Chris New

Chris New (born 17 August 1981) is an English film and stage actor best known for his starring role in the 2011 film Weekend.

While at RADA, New sang in Stephen Sondheim musical play Assassins (he has a tenor singing voice), and performed in Joe Orton play The Erpingham Camp as part of his A-levels in 2005.

He graduated from the school in 2006.

New has extensive theatre credits.

His first professional stage credit occurred just weeks after graduation, when he appeared in the summer of 2006 as Mosby in the Elizabethan-era play Arden of Faversham at the White Bear Theatre in London.

A reviewer for The Stage remarked that he played the villainous role with "brooding menace".

That December, he appeared as Horst opposite theatre veteran Alan Cumming in a production of Bent, by Martin Sherman, at Trafalgar Studios in London.

Susannah Clapp, reviewing the play for The Observer, said New is "an actor whose huge talent is unusually matched by his restraint."

His performance won him an Evening Standard Award nomination for the Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer of 2006, and a What's On Stage.com Theatregoers' Choice Award nomination for Best London Newcomer of the Year for 2006.

In February 2007, New took on the role of Louis in The Reporter, a play by Nicholas Wright about the mysterious suicide of BBC journalist James Mossman in 1971.

The play was produced by the Royal National Theatre at the Cottesloe Theatre in London.

New starred opposite Ben Chaplin.

David Benedict in Variety called New's Louis "nervy, charged-up but controlled", and said the "strain of the relationship's illegality creates the play's strongest sequence."

Philip Fisher for The British Theatre Guide had equally good things to say, noting that "New, who received universal plaudits for his performance opposite Alan Cumming in Bent once again shows real talent as Louis."

In October 2007, New played Dromio of Ephesus in William Shakespeare The Comedy of Errors.

The comedy was mounted by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and New was part of the national touring cast.

The play marked New's Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) debut.

When The Comedy of Errors neared the end of its tour, New took on the role of Viola in the RSC's production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

The play is about a shipwrecked woman who adopts a male identity, only to discover her long-lost twin brother is also on the island.

The Neil Bartlett production was a gender-bending one, in which the female roles were played by men, and the male roles by women.

John Lithgow co-starred as Malvolio.

Charles Spencer, writing for The Daily Telegraph, was harsh in his appraisal: "...in Chris New's performance, apart from an opening sequence in unconvincing drag, there is no attempt to capture Viola's femininity. He just comes over as a strangely charmless, somewhat priggish gay young man."

Michael Billington in The Guardian had few good things to say about the production as a whole, but highly praised New's performance:

Other reviewers found both the production and New's performance outstanding.

David Benedict, writing in Variety, said Bartlett brought a "mature emotional intelligence...to one of Shakespeare's most-produced plays", and found much to praise in New's characterization of Viola.

The male-playing-female-playing male conceit, he said, relieves New "of the distracting business of allowing auds to see how well or ill he pulls off the task of female impersonation. This allows him much more room to explore depth of emotion in both guises, something he accomplishes with truly arresting poise."

What's On Stage's anonymous reviewer also greatly enjoyed New's performance, noting: "Playing a woman who in turn plays a man, New is superbly deft and delicate, richly deserving of further accolades."

New subsequently starred as Simon Bliss in a July 2008 revival of Noël Coward 1924 comedy, Hay Fever at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, England.

Critic Mark Powell wrote in Metro News that "It's hard to see how this reasonably plush production could have been cast much better as Belinda Lang and Chris New...arguably grate the most joyously as the passive-aggressive mother and son..."

Alfred Hickling in The Guardian also enjoyed New's work, noting that he played Simon Bliss "like [an] overgrown toddler[] in evening wear", while Natalie Anglesey in The Stage praised his performance as "exuberant".

In December 2008, New appeared as the college student Ricardo in the Young Vic production of Colin Teevan and Paul Heritage's play Amazonia.

In October 2009, New played Joe Orton in the original London production of the dark comedy Prick Up Your Ears, by Simon Bent.

The concept for the play came from New's roommate.

New made his screen writing and directorial debut in 2013 with the short film Ticking.

He co-wrote the 2014 independent film Chicken, and co-wrote and directed the 2014 independent film A Smallholding.

New was born and raised in Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom, and comes from a working-class background.

His father was a lorry driver and his mother held various short-term jobs, and New has an older brother.

According to his own account, New "ran away" from Swindon in order to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.

Living in London was a major change for him:

New financed his education by soliciting small donations from hundreds of people he knew.