Early life

Salmon was born in Bethnal Green, London, England, the son of Sylvia Ivy Brudenell Salmon, a nurse. He grew up in Luton and attended Ramridge Primary School and Ashcroft High School.

On leaving school, Salmon became the drummer in the punk rock band the Friction which he formed along with three friends from Ashcroft High School. The band released a 7-inch EP, a live cassette, a cassette-EP and performed regularly around Luton in 1979 and 1980. Salmon also briefly worked with another band, the Tee Vees. He plays trumpet and has his own jazz quartet playing at venues such as the Dorchester Grill Room and at events such as the Cheltenham Jazz Festival.

Speaking about his quartet to noted British jazz/soul writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul, in a rare music-themed interview prior to their performance at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival in May 2008, Salmon stated:

“

In terms of recording, we've done none. We've mostly just done very occasional performances - usually at very special events. You know, keeping a consistent band going is a bit like getting the Aston Martin out the garage - you have to run it every now and then! And what's made that particularly difficult in the last year, for example, is that I've literally just spent an entire 12 months travelling the world acting - from China through to Montreal to Botswana. But, having said that, with the children being older I do have more time when I am at home these days. So we have been able to do some rehearsing together. And, while we've always mostly performed standards, I have actually for the first time written some new stuff in time for this upcomng Cheltenham gig.

”

Career

He is best known for his role as Charles Robinson, a character in the James Bond films Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day.

He made his feature debut in 1992 as Sgt. Robert Oswald in the British mini-series Prime Suspect 2, which gave him much acclaim among British and American audiences. Salmon also played Note Makoti in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and David Tyrel in the Sky One UK television series Hex. He appears as himself in the sixth episode of the BBC Three comedy, Little Miss Jocelyn.

In 2006 he appeared in the eighth series of ITV drama Bad Girls as Senior Medical Officer Dr. Rowan Dunlop. He played Dr. Moon in two episodes ("Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead") of the fourth series of the long running science fiction television series Doctor Who. (Subsequently there were rumours that he would take on the coveted lead role of The Doctor in 2008 after David Tennant, but the role went to Matt Smith.) Salmon has also recorded the role of Kerr Avon in the new audio series of Blake's 7.

Salmon has worked twice with director Paul W.S. Anderson; appearing in the films Resident Evil and Alien vs. Predator, in both of which Salmon's character meets a grisly end (in fact, a very similar end in both; both characters are sliced into small, crisscrossed chunks). He reprised his role as One in the 2012 film Resident Evil: Retribution, alongside Michelle Rodriguez and Oded Fehr.

Salmon also played Oonu, squad leader of the Skybax in the 2002 mini-series Dinotopia. His other film credits include Captives (1994), Frantz Fanon: Black Skin White Mask (a documentary directed by Isaac Julien in which Salmon plays the French psychiatrist, philosopher and revolutionary, Frantz Fanon) (1996), The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998), Fanny and Elvis (1999) and My Kingdom (2001).

In 2007, Salmon appeared in the season finale of the ITV2 series Secret Diary of a Call Girl, playing a client of the protagonist, a call girl named Hannah Baxter.

In the 2008 film Clubbed, a film about nightclub bouncers in Coventry in the 1980s, Salmon plays one of the main characters, Louis. In the same year he appeared in The Bank Job as Hakim Jamal.

In 2009, Salmon appeared in the UK version of the popular American drama Law & Order, as barrister Doug Green in the episodes "Buried" and "Community Service".

In 2012, Salmon appeared in Death in Paradise, as killer/businessman Leon Hamilton/Vincent Carter

He starred in the British thriller film Exam, directed by Stuart Hazeldine.

Salmon was one of the celebrity contestants on the tenth series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with professional dancer Kristina Rihanoff. He was eliminated as a result of the "dance-off" in Week 5, in which he competed against Richard Arnold.

In 2015, he played a fictional version of himself in the Netflix series, Master of None alongside Aziz Ansari's main character.

On 9 May 2015 Salmon gave a reading at VE Day 70: A Party to Remember in Horse Guards Parade, London.

Personal life

Salmon is a patron of the African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust and the Richard House Children's Hospice and an ambassador for The Prince's Trust. He is also the chairman of governors at St Anne's Nursery. He is involved in the Notting Hill Carnival and is the dance captain of the Fox Carnival Band.

Salmon married Fiona Hawthorne in 1988 and the couple have four children: Sasha, Rudi, Eden and Ben.

