Education

Parker joined the National Youth Theatre, and after training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986.

Career

Stage

Parker portrayed Bassanio in Peter Hall's 1989 production of The Merchant of Venice in both London and on Broadway, co-starring with Dustin Hoffman.

In 2000, he played Bob in Rupert Goold's West End revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow.

Parker returned to the stage in 2013 for the Westend production of The Audience, starring Dame Helen Mirren, written by Peter Morgan (The Queen) and directed by Stephen Daldry. The play ran for four months at the Gielgud Theatre in London. It was also transmitted worldwide via National Theatre Live and was seen by more than 110,000 viewers in the UK and USA alone.

Parker played King Henry VIII in Wolf Hall (and Bring up the Bodies) for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2014, earning a 2015 Olivier Award for best actor in a supporting role for the London production and appearing in New York City when the show moved on to Broadway, where his performance received a Tony Award nomination.

Film and television

In 1997, Parker portrayed David in a made-for-TV film of the life of the biblical character King David.

Parker established his reputation by playing a variety of television costume drama roles, such as: Martin Jordan in the 1995 TV production of Joanna Trollope's A Village Affair, Gabriel Oak in the Granada/WGBH-TV co- production of Far From the Madding Crowd (1997), and Martin Tanley in the comedy film Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) with Chris Farley and Chris Rock. He also played Rawdon Crawley in a BBC version of Vanity Fair (1998). The New York Times reviewer Caryn James said of his performance: "More than anyone else in the series, Nathaniel Parker brings some complexity to his character." He also played Harold Skimpole in the BAFTA-winning BBC1 dramatisation of Bleak House (2005).

In a 2007 Radio Times interview, Parker said that his first big television break came in 1988 when he played a Battle of France pilot in ITV's glossy six-part drama Piece of Cake. Another early role was Wilfred Owen in Derek Jarman's War Requiem, a 1989 film adaptation of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem. It co-starred Laurence Olivier, in his last screen role, as an old soldier. Four years later, Parker played Edward Rochester in John Duigan's 1993 film adaptation of Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea. Reviewing this 'prequel' to Jane Eyre, Vincent Canby said in his review that Parker: "is exceptionally good in a difficult, shadowy role".

From 2001 to 2007, Parker played Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley in the long-running BBC1 crime series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, perhaps his best-known role. His co-star was Sharon Small as his assistant, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. When the series premiered on PBS in 2002, The Wall Street Journal declred it is "fully worthy of the Mystery! label." During that time he also played Edward Gracey in Disney's film adaptation of The Haunted Mansion (2003), Albert Speer in the BBC production of 2006 Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial and Dunstan Thorn in the fantasy film Stardust (2007). Parker also starred briefly in St Trinian's (directed by his brother, Oliver).

In 2011, Parker joined the cast of Merlin, to play the character of Agravaine for all 13 episodes of the fourth series. He also appeared in the independent comedy-drama The Perfect Host, alongside David Hyde Pierce.

In 2012, Parker was cast alongside YouTube reviewer Stuart Ashen in the Alienware sponsored sci-fi thriller series The Proxy. He also appeared as Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec in the film adaption of Louise Penny's murder mystery novel Still Life, set in rural Quebec. He also starred in the TV series, Me and Mrs Jones broadcast in 2012.

In July 2015, Parker played the domestic bully Dicky Carmichael in the BBC’s two-part television adaptation of Sadie Jones’ debut novel The Outcast. In June 2015 it was announced that Parker would play the role of King Achish in ABC TVs series Of Kings and Prophets.

Audio and voice over work

Parker is a voiceover artist and has done work on audiobooks, including Eoin Colfer's children's Artemis Fowl series, the first three books in Charlie Higson's Young James Bond series, and The Gardens of The Dead by William Brodrick. He read Mark Haddon's novel A Spot of Bother for BBC Radio Four's Book at Bedtime and played Axel in Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth, first broadcast on BBC Radio Four Extra on 20 November 2011 and again on 12 November 2012. He has also done voiceover work on numerous video games and made many radio appearances as an interviewee and in radio dramas. A complete listing of Parker's extensive audio work can be found online.

