Christian Cooke

For the lacrosse player, see Christian Cook.
Christian Cooke

Cooke attending London Film Comic Con in July 2008
Born Christian Louis Cooke
(1987-09-15) 15 September 1987
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Residence London, England
Education St. Mary's Catholic High School, Menston
Occupation Actor
Years active 1999–present

Christian Louis Cooke (born 15 September 1987) is an English actor. He is known for playing Luke Kirkwall in Where the Heart Is, Luke Rutherford in Demons, Dorian Gaudain in Trinity, Freddie Taylor in Cemetery Junction and Len Matthews in the Channel 4 mini series The Promise. Cooke's most recent roles include Stewart Gilmour in BBC's two-part drama Stonemouth, adapted from Iain Banks' novel of the same title, and ex-soldier Graham Connor in Crackle's original drama The Art of More.

Background

Cooke was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire,[1] where he attended St. Mary's Catholic High School, Menston and Bingley Arts Centre.[2] He has an older brother, Alexander, and younger sister, Gabrielle.[3]

Cooke began his acting career at the age of 10 when he appeared in a production of Bedazzled at the Bingley Arts Centre.[4] His first television appearance was in a commercial for Birds Eye beef burgers,[5] shortly followed by his first lead role as Wilmot Tanner in Granada Television series Wilmot. His career progressed from there.[3]

Career

Cooke played the role of Luke Kirkwall from 2000 to 2006 in the ITV drama Where the Heart Is. He has also guest starred in Doctors, Barking!, The Royal, Casualty and Inspector George Gently. In 2007, he starred in one episode of BBC's Robin Hood as Will Scarlett's younger brother Luke and made his film debut in short film Wish.[6]

Cooke also appeared in BBC One's The Chase and played Brae Marrack in the ITV1 soap opera Echo Beach. He guest starred in Doctor Who episodes: "The Sontaran Stratagem"[7] and "The Poison Sky",[8] playing UNIT soldier Ross Jenkins, in 2008.

During 2009, he played the lead roles of Luke Rutherford in ITV1's supernatural drama Demons[2] & Lord Dorian Gaudain in ITV2's eight-part drama Trinity, where he had several rear nude scenes in its first episode,[9] and appeared in Syfy's television film Dark Relic the following year.[10] He went on to play the lead role of Freddie Taylor in Cemetery Junction[11] and starred in the critically acclaimed Channel 4 four-part drama The Promise, directed by Peter Kosminsky in 2011.

That same year, Cooke made his directorial debut in Chandide, an independent short film based in London written by & starring Trinity co-star Arnab Chanda[12] before completing Paramount Pictures' romantic comedy Drunk Wedding.[13] The following year, he featured in 1950s Miami-set drama series, Magic City,[14] which came to a close after two seasons in August 2013.[15]

Cooke's film career has since grown in the form of two collaborations with director Bryn Higgins, titled Unconditional and Electricity, starring alongside Charlie Cox in British independent Hello Carter, playing Mercutio in Carlo Carlei's Romeo and Juliet and starring alongside Lily Collins in British-American romantic comedy Love, Rosie. He also made a return to short films, starring in Nativity-inspired Anomaly[16] before taking the lead in Fare with Maimie McCoy, and has since featured regularly throughout the second season of American television series Witches of East End [17] before Lifetime announced the show's cancellation in November 2014.[18]

Spring 2015 saw Cooke return to British television in BBC two-part book-adaptation drama Stonemouth, the first adaptation of Iain Banks' work since his death in 2013, opposite Sharon Small, Gary Lewis & Peter Mullan,[19] as well as the announcement of Magic City's movie adaptation starring alongside Bruce Willis & Bill Murray, reprising his role as Danny Evans.[20] On top of his return to British television, his role as Stewart Gilmour in Stonemouth marked his return to a lead role,[21] and towards the summer of 2015 came the announcement of a return to directing with Peter Mullan & Michelle Fairley taking the lead roles in short film Edith;[22] news that was followed by the release of Crackle original drama The Art of More, leading alongside Dennis Quaid & Kate Bosworth, where Cooke starred as ex-soldier Graham Connor.[23]