In September 2010, Salmon was invited by his friend Samuel L. Jackson to Switzerland for Shooting Stars Benefits 2010 Golf Tournaments. The golf competition raised money for the Samuel L. Jackson Foundation and the Swiss Red Cross to go towards a new hospital in Takéo Province, one of Cambodia's poorest provinces. In 2009 he became a co-founder of Cage Cricket with Trevor McArdle and Lawrence Prittipaul.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Captives	Towler
1995	All Men Are Mortal	Chas
1997	Tomorrow Never Dies	Charles Robinson
1998	Immortality	Martin
1999	The World Is Not Enough	Charles Robinson
1999	Fanny and Elvis	Alan
2001	My Kingdom	The Chair
2002	Resident Evil	One
2002	Die Another Day	Charles Robinson
2003	The Statement	Father Patrice
2004	Freeze Frame	Detective Mountjoy
2004	Alien vs. Predator	Maxwell Stafford
2005	Match Point	Ian
2008	The Bank Job	Hakim Jamal
2008	Credo	Dr. Reynolds
2008	Clubbed	Louis
2008	Punisher: War Zone	Paul Budiansky
2008	Blood: The Last Vampire	Powell
2009	Exam	The Invigilator
2009	K	Vaughn
2010	Freestyle	Carter
2010	Shank	Boogie
2010	Just for the Record	Maynard Stark
2010	Devil's Playground	Peter White
2010	Stalker	Leo Fox
2011	Moving Target	Ralph
2011	High Chicago	Sam
2011	How to Stop Being a Loser	Dennis
2012	Resident Evil: Retribution	One
2015	The Rapture	Jean-Paul
2015	Meet Pursuit Delange: The Movie	Sergeant Gabriel/Archangel Gabriel
2016	London Has Fallen	Chief Inspector Kevin Hazard
2016	Criminal	Warden

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Prime Suspect 2	Detective Sergeant Bob Oswald
1993	Lovejoy	Rathbone	Episode 5.4: "The Kakiemon Tiger"
1993	Between the Lines	Eric Hutchinson	Episode 2.7: "The Fifth Estate"
1994	Murder Most Horrid	Lambert	Episode 2.1: "Overkill"
1994	Soldier Soldier	Colour Sgt. Dennis Ryan	Episode 4.2: "Away Games" / Episode 4.3: "Damage"
1995	All Men Are Mortal	Chas
1995	Shine on Harvey Moon	Noah Hawksley
1995	Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask	Frantz Fanon	Documentary
1996	Silent Witness	Sebastian Bird	Episode 1.3: "Long Days, Short Nights: Part 1" / Episode 1.4: "Long Days, Short Nights: Part 2"
1996	Tales from the Crypt	Jimmy Picket	Episode 7.6: "Cold War"
1997	No Child of Mine	Paul	TV Movie
1997	Band of Gold	Raymond	Episode 3.5: "Tainted Love: Part One" / Episode 3.6: "Tainted Love: Part Two"
2001	Mind Games	DCI Ricky Grover	TV Movie
2001	Judge John Deed	Willy Radcliff	Episode 1.0: "Exacting Justice" / Episode 1.1: "Rough Justice"
2002	Dinotopia	Oonu	TV Mini-Series
2002	The Red Phone: Manhunt	Cooper	TV Movie
2002	Murder in Mind	Alex Treeve	Episode 3.7: "Justice"
2003	Red Phone 2	Cooper	TV Movie
2003	Keen Eddie	Superintendent Nathanial Johnson	Main role
2004	Trial & Retribution	Colin Thorpe	Episode 8.1: "Blue Eiderdown: Part 1" / Episode 8.2: "Blue Eiderdown: Part 2"
2004	Hex	David Tyrel	Main role
2005	Sea of Souls	Peter Locke	Episode 2.5: "Empty Promise: Part 1" / Episode 2.6: "Empty Promise: Part 2"
2006	Bad Girls	Dr. Rowan Dunlop	Series 8
2006	Little Miss Jocelyn		Episode 1.6
2006	The Outsiders	Trainer	TV Movie
2007	Party Animals	Stephen Templeton
2007	Secret Diary of a Call Girl	Mitchell	Episode 1.8
2008	Doctor Who	Dr. Moon	Episode 4.8: "Silence in the Library" / Episode 4.9: "Forest of the Dead"
2008-2009	The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency	Note Makoti	Episode 1.0: "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" / Episode 1.6: "A Real Botswana Diamond"
2009-2014	Law & Order: UK	Doug Greer	4 episodes
2009	The Omid Djalili Show	007	Episode 2.2 / Episode 2.4 / Episode 2.5
2009	Merlin	Aglain	Episode 2.3: "The Nightmare Begins
2009	Annihilation Earth	Raja Rahim Bashir	TV Movie
2010	Strike Back	James Middleton	Episode 1.1: "Iraq: Part One" / Episode 1.2: "Iraq: Part Two" / Episode 1.3 "Zimbabwe: Part One" / Episode 1.4: "Zimbabwe: Part Two"
2010	Rev.	Leon	Episode 1.5
2010	MI-5	Alton Beecher	Episode 9.4 / Episode 9.6
2010-2016	The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret	Hudson	6 episodes
2011	Death in Paradise	Vincent Carter	Episode 1.5
2011-2012	Single Ladies	Jerry Waters	7 episodes
2012-2014	Arrow	Walter Steele	14 episodes
2012-2014	Some Girls	Rob Bennett	11 episodes
2013	Rita	Colin Paige	TV Movie
2013	NTSF:SD:SUV::	Graham	Episode 3.10: "U-KO'ed"
2014	24: Live Another Day	General Coburn	7 episodes
2015	No Offence	Det. Superintendent Darren Maclaren	Main role
2015	The Musketeers	Tariq Alaman	Episode 2.3: "The Good Traitor"
2015	A.D. The Bible Continues	Gabra	2 episodes
2015-present	Limitless	Jared Sands	Recurring Character
2015	Master of None	Colin Salmon	Episode 1.5: "The Other Man"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]