Filmography

Unless noted otherwise, details of Parker's film and television work can be found here.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Piece of Cake	Flying Officer 'Flash' Gordon	Six parts
1989	Inspector Morse: "Deceived By Flight"	Jamie Jasper
1989	Never Come Back	Desmond Thane	Three parts
1989	War Requiem	Wilfred Owen	with Laurence Olivier and Tilda Swinton
1990	Harry Enfield's Television Programme	"Fire Man"	Episodes 1-4
1990	Heroes II: The Return	Ivan Lyon
1990	Hamlet	Laertes	with Mel Gibson
1991	Absolute Hell	Sam Mitchum
1991	Agatha Christies's Poirot: "The Affair at the Victory Ball"	Chris Davidson
1991	The War that Never Ends	Alcibiades
1991	The Black Candle	Lionel Filmore
1992	Look at It This Way	Miles	Three parts
1992	The Bodyguard	Clive Healy	with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston
1993	The Vision Thing	Michael Fisher
1993	Rik Mayall Presents: Dancing Queen	Nigel
1993	Wide Sargasso Sea	Edward Rochester
1994	Unsigned	The Devil
1994	For One Night Only:Errol Flynn	Errol Flynn
1994	A Village Affair	Marin Jordan
1994	Squanto: A Warrior's Tale	Thomas Dermer
1994	Dangerous Games	Thomas Cranmer
1995	A Touch of Frost - "Quarry"	Stephen Milmore
1995	Othello	Cassio	with Laurence Fishburne
1995	A Little Loving	Greek God Pan
1996	The Short Cut	Ross	Short film
1997	Beverly Hills Ninja	Martin Tanley
1997	Into Thin Air: Death on Everest	Rob Hall
1997	The Bible: David	David
1998	Far from the Madding Crowd	Gabriel Oak	Four episodes
1998	Vanity Fair	Rawdon Crawley	Parts 2 - 6
1999	Trust	Andrew Pearce	Part 1
1999	McCallum - "Beyond Good and Evil"	Dan Gallagher	Series 3
2000	Lover's Prayer (aka All Forgotten)	Vladimir's Father
2000	Pretending to be Judith	James Lovel
2001-2007	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Inspector Thomas Lynley	23 Episodes
2003	The Haunted Mansion	Master Gracy	with Eddie Murphy
2003	The Private Life of Samuel Pepys	Charles II
2004	Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde	Himself
2005	Bedtime Stories	Narrator
2005	Bleak House	Harrold Skimpole	Parts 1 & 2
2005	Fade to Black	Guido Viola
2006	Flawless	Oliver Ashtoncroft
2006	Stardust	Dunstan Thorn
2006	Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial	Albert Speer	1 episode
2006	A Class Apart	Anthony Troth
2007	I Really Hate My Job	Guy II	Cameo role
2007	St. Trinian's	Chairman of the National Gallery	Cameo role
2008	Hotel Babylon - "Is Love Really in the Air?"	Alexander Crawfield	Series 3 episode 2
2009	Malice In Wonderland	Harry Hunt
2009	The Perfect Host	Detective Morton
2009	The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler	Dr Juliusz Majkowski
2009	Land Girls	Lord Lawrence Hoxley	Series 1
2009	Lewis - "The Dead of Winter"	Lieutenant Philip Coleman	Series 4 - ITV
2009	My Family	Uncle Richard	BBC; Christmas episode 2009
2010	The Domino Effect	Tramp
2010	Sergeant Slaughter	Father
2010	Tell Me	Dr. Anton Sharple
2010	The Chronicles of Narnia (Dawn Treader)	Caspian IX	Cameo role
2010	Injustice	Marin Newall
2011	Merlin	Agravaine	Series 4
2012	The Proxy	Peter Baker
2012	The Charles Dickens Show	Doctor Guffquatt
2012	Me and Mrs Jones	Tom Marshall
2012	Still Life: An Inspector Gamache Mystery	Chief Inspector Armand Gamache
2014	The Outcast	Dickie Carmichael
2015	The Proxy: Enhanced Full Cut	Peter Baker	Actor
2015	Of Kings and Prophets	King Achich

Theatre work

Unless noted otherwise, details of Parker's theatre work can be found here.

