an external review of the Jedi Order.

Other interests

Slavery reparations

Harewood campaigns for slavery reparations and is an advocate of the British government apologising for Britain's participation in the slave trade. His great-great-great-great grandparents had been slaves on a plantation in Barbados owned by Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood. Slaves were given surnames derived from those of their owners, hence Harewood's ancestors had to take their name from the Lascelles' title. Harewood engaged with David Lascelles, 8th Earl of Harewood, a descendant of the 2nd Earl, who also believes the government should apologise for the slave trade. He did so again for a Channel 5 documentary in 2021.

In September 2023, a portrait of Harewood commissioned by Lascelles was put on display at Harewood House as an acknowledgement of their families' connected history. Harewood described the hanging of the portrait as "well overdue for me and my ancestors", and commented that he hoped visitors to the house would

Politics

In May 2012, Harewood presented a party election broadcast for the Labour Party. In the 2019 European Parliament election, he pledged his support for Change UK.

Charity

In 2007, Harewood donated his bone marrow, which was confirmed to have saved a stranger's life.

In October 2013, Harewood voiced an interactive video campaign for the British Lung Foundation aiming to ban smoking in cars with children inside throughout the United Kingdom.

Harewood appeared at Soccer Aid 2018 as England's celebrity goalkeeper, saving two penalties during the penalty shootout and helping England win the charity match. The event raised over £5 million for UNICEF.

Mental health

Harewood is a mental health campaigner,

Personal life

Harewood married his long-term girlfriend Kirsty Handy in February 2013 in Saint James, Barbados. They have two daughters together and live in the Streatham area of London. He is an avid supporter of his hometown football team Birmingham City.

Harewood has been open about his mental health troubles and has admitted that he used to self-medicate with alcohol and marijuana to deal with his bipolar-like symptoms, discarding the medication given to him by doctors. He was sectioned under the Mental Health Act, spent time on Whittington Hospital's psychiatric ward, and was prescribed the antipsychotic drug chlorpromazine. In a 2021 essay for The Guardian, he wrote:

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Radio

Harewood played Thurman Berkley in the first series of the BBC radio series Chambers, broadcast on 4 May 1996. He played Patroclus in the 1998 BBC radio trilogy Troy. He also played Henry Tilney in the Northanger Abbey radio adaptation (2005). On 4 May 2012, he hosted a special BBC Radio 2 Friday Night is Music Night celebrating the life of Ray Charles, broadcast live from Cheltenham Jazz Festival. The show featured the Guy Barker orchestra, with leader Cynthia Fleming and guest artists Madeline Bell, Gregory Porter, and James Tormé.

Harewood played the Marquis de Carabas in the BBC Radio 4 Radio Play of Neverwhere (2013).

In 2022, Harewood voiced Destruction of the Endless in Act III of Audible's full-cast audiobook adaptation of Neil Gaiman's comic The Sandman.

Awards and nominations

• Screen Actors Guild Awards-Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series: Nominated (2012)
• Nashville Film Festival-Best Actor: Winner (2016)
• Independent Spirit Awards-Best Male Lead: Nominated (2017)
• Saturn Award-Best Supporting Actor on a Television Series: Nominated (2019)
• Edinburgh TV Festival-Variety Outstanding Achievement Award: Winner (2020)
• Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to drama (2023)

Books

• Harewood's memoir.

