David Morrissey



David Mark Morrissey (born 21 June 1964) is an English actor and director. Morrissey grew up in the Kensington and Knotty Ash areas of Liverpool, and learned to act at the city's Everyman Youth Theatre. At the age of 18, he was cast in the television series One Summer (1983), which won him recognition throughout the country. After making One Summer, Morrissey attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, then acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre for four years.

Throughout the 1990s, he often portrayed policemen and soldiers, though took other defining roles such as Bradley Headstone in Our Mutual Friend (1998) and Christopher Finzi in Hilary and Jackie (1998). More film parts followed, including roles in Some Voices (2000) and Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001), before he played the critically acclaimed roles of Stephen Collins in State of Play (2003) and Gordon Brown in The Deal (2003). The former earned him a Best Actor nomination at the British Academy Television Awards and the latter won him a Best Actor award from the Royal Television Society. His film parts have not been always acclaimed, particularly his leading roles in Basic Instinct 2 (2006) and The Reaping (2007). In the years following those films, he has had leading roles in Sense and Sensibility (2008), Red Riding (2009), Nowhere Boy (2009) and Centurion (2010), and produced and starred in the crime drama Thorne (2010). He returned to the stage in 2008 for a run of Neil LaBute's In a Dark Dark House and played the title role in the Liverpool Everyman's production of Macbeth in 2011. The following year, he signed on for a regular role in the third season of the American television series The Walking Dead.

As a director, David Morrissey has helmed short films and the television dramas Sweet Revenge (2001) and Passer By (2004). His feature debut, Don't Worry About Me, premiered at the 2009 London Film Festival and was broadcast on BBC television in March 2010. The British Film Institute describes Morrissey as being considered "one of the most versatile British actors of his generation",[2] and he is noted for his meticulous preparation for and research into the roles he plays.[3] [4] [5] He is married to the novelist Esther Freud, with whom he has three children, and is a patron of numerous charities.

He will be appearing in season 3 as Philip blake/ The governor.