Richard Coyle

Richard Coyle (born 6 February 1972) is an English actor. He portrayed the lead role of Father Faustus Blackwood in the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Jeff Murdock in the sitcom Coupling.

Early and personal life

Coyle was born in Sheffield, England.<ref name="indy">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="scotsman1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His father was a builder and he is the fourth of five sons.<ref name="scotsman1"/> Coyle began his acting career after a stint working on a ferry entertaining passengers, where he was told by a theatre director that he had talent and should pursue it further.Template:Sfn He graduated in Languages and Philosophy from the University of York in 1995<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and was then accepted into the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School,<ref name="indy"/> graduating in 1998, the same year as his close friends Dean Lennox Kelly and Oded Fehr.

Coyle was married to actress Georgia Mackenzie but they divorced in 2010.<ref name="scotsman1"/> From early 2011, he was in a relationship with actress Ruth Bradley, but by 2017 this had ended and he was seeing someone else.Template:Sfn

Film and television work

He began by appearing in such television programmes as Lorna Doone, John Ridd and Evelyn Waugh's wartime saga Sword of Honour, and in Mike Leigh's film Topsy-Turvy. He played Mr Coxe in 1999's BBC version of Wives and Daughters. In 2000, Coyle's big break arrived in the form of the character Jeff Murdock in the comedy Coupling.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2003 he chose not to return to Coupling for its fourth series, and refused requests to return for a "goodbye episode".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In a 2005 interview, Coyle stated this was to avoid typecasting:

I'm very proud to have been part of Coupling and very grateful for the chance to play Jeff but I was very keen that that character didn’t stick with me forever. I’m an actor and I want to be an actor when I’m 60. It’s a lifelong process; why cut it off by boxing yourself into a little pigeonhole early on?<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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He also starred in the short-lived 2002–2003 BBC show Strange, and had roles in the films Human Traffic, Franklyn, and A Good Year. He appeared in the new special episode of Cracker: Nine Eleven in October 2006 (TV) and starred in The Whistleblowers on ITV. He also starred in the 2001 version of Othello as Michael Cassio.

In 2004, Coyle played the role of Alcock, body servant to John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, in The Libertine alongside Johnny Depp. He appeared in Mike Newell's 2010 film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, playing Jake Gyllenhaal's older brother, the ambiguous Crown Prince Tus.

He was cast as the lead role, Moist von Lipwig, in the film Going Postal, based on the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This was broadcast on television in May 2010.

Coyle had a leading role in Renny Harlin's film 5 Days of War, about the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia over the territory of South Ossetia. In September 2011, Coyle appeared as William Winthrop, in Madonna's feature-directorial debut W.E. about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. He appeared as Garda Ciarán O'Shea in Grabbers, the Irish comedy monster film. Coyle also plays Wallace in Outpost: Black Sun, the sequel to the 2008 British horror film Outpost,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the lead of drug pusher Frank in the 2012 English-language remake of Nicolas Winding Refn's 1996 cult classic Pusher.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2012, Coyle joined the cast of the USA Network show Covert Affairs as Simon Fischer, an FSB agent and love interest for Piper Perabo's Annie Walker.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His character recurred until halfway through season three.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2014, NBC began airing the series Crossbones, with Coyle as Tom Lowe, who is assigned to kill the pirate Blackbeard (played by John Malkovich).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2018, Coyle was cast as Father Faustus Blackwood, a high priest of the Church of Night and Dean of the Academy of the Unseen Arts in the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In January 2021, Coyle announced via Instagram that he had been cast in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, scheduled to be released in 2022 but said he could not disclose whom he was playing. When the trailer came out that December, it was confirmed that he would be playing Aberforth Dumbledore.

Stage roles

Template:BLP unreferenced section He was cast as the lead in Peter Gill's 2002 stage premiere of The York Realist, and later in the Donmar Warehouse production of the play Proof, in London, alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, and on the success of this he was cast in Patrick Marber's reworking of August Strindberg's play After Miss Julie with Kelly Reilly and Helen Baxendale. From September to November 2004, Coyle played the title role in Michael Grandage's production of Friedrich Schiller's Don Carlos which then transferred to the West End from January to April 2005. The cast also included Derek Jacobi, Peter Eyre and Una Stubbs. The V&A theatre archive has a copy of a film of the production which can be privately viewed. He was in Peter Gill's production of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger at the Theatre Royal, Bath from August to September 2006. In 2008 Richard starred in Harold Pinter's The Lover and The Collection at the Comedy Theatre in London, alongside Charlie Cox and Gina McKee.

