Editing Andy Serkis (section)

==Early life==
Serkis was born on 20 April 1964 in [[Ruislip Manor]] in [[Middlesex]] (now [[Greater London]]).<ref name=beastie>{{Cite news |last=Shoard |first=Catherine |title=Andy Serkis: Beastie boy |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=16 March 2008 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/3671900/Andy-Serkis-Beastie-boy.html |access-date=22 October 2010 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090711201408/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/3671900/Andy-Serkis-Beastie-boy.html |archive-date=11 July 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> He grew up in both Ruislip and [[Baghdad]], Iraq.<ref name=GuardianInterview>{{Cite news |last=McGrath |first=Nick |title=Andy Serkis: 'I used to walk on all fours preparing to be Gollum' |newspaper=The Guardian |date=6 March 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/mar/06/this-much-i-know-andy-serkis-i-used-to-walk-on-all-fours-preparing-to-be-gollum |access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref> His mother, Lylie Weech, was half Iraqi and half English, and taught disabled children;<ref name=GuardianInterview/> his father, Clement Serkis, was an [[Iraqi Armenians|Iraqi-Armenian]] [[gynaecologist]].<ref name=beastie/><ref name=GuardianInterview/><ref name="oneringref">{{cite news |author=xoanon |title=Andy Serkis Talks LOTR |website=[[TheOneRing.net]] |date=1 February 2001 |url=http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2001/02/02/27644-andy-serkis-talks-lotr-2/ |access-date=29 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110412020650/http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2001/02/02/27644-andy-serkis-talks-lotr-2/ |archive-date=12 April 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> His ancestors' original Armenian surname was "[[Sarkisian]]".<ref name=rer>{{Cite news |last=Nepales |first=Ruben V. |title=Only in Hollywood Andy Serkis: From Gollum, King Kong to Einstein |newspaper=[[Philippine Daily Inquirer]] |page=F2 |date=6 July 2007 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=h1U1AAAAIBAJ&pg=3049,2317161&dq=another-passion-for-the-actor&hl=en |access-date=22 October 2010 |via=Google News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929131807/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=h1U1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=gCUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3049,2317161&dq=another-passion-for-the-actor&hl=en |archive-date=29 September 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> His father often worked abroad in the Middle East, while Serkis and his siblings were raised in Britain, with regular holidays in the Middle Eastern cities of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]], [[Sidon]], [[Damascus]] and Baghdad.<ref name="independent-20121207"/> Both of his parents were devoutly [[Catholic Church|Catholic]].<ref name=GuardianMoorhead>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/dec/13/family-values-andy-serkis |location=London |newspaper=The Guardian |title=My family values; Andy Serkis, actor |first=Joanna |last=Moorhead |date=13 December 2008 |access-date=11 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415104401/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/dec/13/family-values-andy-serkis |archive-date=15 April 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Serkis was educated at [[St Benedict's School, Ealing]]. He studied visual arts and theatre as part of his degree at [[Lancaster University]] and graduated in 1985.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/articles/2014/from-lancaster-to-middle-earth/ |title=From Lancaster to Middle-earth |date=11 December 2014 |website=Lancaster University |access-date=12 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107032757/http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/articles/2014/from-lancaster-to-middle-earth/ |archive-date=7 January 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> Serkis was a member of [[The County College]] and part of the student radio station [[Bailrigg FM]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Lynn |first=Iain |date=14 November 2019 |title=Andy Serkis lands role as Alfred in new Batman film |url=https://www.lep.co.uk/whats-on/andy-serkis-lands-role-alfred-new-batman-film-1301765 |work=[[Lancashire Evening Post]] |access-date=14 November 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624222519/https://www.lep.co.uk/whats-on/andy-serkis-lands-role-alfred-new-batman-film-1301765 |archive-date=24 June 2021}}</ref> He joined the Nuffield Studio, getting involved in designing and producing plays.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bafta.org/sites/default/files/uploads/heritagehandoutredshoes04.pdf |title=Andy Serkis Selects The Red Shoes |last=Kermode |first=Mark |date=15 January 2018 |website=[[British Academy Film Awards]] |access-date=15 January 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128054914/https://www.bafta.org/sites/default/files/uploads/heritagehandoutredshoes04.pdf |archive-date=28 January 2021}}</ref>

Having agreed to act in a couple of productions towards the end of his first year, Serkis played the lead role in [[Barrie Keeffe]]'s play ''Gotcha'' as a rebellious teenager holding a teacher hostage. As a result, he changed his major subject to acting, constructing his Independent Studies Degree around acting and set design, studying [[Konstantin Stanislavski]] and [[Bertolt Brecht]], and including minor modules in art and visual graphics.<ref>{{cite web |first=Ken |last=P. |url=http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/383/383888p1.html |title=An Interview with Andy Serkis (page 1) |website=[[IGN]] |date=27 January 2003 |access-date=21 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702050359/http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/01/27/an-interview-with-andy-serkis |archive-date=2 July 2015}}</ref> In his final year at Lancaster he adapted [[Raymond Briggs]]'s graphic novel ''[[The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman]]'', a satire about the Falklands War, as a one-man show, which he performed to acclaim.<ref>{{cite news |last=Aftab |first=Kaleem |date=25 October 2017 |title=Andy Serkis interview: How a colleague's family history led to his directorial debut |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/andy-serkis-breathe-andrew-garfield-claire-foy-jungle-book-king-kong-planet-of-the-apes-a8019676.html |work=The Independent |access-date=25 October 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025215133/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/andy-serkis-breathe-andrew-garfield-claire-foy-jungle-book-king-kong-planet-of-the-apes-a8019676.html |archive-date=25 October 2017}}</ref>