History Main / ShakespearianActors

Used intelligently, Shakespearian Actors can raise ''everyone'''s game, or turn a blah character into a BreakoutCharacter. But beware: being cast alongside one or more Shakespearian Actors makes it painfully clear if someone can't act (see, for instance, ''TeachingMrsTingle'', in which Creator/HelenMirren out-acts all of her co-stars ''combined'' with her hands quite literally tied behind her back). Think of them as the acting equivalent of Spandex: they make good things better, and bad things much, much worse.

* Both RalphFiennes and Joseph Fiennes (the latter played the title role in ShakespeareInLove).

* In addition to [[RalphFiennes Fiennes]], [[Creator/AlanRickman Rickman]], and [[Creator/EmmaThompson Thompson]], many ''Film/HarryPotter'' actors:

->''It is true that there are few plays of Shakespeare I haven't done.''
-->-- '''[[KnightFever Dame]] Creator/JudiDench'''

* LievSchreiber is one of the more prominent Americans of this type.

* Sir Creator/PatrickStewart: his classical training has allowed him to dodge being [[TypeCasting type cast]] by either ''Franchise/StarTrek'' or ''Film/{{X-Men}}'', and he's returned to the RSC since (most recently, as Claudius to Creator/DavidTennant's ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'').

->''It is true that there are few plays of Shakespeare I haven't done.''\\
--'''[[KnightFever Dame]] Creator/JudiDench'''

* TimothyDalton: the fourth cinematic Film/JamesBond, and his background can be seen in the way he played 007. He also appears in ''Film/FlashGordon'', a [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi spy]] in {{Disney}}'s ''Film/TheRocketeer'', and as a medium-sized ham in ''HotFuzz''. Is also the last Lord President of the [[Series/DoctorWho Time Lords]]. Also [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory3 Mr. Pricklepants]].

* Dame Creator/JudiDench: M in the last half-dozen or so ''James Bond'' films. Also stole ''ShakespeareInLove'' as Queen Elizabeth I with roughly nine total minutes of screen time. She picked up an AcademyAward as Best Supporting Actress for the performance.

* RogerAllam: Old hand at the RSC, has turned his hand to film, musicals, television and radio.

* ChiwetelEjiofor, the Operative from ''Film/{{Serenity}}''. Has played ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' and Orsino from ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''.

* Creator/TomHiddleston, in cahoots with Kenneth Branagh, turned Loki into a sympathetic/tragic Shakespearean villain in the first ''Film/{{Thor}}'' film. He has yet to star in an RSC or RNT production but portrayed [[HenryIV Prince Hal]]/HenryV for a BBC TV series. A character famously played by... Kenneth.

* PenelopeWilton (aka [[Series/DoctorWho Harriet Jones, Prime Minister]] and [[Series/DowntonAbbey Isobel Crawley]]) is a Royal National Theatre veteran many times over with a CV that includes [[AntonChekhov Chekhov]] and [[WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]]. (Yes, [[RunningGag we know who she is]].)

* CateBlanchett: While not a member of the RSC, is a classically trained theatre actress with a Shakespeare background who has her name mentioned in the same breath as the most famous RSC alums.

-> ''It is true that there are few plays of Shakespeare I haven't done.''
->-- '''[[KnightFever Dame]] Creator/JudiDench'''

* RaulJulia

* Creator/AlexKingston of ''{{ER}}'' and ''Series/DoctorWho'' fame.
* DanLauria, the father on TheWonderYears.

->-- '''[[KnightFever Dame]] JudiDench'''

One of the litmus tests for being a Shakespearian actor is to have played a major/lead role for the Royal Shakespeare Company or the Royal National Theatre. These two theatres are the most prominent and prestigious theatres in Great Britain with the globally-known RSC catering (almost) exclusively Shakespeare's plays. (RSC's closest North American equivalents are probably the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.) Even better, see the Website/YouTube entries for the old educational series, ''Playing Shakespeare'', featuring the RSC players of its day, now in retrospect stock-full of future movie stars like Creator/PatrickStewart, Dame JudiDench, BenKingsley, and Sir Creator/IanMcKellen.

* Dame JudiDench: M in the last half-dozen or so ''James Bond'' films. Also stole ''ShakespeareInLove'' as Queen Elizabeth I with roughly nine total minutes of screen time. She picked up an AcademyAward as Best Supporting Actress for the performance.

* DavidWarner
* OrsonWelles

* AlexKingston of ''{{ER}}'' and ''Series/DoctorWho'' fame.

* CatherineTate did small parts in her youth for the RSC, and in 2011 played Beatrice opposite Creator/DavidTennant's Benedick in ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing''.
* Creator/DavidTennant, the Tenth Doctor in ''Series/DoctorWho'', was an RSC man (including a well-regarded [[RomeoAndJuliet Romeo]]) before his stint in the TARDIS, and moonlighted as a critically-acclaimed ''{{Hamlet}}'' between filming the 2009 specials. He then played Benedick opposite real-life best friend and former ''Who'' co-star CatherineTate in ''MuchAdoAboutNothing''.

* Sir Creator/PatrickStewart: his classical training has allowed him to dodge being [[TypeCasting type cast]] by either ''Franchise/StarTrek'' or ''Film/{{X-Men}}'', and he's returned to the RSC since (most recently, as Claudius to DavidTennant's ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'').
* CatherineTate did small parts in her youth for the RSC, and in 2011 played Beatrice opposite DavidTennant's Benedick in ''MuchAdoAboutNothing''.
* DavidTennant, the Tenth Doctor in ''Series/DoctorWho'', was an RSC man (including a well-regarded [[RomeoAndJuliet Romeo]]) before his stint in the TARDIS, and moonlighted as a critically-acclaimed ''{{Hamlet}}'' between filming the 2009 specials. He then played Benedick opposite real-life best friend and former ''Who'' co-star CatherineTate in ''MuchAdoAboutNothing''.

* Sir JohnGielgud

* ChristopherPlummer

* PollyWalker (Atia of the Julii of ''{{Rome}}'' fame).

* JennyAgutter: Veteran of both the RSC and the National Theatre, including the title role in ''HeddaGabler'' among ''many'' others.

* EmmaThompson: Oddly has never played for either the RSC or the RNT[[note]]in fact, she's done surprisingly little theatre work in general[[/note]], but starred on film as Queen Catherine in ''Film/HenryV'' and Beatrice in ''Film/MuchAdoAboutNothing'' (both opposite Kenneth Branagh), as well as Helena in ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' and The Fool in ''Theatre/KingLear'' onstage.
* In addition to [[RalphFiennes Fiennes]], [[Creator/AlanRickman Rickman]], and [[EmmaThompson Thompson]], many ''Film/HarryPotter'' actors:

* EmmaThompson: Oddly has never played for either the RSC or the RNT[[note]]in fact, she's done surprisingly little theatre work in general[[/note]], but starred as Queen Catherine in ''Film/HenryV'' and Beatrice in ''Film/MuchAdoAboutNothing'' (both opposite Kenneth Branagh'', as well as Helena in ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' and The Fool in ''Theatre/KingLear'' onstage.

->-- '''JudiDench'''

* In addition to [[RalphFiennes Fiennes]] and [[Creator/AlanRickman Rickman]], many ''Film/HarryPotter'' actors:

-> ''It is true that there are few plays of Shakespeare I haven't done.

* JeremyIrons