Sean Harris

For the American football player, see Sean Harris (American football). For the English rock singer, see Diamond Head (English band).

Sean Harris (born 1 June 1966)^[1] is an English actor. He played Ian Curtis in 24 Hour Party People (2002), Micheletto Corella in The Borgias (2011–2013), Fifield in Prometheus (2012), Solomon Lane in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), Philip in Possum (2018), William Gascoigne in The King (2019), Henry Peter Teague / Peter Morley in The Stranger (2022), and Jacob Pearce in Paris Has Fallen (2024).

Sean Harris
Harris in 2014 portraying MacDuff on the set of Macbeth
Born	(1966-06-01) 1 June 1966 (age 58)[1] Bethnal Green, London[1]
Education	Drama Centre London
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994–present

Harris won a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his role in the miniseries Southcliffe (2013) and received three consecutive nominations for the BIFA for Best Supporting Actor.

Early life and education

Harris was born on 1 June 1966^[1][2] in Bethnal Green^[1] and grew up in Lowestoft, Suffolk.^[3] He attended Denes High School, now the Ormiston Denes Academy, in Lowestoft.^[4]

At 23, he moved to London to train at the Drama Centre London from 1989 to 1992.^[5]

Career

Stage

Harris was a member of the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, where he performed in stage productions such as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet directed by Giles Havergal^[6][7] and as Carino in Don Juan directed by Robert David MacDonald.^[8] He also appeared as Lysander in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Matthew Lloyd at the Haymarket Theatre (Leicester)^[9] and as Johnny in a Nottingham Playhouse production of Angels Rave On, directed by Jonathan Church.^[10][11]

Television

Harris' television credits include serial killer Ian Brady, on ITV1's television mini-series, See No Evil: The Moors Murders (2006),^[11] the 2007 television films Wedding Belles,^[11] Channel 4's drama series Cape Wrath ^[12] (Meadowlands in the United States) as Gordon Ormond and the BBC series Ashes to Ashes as Arthur Layton.^[11]

In 2009, he played corrupt Detective Inspector Bob Craven in Channel 4's critically acclaimed Red Riding trilogy,^[11] and as photographer Anton Blair in Dean Cavanagh's comedy series, Svengali.^[13]

In the BBC TV drama Five Daughters (2010), Harris portrayed Brian Tobin, co-founder of the drug treatment facility, The Iceni Project, based in Suffolk. In preparing to play Tobin, Harris followed the real Brian Tobin around during pre-production.^[14]

From 2011 to 2013, Harris appeared as the assassin Micheletto in The Borgias, a series created by Neil Jordan. In 2013, he starred as Stephen Morton in the Channel 4 drama Southcliffe,^[15] for which Harris won a BAFTA award for Best Actor in 2014.^[2][16][17] He also played Joss Merlyn in the poorly received BBC adaptation of Jamaica Inn, which became a subject of controversy and made national news over its mumbling cast and other sound problems.^[18][19]

He appears as the disfigured former soldier turned terrorist mastermind Jacob Pearce in the 2024 French/British action thriller series Paris Has Fallen.^[20]

Film

Harris played the main cast role of Thomas the Disciple, and later Thomas the Apostle in the 1999 biblical, historical, drama television film Jesus.^[11] His notable roles include that of Joy Division's lead singer Ian Curtis in Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film 24 Hour Party People^[11] and as Steven in the film short True Love (Once Removed), directed by Kevin Thomas.^[11] The film won Best Short Film at both the Palm Springs and Houston Film Festivals, was selected for the several international festivals, and also qualified for an Oscar nomination in 2004.^[21]

Harris also played Nick Sidney in the 2005 mockumentary Brothers of the Head, directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe.^[11]

In 2007, he appeared in his first feature film lead role as Eddie in Saxon, directed by Greg Loftin.^[11] In 2009, he played Stretch in Harry Brown, directed by Daniel Barber.^[11]

In 2010, Harris appeared in another film short, Native Son, written and directed by Scottish director Scott Graham.^[11] It premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.^[22]

In 2012, he played Fifield in Ridley Scott's Prometheus.^[2]

In 2014, Harris played Mick Santino in Deliver Us from Evil (2014), directed by Scott Derrickson and based upon the 2001 novel "Beware the Night" by Ralph Sarchie and Lisa Collier Cool. He was cast by Derrickson for the film, without an interview, based upon the director had seen the actor's performance in Harry Brown.^[23] That same year, he appeared as Gene Womack in Guy Myhill's The Goob. Myhill previously directed Harris in two film shorts, Two Halftimes to Hell (1997) and The Fabulous Bilsons (2001). Harris finished the year with his performances as Captain Sandy Browning in '71, directed by Yann Demange, for which he earned a 2014 British Independent Film Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor,^[24] and he starred as Campbell in Serena (2014), directed by Susanne Bier.^[11]

In 2015, Harris appeared as Solomon Lane in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, directed by Christopher McQuarrie, and as Macduff in Justin Kurzel's Macbeth earning another BIFA nomination.^[25] In 2016, he starred in the crime drama Trespass Against Us, in a cast that included Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, and Rory Kinnear.^[26] His performance in the film merited a third BIFA nomination in a row.^[27]

Harris filmed Possum in 2016, a film by Matthew Holness, in which he plays the main character.^[28][29] He reprised his role as Lane in the sequel Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018).^[30]

In 2021, Harris portrayed Darren McGrady, the Royal Head Chef, in the film Spencer, and a frail, aged King Arthur in the film The Green Knight.^[31]

Music videos

Harris made a cameo appearance as a clown in a music video for the Norwich band the Black Sharks' debut album titled Lose Control, directed by Myhill (evidently filmed at the same time as The Fabulous Bilsons).

