Samuel Barnett (actor)

This article is about the English actor. For other people, see Samuel Barnett (disambiguation).

Samuel Barnett (born 25 April 1980) is an English actor. He has performed on stage, film, television and radio and achieved recognition for his work on the stage and film versions of The History Boys by Alan Bennett. His television performances include roles in the BBC comedy Twenty Twelve and in the Showtime drama Penny Dreadful. He played the lead role of Dirk Gently in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, the 2016 BBC America adaptation of the book series by Douglas Adams.

Samuel Barnett
Barnett at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	(1980-04-25) 25 April 1980 (age 45) Whitby, North Yorkshire, England
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2001–present
Partner	Adam Penford

Early life

Barnett was born in Whitby, North Yorkshire, on 25 April 1980.^[1] He has four siblings. His mother comes from a Quaker background while his father was descended from Polish Jews.^[2] He started performing at an early age before moving to London to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

Career

Barnett appeared in the original London stage production of Alan Bennett's 2004 play The History Boys, as well as in the New York, Sydney, Wellington and Hong Kong productions and radio and film versions of the play.^[3][4][5][6] He had been involved in The History Boys from its very first reading.^[7]

In 2009 Barnett played John Everett Millais in the BBC series Desperate Romantics and Joseph Severn in the film Bright Star. He appeared at the National Theatre in Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton, which ran from 20 April to 4 July 2010. From July 2012 he appeared in an all-male-cast as Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare's Richard III at Shakespeare's Globe in London alongside Mark Rylance in the title role, also playing the role of Sebastian in Twelfth Night. The production transferred to the Apollo Theatre in the West End, opening on 2 November 2012 and running for a limited engagement.^[8] Both Twelfth Night and Richard III transferred to Broadway in 2013 and played at the Belasco Theatre until February 2014. In the Broadway productions Barnett reprised his role as Elizabeth Woodville in Richard III and took on the role of Viola (previously played by Johnny Flynn in London) in Twelfth Night.^[9][10] In July 2018 Barnett reunited with History Boys playwright Alan Bennett and co-star Sacha Dhawan for Bennett's new play, Allelujah!, at the Bridge Theatre.^[11]

In 2022 at the Edinburgh Fringe, Barnett performed a one-man show Feeling Afraid as If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen written by Marcelo dos Santos.^[12] In late 2023, Barnett performed this at the Bush Theatre in London.^[13]

Recognition and awards

Barnett was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Award as Most Promising Newcomer for his role in The Marriage of Figaro in 2002. He won Best Newcomer and Best Supporting Actor in a play at the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers Choice Awards for his work on the original production of The History Boys.^[3] He was nominated for the 29th annual Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role.^[14] He won a Drama Desk Award and was nominated for a Tony Award for his work on the Broadway production.^[15][16]

Barnett was nominated for the 2006 British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer (On Screen) for his work on the film version of The History Boys.^[17]

In 2014 Barnett received a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his work in Twelfth Night.^[18]

In 2022 Barnett received the Stage Edinburgh Award for excellence in acting for his role in the solo-show Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen.^[19]

Personal life

Barnett is gay and in a relationship with theatre director Adam Penford.^[20] In 2020 his father died from COVID-19.^[21][22]

Credits

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue
2002	The Accrington Pals[1]	Reggie	Minerva Theatre, Chichester
	The Marriage of Figaro[1]	Cherubino	Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
2003–2004	His Dark Materials	Pantalaimon	Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank
2004–2006	The History Boys	Posner	Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank (2004–2005) Lyric Theatre, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (2006) St. James Theatre, Wellington (2006) Sydney Theatre, Sydney (2006) Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway (2006)
2005	When You Cure Me[1]	Peter	Bush Theatre, London
2007–2008	Dealer's Choice	Carl	Menier Chocolate Factory and Trafalgar Studios, London
2010	The Whisky Taster[23]	Barney	Bush Theatre, London
	The Man	Man	Finborough Theatre, London
	Women Beware Women[24]	Leantio	Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank
2011	Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead	Rosencrantz	Chichester Festival Theatre and Theatre Royal Haymarket
	66 Books	St. Paul	Bush Theatre, London
2012	The Way of the World	Witwoud	Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
	Richard III	Elizabeth Woodville	Shakespeare's Globe and Apollo Theatre, London
	Twelfth Night	Sebastian	Shakespeare's Globe and Apollo Theatre, London
2013–2014	Richard III	Elizabeth Woodville	Belasco Theatre, Broadway
	Twelfth Night	Viola	Belasco Theatre, Broadway
2015	The Beaux' Stratagem	Aimwell	Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank
2018	Allelujah!	Colin	Bridge Theatre,
	Kiss of the Spider Woman	Molina	Menier Chocolate Factory, London
2021	Medium: A Magical Reckoning[25]
2022	Straight Line Crazy	Ariel Porter	Bridge Theatre
	Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen	The Comedian	Roundabout Theatre @ Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival
2023	Rock Follies[26] (adaptation of the TV series)	Harry	Chichester Festival Theatre
2024	Ben and Imo	Ben	Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

