Neil Pearson
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Neil Joshua Pearson (born April 27, 1959) is a British actor best known for his work on television. He is also the author of a 2008 book on the Manchester-born publisher Jack Kahane, Obelisk: A History of Jack Kahane and the Obelisk Press.
Biography
Pearson came from a poor London family, and as a boy, attended Woolverstone Hall, an experimental boarding school, where he learned to act.
After graduating from the Central School of Speech and Drama, he made his first television appearance in 1982 and starred alongside Leonard Rossiter in Joe Orton's play Loot at the Lyric Theatre in London in 1984; Rossiter died during a performance while in his dressing room. Pearson then became an acquaintance of Hat Trick Productions and won a part in their historical sitcom Chelmsford 123. He also appeared with Hat Trick executive Jimmy Mulville in That's Love. Pearson narrated Colin Wyatt's animated series The Poddington Peas in 1986.
It was in the roles of associate editor and office lothario, Dave Charnley, in the sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey - another Hat Trick show - and of Detective Superintendent Tony Clark in the thriller, Between The Lines, that he made his greatest impact on the viewing public.
Since then he has appeared in such varied roles as Dr Jameson in Rhodes (1998), Jack Green in the children's serial The Magician's House (1999), Trevor Heslop in Trevor's World of Sport (2003) and John Diamond in A Lump in My Throat (2003). He has also been in several hit films, including Fever Pitch (1997) and Bridget Jones's Diary (2001). He recently appeared in the 2006 Radio Four series Vent as Ben.
He is strongly identified with the British left - having made a party election broadcast for the British Labour Party for the 1994 European Elections, though later prominently supported Ken Livingstone when Livingstone ran as an independent candidate for Mayor of London in 2000.
Pearson was recently a 'judge' on Channel 4's The Play's The Thing, which sought to find a play written by an unknown writer for a run in the West End. The winning play, written by Kate Betts, was called On the Third Day and opened at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London in June 2006. Pearson appeared in a touring revival of Sir Peter Hall's production of Harold Pinter's Old Times in 2006.
He is a keen Texas hold'em poker player, often to be seen in London poker clubs. Pearson is also a fan of Tottenham Hotspur and regularly attends home games - even though in the film Fever Pitch he plays a man who takes his son to watch their arch-rivals Arsenal. In 2007 he assisted with fundraising to renovate Bristol Old Vic Theatre.