References

References

1. Hurst, Ben. (2010-09-01). "Hollywood star David Harewood goes back to Washwood Heath School". birminghammail.
2. (2012-04-21). "Pupils get Shakespeare experience". BBC News.
3. (14 November 2016). "David Harewood: Will Britain ever have a black prime minister?". BBC News.
4. (13 November 2016). "Who is actor David Harewood?". Birmingham Mail.
5. (5 November 2021). "David Harewood: 'We're still dealing with perceptions of what Black can be' {{!}} Stage".
6. (1997-09-16). "Interview: 'Othello' comes into his own at National".
7. Dowell, Ben. (11 March 2009). "BBC commissions Winnie Mandela drama". The Guardian.
8. "The Mountaintop". Theatre503.
9. Cavendish, Dominic. (22 June 2009). "The Mountaintop at Theatre503". The Daily Telegraph.
10. "David Harewood: 'It's taken me 30 years to make a living – it's been tough but the making of me'".
11. [https://officiallondontheatre.com/news/nt-welcomes-harewood-to-thebes-110188/ Royal National Theatre production of ''Welcome to Thebes''], ''OfficialLondonTheatre.com''. Retrieved 30 Oct 2017.
12. [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1013230 ''New Tricks'' profile], Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
13. "Hotpotatomovie.com".
14. {{IMDb name. 0362873
15. (6 January 2013). "Birmingham actor David Harewood hits out at being killed off in Homeland". [[Birmingham Mail]].
16. (16 June 2014). "Anna Kendrick To Voice Lead In 'Trolls'; David Harewood Joins 'Tulip Fever' Cast". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
17. (23 October 2018). "List of 100 most influential black people includes Meghan Markle for first time".
18. (3 June 2020). "BAFTA TV 2020: Winners of the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards". BAFTA.
19. "David Harewood To Make Directing Debut With Boxing Rivalry Drama 'For Whom The Bell Tolls'".
20. (6 November 2021). "The Guardian - Saturday Magazine Issue No.7". The Guardian - Saturday Magazine.
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27. Haines, Samuel Wyatt. (18 July 2024). "Our Biggest Unanswered Questions After 'The Acolyte' Finale".
28. (2024). "Black History for Every Day of the Year". Pan Macmillan.
29. Razzall, Katie. (5 September 2023). "David Harewood: Actor says the government should apologise for slavery". BBC News.
30. (6 March 2023). "David Harewood's portrait will hang in stately home owned by family that enslaved his ancestors". CNN.
31. (23 March 2007). "Actor quizzes Viscount on slavery". [[BBC News]].
32. Mohdin, Aamna. (5 March 2023). "'Complex emotions': Harewood House commissions portrait of David Harewood". The Guardian.
33. Frodsham, Isobel. (6 March 2023). "David Harewood portrait highlights stately home slavery links". [[The Times]].
34. [http://www.labour.org.uk/david-harewood-in-labours-party-election-broadcast David Harewood makes British Labour Party broadcast]{{Dead link. (July 2019)
35. "Chuka Umunna on Instagram: "Great catching up with my constituent @davidharewood at the BBC this afternoon, and glad to hear he'll be voting Change UK!"".
36. Elliott, Jane. (16 March 2008). "An act that could save a stranger". BBC News.
37. [http://www.blf.org.uk/David David Harewood profile] {{Webarchive. link. (11 October 2013 , British Lung Foundation. Retrieved 29 July 2015.)
38. "BBC - David Harewood: Psychosis And Me - Media Centre".
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40. Carole Cadwallader. (9 December 2012). "David Harewood". [[The Observer]].
41. Hurt, Ben. (16 December 2009). "Hollywood star David Harewood goes back to Washwood Heath School". Birmingham Mail.
42. Harewood, David. (2017-10-13). "I feel no shame about my mental breakdown: it helped make me who I am {{!}} David Harewood". The Guardian.
43. McGrath, Nick. (2018-06-12). "Homeland star David Harewood reveals mental health battle before finding fame".
44. Harewood, David. (21 August 2021). "'I came close to death': David Harewood on racism and psychosis".
45. King, Jack. (March 14, 2022). "'Wendell & Wild' Teaser Announces Ving Rhames, David Harewood, and More Joining Voice Cast".
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50. Petski, Denise. (2024-05-09). "''Happy Face'' Adds Damon Gupton & Momona Tamada As Recurring".
51. "David Harewood leads major new legal drama Pierre on Channel 4".
52. "BBC Radio 2 Friday Night is Music Night".
53. [https://archive.today/20130419233714/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r522y/profiles/marquis ''Neverwhere''], BBC. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
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55. Youngblood, Tony. (22 April 2016). "Magallanes, Transpecos and Josephine Top This Year's Nashville Film Fest Awards".
56. Girl, Not A. Gossip. (29 July 2019). "Saturn Awards Nominations Announced honoring genres in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, action TV and Film #SaturnAwards #NomineeList".
57. Bros, Riker. (4 November 2020). "David Harewood to Receive Variety Outstanding Achievement Award With Edinburgh TV Festival".
58. Nick. (18 November 2020). "David Harewood Receives Outstanding Achievement Award – Edinburgh TV Festival – Diversify TV".
59. [https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/david-harewood/maybe-i-dont-belong-here/9781529064131 "Maybe I Don't Belong Here"] at Pan Macmillan.