The start of 2016 brought in a reunion with Hello Carter director Anthony Wilcox, starring alongside Example, for Instagram-exclusive Shield 5, the first short film to be distributed across this platform[24]

Filmography

Television

List of acting performances in television
Title Year Role Notes
Wilmot 1999 Wilmot Tanner Main role
Where the Heart Is 2000–06 Luke Kirkwall 68 episodes
Casualty 2002 Mark Booth "Only The Lonely"
Barking! 2004 Ryan "The Big Sausage"
Doctors 2006 Gary "Positively Blooming"
Casualty 2006 Jude Becket "Sons & Lovers"
Inspector George Gently 2007 Billy Lister "Gently Go Man"
The Chase 2007 Liam Higgins 9 episodes
The Royal 2007 Bobby Horrocks "Starting Over"
Robin Hood 2007 Luke Scarlett "The Angel of Death"
Echo Beach 2008 Brae Marrack Main role
Moving Wallpaper 2008 Himself 3 episodes
Moving Wallpaper: The Mole 2008 Himself Webisode; Episode 1.4
Doctor Who 2008 Ross Jenkins "The Sontaran Stratagem", "The Poison Sky"
Demons 2009 Luke Rutherford-Van Helsing Main role
Trinity 2009 Lord Dorian Gaudain Main role
Dark Relic 2010 Paul Television film
The Promise 2011 Sergeant Leonard Matthews Miniseries
Magic City 2012–13 Danny Evans Main role
Witches of East End 2014 Frederick Beauchamp Main role; Season 2
Stonemouth 2015 Stewart Gilmour Main role
The Art of More 2015-16 Graham Connor Main role

Film

List of acting performances in film
Title Year Role Notes
Wish 2007 Malcolm Short film
Cemetery Junction 2010 Freddie Taylor
Unconditional 2012 Liam
Romeo & Juliet 2013 Mercutio
Hello Carter 2013 Eliott
Fare 2013 Dominic Short film
Anomaly 2014 Oliver Grier Short film
Electricity 2014 Mikey O'Connor
Love, Rosie 2014 Greg
Drunk Wedding 2015 John
Shield 5 2016 John Swift Short film-exclusive to Instagram
Magic City ???? Danny Evans

References

  1. "Christian Cooke Profile". Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  2. 1 2 Barnett, David (19 December 2008). "Christian is fired up for star TV role". Telegraph & Argus. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
  3. 1 2 Hardaker, Andrea (2 January 2009). "Christian Cooke stars in prime time ITV show". Ilkley Gazette. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  4. Christian Cooke – TV.com
  5. "Christian Cooke Spotlight".
  6. "Wish" Vimeo
  7. "The Sontaran Strategem". Doctor Who. 2008-04-26.
  8. "The Poison Sky". Doctor Who. 2008-05-03.
  9. Wilkes, Neil (11 December 2008). "2009 TV Preview: ITV2's Trinity". Digital Spy. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
  10. "Syfy Movies - Dark Relic" Syfy
  11. "Ricky Gervais talks Cemetery Junction". Indie London. Retrieved 29 April 2008.
  12. "Chandide" Vimeo
  13. Paramount Pictures films movie in Nicaragua Archived 24 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Business of Cinema. 3 June 2011
  14. Starz series Magic City full cast announced The Hollywood Reporter. 9 June 2011
  15. Magic City cancelled by Starz tvseriesfinale. 5 August 2013
  16. "Vimeo Staff Pick - Anomaly" Vimeo
  17. Witches of East End Season 2 premiere date tvline. 7 May 2014
  18. Witches of East End cancelled by Lifetime insidetv. 4 November 2014
  19. "Stellar cast announced for BBC adaptation of Iain Banks’ Stonemouth" BBC Television. 21 October 2014
  20. "Christian Cooke is one of the UK’s hottest new actors" City AM. 5 March 2015
  21. "Waiting for a role like Stonemouth" What's on TV. 4 June 2015
  22. "Christian Cooke Soldiers On" The Scotsman. 7 June 2015
  23. "Stonemouth Media Pack" BBC Television. 19 June 2015
  24. "Shield 5" Instagram
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