In 2010 he played John in Mark Haddon's play Polar Bears at the Donmar Warehouse, London.<ref>Shenton, Mark. "London's Donmar Warehouse Presents World Premiere of Haddon's 'Polar Bears'" Playbill, 6 April 2010</ref>

His own theatre company was scheduled to debut at the refurbished Arcola Theatre in Dalston, London in March 2013,Template:Citation needed with Coyle starring alongside his friend and co-founder Rafe Spall in Simon Bent's play The Associate.Template:Citation needed

In 2014 he played MacDuff in the Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford directed Macbeth at the Park Avenue Armory, New York City.<ref>Fullerton, Jessie. "PHOTO CALL: Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston Star in Immersive 'Macbeth' at Park Avenue Armory" Playbill, 10 June 2014</ref>

Coyle originated the role of Larry Lamb in James Graham's new play Ink which opened at the Almeida Theatre directed by Rupert Goold before transferring to the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End. Coyle stars alongside Bertie Carvel who plays Rupert Murdoch.<ref>Ink almeida.co.uk</ref>

From 10 March until 19 November 2022 Coyle starred in the role of Atticus Finch in the West End debut of Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Harper Lee's American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Starring as Henry in Player Kings on West End from 1 April to 22 June 2024.

Other media

Template:BLP unreferenced section Coyle played Keats in the game Folklore and has also narrated the following audio books: At The Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft, Resistance by Owen Sheers, and the H.I.V.E. series of novels by Mark Walden. He has also narrated the Discworld audiobooks Going Postal, Making Money, and Raising Steam, which feature the character Moist von Lipwig, for the Penguin series of re-recorded Discworld audiobooks released in February 2023.<ref>Discworld in Audio penguin.co.uk</ref><ref>Bill Nighy stars as voice of Pratchett in brand-new recordings of the entire Discworld series narrativia.com</ref>

==Filmography<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>==

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Macbeth	Loon	Television film
1998	Template:Sortname	John Parsons Cook	Television film
1998	What Rats Won't Do	Journalist
1999	Human Traffic	Andy
1999	Topsy-Turvy	Mr Hammond
2000	Hearts and Bones	Will Stenner	Television film
2000	Lorna Doone	John Ridd	Television film
2001	Sword of Honour	Trimmer McTavish	Television film
2001	Young Blades	Count Morlas
2001	Happy Now?	Joe Jones
2001	Othello	Michael Cass	Television film
2003	Blight	John Blight	Short film
2003	Friday Night In	Ben	Short film
2004	Gunpowder, Treason & Plot	Catesby	Television film
2004	Template:Sortname	Alcock
2006	Ultra	Cryptic Man	Television film
2006	Template:Sortname	Michael Sheldrake	Television film
2006	Cracker	D.I. Walters	Television film
2006	Template:Sortname	Amis
2007	Template:Sortname	Jim	Television film
2008	Franklyn	Dan
2008	Blight	John Blight
2008	Template:Sortname	Tony Kirby	Short film
2009	Octavia	Gareth Llewellyn	Television film
2010	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time	Tus
2010	Terry Pratchett's Going Postal	Moist Von Lipwig	Television film
2011	5 Days of War	Sebastian Ganz
2011	W.E.	William
2012	Grabbers	Garda Ciarán O'Shea
2012	Outpost: Black Sun	Wallace
2012	Pusher	Frank
2013	Template:Sortname	Oliver Byrne
2022	Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore	Aberforth Dumbledore
2025	Heads of State		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Hetty Wainthropp Investigates	Miles Miller	Episode: "A Minor Operation"
1999	Greenstone	Sir Geoffrey Halford	Unsold TV pilot
1999	Up Rising	Martin Marr	Unsold TV pilot
1999	Wives and Daughters	Mr Coxe	2 episodes
2000–02	Coupling	Jeffrey "Jeff" Murdock	22 episodes
2000	Dalziel and Pascoe	Martin Hallingsworth	Episode: "A Sweeter Lazarus"
2002–03	Strange	John Strange	7 episodes
2007	Template:Sortname	Ben Graham	6 episodes
2010	Miami Medical	Doctor	Pilot episodeTemplate:Sfn
2012	Life of Crime	Detective Inspector	3 episodes
2012	Covert Affairs	Simon Fischer	7 episodes
2014	Crossbones	Tom Lowe	9 episodes
2015	A.D. The Bible Continues	Caiaphas	12 episodes
2016	Template:Sortname	Joe O'Donnell	3 episodes
2016	Template:Sortname	Paul Sabine	8 episodes
2017	Born to Kill	Peter	2 episodes
2018	Hard Sun	Thomas Blackwood	2 episodes
2018–2020	Chilling Adventures of Sabrina	Father Blackwood	Main cast
2023	Six Four	Robert Wallace	Main cast
2023	Then You Run	Reagan	Main cast
2024	The Gathering	Jules	Main cast six-part drama<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

References

Sources

• Template:Cite news

External links

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• "Richard Coyle Talks Tom Lowe" – video of short interview with Coyle about Crossbones role