Samuel West
Samuel West is an actor and director. He’s played Hamlet and Richard II for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Jeffrey Skilling in Enron in the West End, and the voice of Pongo in Disney’s 101 Dalmations II. On television he’s been in Cambridge Spies, Eternal Law and The Chronicles of Narnia. He’s currently filming the second series of Mr Selfridge for ITV.
His performance in the film Howards End was nominated for a BAFTA award. Other films include Van Helsing, Franco Zeffirelli’s Jane Eyre and three for director Roger Michell: Notting Hill, Persuasion and Hyde Park on Hudson.
Sam enjoys working with musicians, and as a reciter has appeared with all the major British orchestras. In 2002 he performed Walton’s Henry V at the Last Night of the Proms. This autumn he’s touring with a jazz quintet performing Britten and Auden. He also narrates lots of documentaries and audiobooks.
On radio he’s been in more than fifty plays, including works by Pinter, Coward, Frayn, Stoppard, Simon Gray and Laura Wade.
Sam has directed ten plays and two operas and was from 2005 to 2007 the artistic director of Sheffield Theatres. He is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Chair of the National Campaign for the Arts and a member of the council of the British Actors’ Union, Equity.
In his spare time he grows chillies and goes birdwatching.