David Suchet

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David Suchet OBE (born May 2, 1946) is a British actor best known for his television portrayal of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. His brother is news reader John Suchet.

Born in London to Jack and Joan Suchet, he took an interest in acting and joined the National Youth Theatre at 18. He studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, where he now serves as a council member.

He began his acting career at the Watermill Theatre, and retains a great affection for the place saying it "fulfils my vision of a perfect theatre".

In 1973, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. The 1970s also saw his first appearance on screen. His first appearance on film came with 1980's A Tale of Two Cities. In 1985 he played Blott in the television series Blott on the Landscape. He was awarded the Royal Television Society's award for best male actor for A Song for Europe in 1985. His performance as the title character in Poirot earned him a 1991 British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) nomination. He was given a Variety Club Award in 1994 for best actor for portraying John in David Mamet's play Oleanna at the Royal Court Theatre. Suchet later won another Variety Club Award for his portrayal of Antonio Salieri in Amadeus.

Suchet was nominated for another Royal Television Society award in 2002 for his performance as Augustus Melmotte in The Way We Live Now, which also earned him a BAFTA nomination. The same year he was appointed an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2003 he played ambitious 16th-century English primate, Cardinal Wolsey, in the 2-part ITV drama Henry VIII opposite Ray Winstone as Henry VIII and Helena Bonham Carter as Anne Boleyn.

He has also appeared in a number of films, including Executive Decision (1996), A Perfect Murder (1998), and Wing Commander (1999).

David is the brother of John Suchet, a former ITV News presenter. David married Sheila Ferris in 1976, and their son, Robert, graduated from the University of Birmingham in July 2002. David and Sheila also have a daughter together, Katherine.

David is vice-president of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Trust, whose most challenging achievement to date has been securing funding (both via an appeal, and from influencing government decisions) concerning the building of the new M6 Toll motorway where it cuts the lines of the Lichfield Canal and the Hatherton Canal, both of which the Trust wishes to see reopened.

Suchet also does numbers of small appearances and voiceovers for religious dramatic works in accord with his own Christian faith (see [link]). He also provided the voice of Aslan in Focus on the Family's radio version of C.S. Lewis's the Chronicles of Narnia.

Trivia

Converted to Roman Catholicism
His father was Jewish, his mother was Anglican
His paternal grandfather was a Russian whose surname was shortened from Suchedowitz to Suchet. He also has some French blood on his mother's side.
Plays the clarinet.
Affectionately calls his fat suit for Hercule Poirot his "armadillo padding."
One of his hobbies is photography. His grandfather, James Jarché, was a famous Fleet Street photographer. David first got into photography when his grandfather gave him a Kodak as a present.
Rosalind Hicks, Agatha Christie's daughter, saw him in Blott on the Landscape and decided he would make a perfect Poirot. Two years later, in 1987, he was cast for the series.
Is 5'6"
Says he always carries around with him a list of ninety-three things to remember about Poirot!

Film and TV work

The Professionals: Where the jungle ends (1978)
Schiele In Prison (1980)
Oppenheimer (1980)
A Tale of Two Cities (1980)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982)
The Missionary (1982)
Red Monarch (1983)
The Last Day (1983)
Trenchcoat (1983)
Reilly: The Ace of Spies (1983)
Master of the Game (1984)
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)
Freud (1984)
The Little Drummer Girl (1984)
A Song for Europe (1985)
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
Blott on the Landscape (1985)
Gulag (1985)
Thirteen at Dinner (1985)
Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985)
Iron Eagle (1986)
Murrow (1986)
Cause célèbre (1987)
The Last Innocent Man (1987)
Harry and the Hendersons (1987)
A World Apart (1988)
To Kill a Priest (1988)
Nobody Here But Us Chickens (1989)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: short story series (1989)
When the Whales Came (1989)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1990)
The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (1990)
Separation (1990)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Peril at End House (1990)
The Secret Agent (1992)
Der Fall Lucona (1993)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1994)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Murder on the Links (1995)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Hickory Dickory Dock (1995)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Cruel Train (1995)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Dumb Witness (1996)
Executive Decision (1996)
Moses (1996)
Deadly Voyage (1996)
Sunday (1997)
The Phoenix and the Carpet (1997)
Solomon (1997)
Seesaw (1998)
A Perfect Murder (1998)
Wing Commander (1999)
RKO 281 (1999)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (2000)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Lord Edgware Dies (2000)
Sabotage! (2000)
NCS: Manhunt (2001)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Evil Under the Sun (2001)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Murder in Mesopotamia (2001)
Victoria & Albert (2001)
The Way We Live Now (2001)
NCS Manhunt (2002)
Live From Baghdad (2002)
The In-Laws (2003)
Foolproof (2003)
Henry VIII (2003)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Five Little Pigs (2003)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Sad Cypress (2003)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Death on the Nile (2004)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Hollow (2004)
(2004)
A Bear Named Winnie (2004)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Taken at the Flood (2005)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Mystery of the Blue Train (2005)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Cards on the Table (2005)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: After the Funeral (2005)

External links

[All about David Suchet fan site]

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