In 2007, he appeared in a video for Mark Ronson's "Stop Me".^[32]

In 2012, Harris appeared in London-based music group Barbarossa's video short, Battles, directed by Montserrat Lombard.^[33]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1997	Two Half-Times to Hell	Tom	Short film
	Wet Work	Sean	Short film
2001	The Discovery of Heaven	Bart Bork
	The Bilsons	Perry	Short film
2002	True Love (Once Removed)	Steven	Short film
	Tom & Thomas	Kevin
	24 Hour Party People	Ian Curtis
	Pay Day	Andy	Short film
2003	Nicotine Yellow	Diggie	Short film
2004	Trauma	Roland
	Creep	Craig, the "Creep"
	The Hare	Bourne	Short film
2005	Asylum	Nick
	Frozen	Hurricane Frank
	Brothers of the Head	Nick Sidney
	Isolation	Jamie
2007	Outlaw	Simon Hillier
	Saxon	Eddie
2009	Harry Brown	Stretch
2010	Native Son	John	Short film
	Brighton Rock	Hale
2011	A Lonely Place to Die	Mr Kidd
2012	Prometheus	Fifield
2014	Deliver Us from Evil	Santino
	'71	Captain Sandy Browning
	Serena	Campbell
2015	The Goob	Gene Womack
	Paradise Lost?[34]	Satan	Short film
	Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation	Solomon Lane
	Macbeth	Macduff
2016	Trespass Against Us	Gordon Bennett
2018	Mission: Impossible – Fallout	Solomon Lane
	Possum	Philip
2019	The King	William Gascoigne
2020	The Banishing[35]	Harry Reed
2021	The Green Knight	King Arthur
	Spencer	Chef Darren McGrady
2022	The Stranger	Henry Teague
TBA	Wizards!	TBA

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1994	Minder	Dean	Episode: "Bring Me the Head of Arthur Daley"
1994 1997 2002	The Bill	Matthew Grogan Russell Hines Stuart Kennedy	3 episodes
1995	Signs and Wonders	Carl Maynard	Television film
	The Vet	Neil Fairbrother	Episode: "Home Truths"
1996	A Mug's Game	Con
1998	Kavanagh QC	Mark Holmes	Episode: "Care in the Community"
1999	Jesus	Thomas	Television film
	Hot House	Cheddar	Television film
2000	Casualty	Tim Vanner	Episode: "Starting Over"
2001	The Hunt	Clem Mackie	Television film
2002	Judge John Deed	Gerry Hewitt	Episode: "Political Expediency"
2003	The Vice	Miles Wilson	Episode: "Control"
	Strange	Robin Thomas	Episode: "Asmoth"
2006	See No Evil: The Moors Murders	Ian Brady	Television film
2007	Wedding Belles	Adrian Collins	Television film
	Ashes to Ashes	Arthur Layton	2 episodes
	Cape Wrath	Gordon Ormond	3 episodes
2009	Red Riding	Sgt/DSupt Bob Craven	Limited series 3 episodes
	Law & Order: UK	Roland Kirk	Episode: "Community Service"
	Waking the Dead	Radovan Sredinic	2 episodes
2010	Five Daughters	Brian Tobin	3 episodes
2011–2013	The Borgias	Micheletto Corella	27 episodes
2013	Southcliffe	Stephen Morton	4 episodes
2014	Jamaica Inn	Joss Merlyn	3 episodes[36]
2023	The Gold	Gordon Parry	6 episodes
2024	Paris Has Fallen	Jacob Pearce	8 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Awards	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2003	Chlotrudis Awards	Best Supporting Actor	24 Hour Party People	Nominated	[37]
2011	Austin Fantastic Fest	Horror Jury Prize - Best Actor – Feature	A Lonely Place to Die	Won	[37]
2014	60th British Academy Television Awards	BAFTA Award for Best Leading Actor	Southcliffe	Won	[16][17]
	17th British Independent Film Awards	BIFA for Best Supporting Actor	'71	Nominated	[37][24]
2015	18th British Independent Film Awards		Macbeth	Nominated	[37][25]
2016	19th British Independent Film Awards		Trespass Against Us	Nominated	[37][27]
	National Film Awards UK	Best Supporting Actor	Macbeth	Nominated	[37]
2017			Trespass Against Us	Nominated	[37]
2018	Brooklyn Horror Film Festival	Best Actor	Possum	Won	[37]
2022	AACTA Awards	Best Supporting Actor	The Stranger	Won	[37][38]
2023	AACTA Awards	Best Supporting Actor (International)		Nominated	[37]
	Film Critics Circle of Australia	Best Supporting Actor		Won	[39]