Television

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes
2001	Coupling	Sex Shop Assistant	BBC	Episode: "My Dinner in Hell"
2002	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Brian Byrne	BBC	Episode: "Well-Schooled in Murder"
2002–2003	Strange	Doddington	BBC
2003	Doctors	Charlie Ambrose	BBC	Episode: "All an Illusion"
	The Royal	Joe Steeples	ITV	Episode: "Poison"
2006	American Experience	Philip Hamilton's schoolmate	PBS	Episode: "Alexander Hamilton"
2007	Wilfred Owen: A Remembrance Tale	Wilfred Owen	BBC
	John Adams	Thomas Boylston Adams	HBO
2008	Beautiful People	Adult Simon Doonan / Narrator	BBC
	Crooked House	Billy	BBC
2009	Desperate Romantics	John Millais	BBC
	Beautiful People: Series 2	Adult Simon Doonan / Narrator	BBC
	Agatha Christie's Marple[27]	Sergeant Tiddler	ITV	Episode: "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side"
2011	Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps	Leonard	BBC
	Shakespeare in Italy	Romeo Montague	BBC
2012	Twenty Twelve	Danny	BBC
2015	Vicious	Young Stuart	ITV
	Not Safe for Work	Nathanial	Channel 4
2016	Endeavour	Anthony Donn	ITV
	Penny Dreadful	Renfield	Showtime	7 episodes
2016–2017	Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency	Dirk Gently	BBC America	Main role
2021	Four Lives	Ryan Edwards	BBC
2022	Murder in Provence	Didier Laurent	ITV
	Cyberpunk: Edgerunners	Delamain AI (voice)[28]	Netflix

Film

Year	Title	Role
2005	Mrs Henderson Presents	Paul
2006	The History Boys	Posner
2009	Bright Star	Joseph Severn
2012	Love Tomorrow	Cal
2015	Jupiter Ascending	Advocate Bob
	The Lady in the Van	Out of work actor
2020	The Act	Matthews
2023	Lee	Cecil Beaton

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Station	Notes
2004	Fighting for Words	Thomas Moynihan	BBC Radio 4[29][30]
2005	The History Boys	Posner	BBC Radio 3[31]
	When You Cure Me	Peter	BBC Radio 3[32]
2007	Down and Out in Paris and London	George Orwell	BBC Radio 4[33]
2008	The Babington Plot	Thomas Salisbury	BBC Radio 4[34]
2009	The Quest	Mordred	BBC Radio 4
	Joan of Arc, and How She Became a Saint	Dauphin of France	BBC Radio 4[35]
	Turing's Test	Alan Turing	Made in Manchester[36]
2010	Spitfire	Tony	BBC Radio 4
	Translations	Yolland	BBC Radio 4[37]
	I, Claudius	Caligula	BBC Radio 4[38]
	A Tiny Bit Marvellous	Oscar	BBC Radio 4
2011	Wuthering Heights	Edgar Linton / Linton Heathcliff	BBC Radio 3
	My Week with Marilyn	Colin Clark (narrator)	BBC Radio 4
2012	Dickens' London	Charles Dickens	BBC Radio 4
	The Voysey Inheritance	Edward Voysey	BBC Radio 3
2013	Tosca's Kiss	Rospo	BBC Radio 3
	Jill	John Kemp	BBC Radio 4
	Denmark Hill	Charles	BBC Radio 4
	Sometimes into the Arms of God	Cecil Beaton	BBC Radio 4[39]
2018	The Case of Charles Dexter Ward	Charles Dexter Ward	BBC Radio 4[40]
2024	Dickensian: Little Dorrit	Arthur Clennam	BBC Radio 4	3 episodes

Audio drama

Year	Title	Role	Company
2009	Doctor Who: The Beast of Orlok	Hans	Big Finish
2016	Doctor Who: Nightshade	Robin Yeadon
	The Confessions of Dorian Gray	Staurt Knight
2016–	Torchwood	Norton Folgate
2017	Hamlet	Laertes
2017–2018	Cicero	Cicero
2019	Doctor Who: Tartarus	Cicero

Soundtrack

Year	Title	Notes
2006	The History Boys	Performer: "L'Accordéoniste", "Bewitched", "Bye Bye Blackbird"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2020	Amnesia: Rebirth	Richard Fairchild	Voice[41][better source needed]
	Cyberpunk 2077	Delamain AI	Voice[42][better source needed]
	Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition	Gael'gar	Voice[43][better source needed]
2022	Elden Ring	Brother Corhyn	Voice[44][better source needed]