Year	Title	Role	Company	Theatre	Notes
1981	Richard III	Richard III	National Youth Theatre
1982	Macbeth	Macbeth	National Youth Theatre
1984	Trumpets and Drums (based on The Recruiting Officer)	Captain Brazen	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
1985	Claw	Ludsby	Theatre Clwyd / Mold	Theatre Clwyd / Mold
1985	Trumpets and Drums (based on the The Recruiting Officer)	Captain Brazen	Theatre Clwyd / Mold	Theatre Clwyd / Mold
1986	Romeo and Juliet	Tybolt	Young Vic, London	Old Vic	11.02.86
1986	The Gift		Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)	Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
1986	The Kiss	Oliver	RSC
1986-1987	The Winter's Tale	Florizel	RSC	Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Tyne Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, Barbican Theatre, London
1986-1987	Every Man in His Humour	Wellbred	RSC	Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Mermaid Theatre, London, The People's Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne
1986-1987	The Rover	Don Pedro	RSC	Swan Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon, The People's Theatre Newcastle upon Tyne
1986	Richard III	Harry Percy	RSC	Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Tyne Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, Barbican Theatre, London
1987	The Storm	Vanya Kudryash	RSC	Pit, London
1987	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Lysander	RSC	Barbican Theatre, London
1989	The Merchant of Venice	Bassanio	Peter Hall Company	Phoenix Theatre, London, 46th Street Theater, New York	(UK) 01.06.1989, (US) 20.12.1989 to 24.02.1990
1997	Cargo Cult			Barbican Theatre	02.09.1987
1999	50 Revolutions		Oxford Stage Company	Whitehall Theatre, London	07.09.1999 to 25.09.1999
2000	Speed the Plow			Duke of York's Theatre, London	29.06.2000 to 19.08.2000
2008	Quartermaine's Terms	Quartermaine	Bill Kenwright 2008 Ltd.	Theatre Royal, Windsor; New Victoria Theatre, Woking; The Richmond Theatre, Theatre Royal, Bath, Theatre Royal, Brighton	13.05.2008 to 21.06.2008
2013	The Audience	Gordon Brown		Gielgud Theatre, London	15.02.2013 to 15.06.2013
2013/14	Wolf Hall	Henry VIII	RSC	Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon	11.12.2013 to 29.03.2014
2013/14	Bring Up the Bodies	Henry VIII	RSC	Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon	19.12.2013 to 29.03.2014
2014	Wolf Hall	Henry VIII	RSC	The Aldwych Theatre, London	10.05.2014 to 04.10.2014
2014	Bring Up the Bodies	Henry VIII	RSC	The Aldwych Theatre, London	10.05.2014 to 04.10.2014
2015	Wolf Hall 1 & 2	Henry VIII	RSC	Winter Garden Theater, New York	20.03.2015 to 05.07.2015

Personal life

Nathaniel Parker was born in London, the son of the businessman, and one-time British Rail chairman, Sir Peter Parker and Gillian, Lady Parker, a GP, and expert gardener, who wrote The Purest of Pleasures:Creation of a Romantic Garden. Parker's brother is the film director Oliver Parker. He has another brother, Alan Parker, who is chairman of Brunswick Group Ltd and a sister, Lucy. Parker is married to the actress Anna Patrick. The couple live in Gloucestershire with their daughters Raphaella (born 1998) and Angelica (born 1996).

[ Source: Wikipedia ]