David Mark Joseph Morrissey was born on 21 June 1964 and is an English actor and filmmaker.
108 Facts About David Morrissey
2.
David Morrissey then appeared in Some Voices and Captain Corelli's Mandolin before playing the critically acclaimed roles of Stephen Collins in State of Play and Gordon Brown in The Deal.
3.
David Morrissey played Jackson Lake, a man suffering from amnesia who believed he was The Doctor, on the Doctor Who special "The Next Doctor".
4.
David Morrissey produced and starred in the crime drama Thorne.
5.
David Morrissey 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.
6.
David Morrissey starred in the British crime film Blitz, playing a morally dubious reporter in contact with the eponymous cop killer.
7.
David Morrissey later portrayed The Governor in the third, fourth, and fifth seasons of the AMC horror-drama series The Walking Dead.
8.
David Morrissey has directed short films and the television dramas Sweet Revenge and Passer By.
9.
David Morrissey was awarded an honorary doctorate by Edge Hill University in 2016.
10.
David Mark Joseph Morrissey was born in the Kensington area of Liverpool on 21 June 1964, the son of Littlewoods employee Joan and cobbler Joe Morrissey.
11.
David Morrissey has two older brothers named Tony and Paul, and an older sister named Karen.
12.
Decades later, as part of National Museums Liverpool's Eight Hundred Lives project, David Morrissey wrote that the house had been in his family since at least 1900.
13.
David Morrissey's grandmother had been married there and his mother was born there.
14.
David Morrissey was greatly interested in film, television, and Gene Kelly musicals as a child.
15.
David Morrissey decided to become an actor after seeing a broadcast of Kes on television.
16.
David Morrissey's contemporaries included Cathy Tyson, brothers Mark and Stephen McGann, and Ian Hart, the latter being his friend since they were both five years old.
17.
David Morrissey became friends with the McGann brothers and they introduced him to their brother Paul, who was on a break from his studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
18.
When David Morrissey was 15 years old, his father developed a terminal blood disorder.
19.
David Morrissey was ill for some time and eventually died of a haemorrhage at the age of 54 in the family home.
20.
In 1982, David Morrissey auditioned for One Summer, a television series by Willy Russell for Yorkshire Television and Channel 4 about two Liverpool boys who run away to Wales one summer.
21.
Russell had been attached to the Everyman for many years, and David Morrissey had seen him while he was working behind the bar downstairs from the theatre, though the two had never been introduced.
22.
David Morrissey went to at least eight auditions, and in one read for the part of Icky opposite Paul McGann, who was reading for Billy.
23.
McGann, five years older than David Morrissey, believed that he was too old to be playing the part of 16-year-old Billy and stepped back from the production, leaving the role to go to David Morrissey.
24.
David Morrissey had planned to study at RADA in London, but his colleagues at the Everyman encouraged him not to as he already had his Equity card.
25.
David Morrissey became homesick while there and did not enjoy the way RADA was turning him into a "bland actor".
26.
David Morrissey continued his studies at RADA and graduated on 1 December 1985.
27.
David Morrissey then did Le Cid and Twelfth Night with Cheek by Jowl, and spent two years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, principally with director Deborah Warner for whom he played the Bastard in King John in 1988.
28.
David Morrissey saw the role as a learning opportunity, as he had often wondered at RADA if he would ever have the chance to act in classical theatre.
29.
David Morrissey's performance has been described as "the most contentious characterisation of the production"; he received negative critical reaction from The Daily Telegraph and Independent critics, but a positive opinion from the Financial Times.
30.
David Morrissey knew Morrissey was right for the part in his first audition.
31.
The next year, David Morrissey appeared as Theseus in an episode of The Storyteller directed by Madden, and as Little John in Robin Hood.
32.
David Morrissey was out of work in film and television for eight months after it was released.
33.
David Morrissey almost lost the role a week into rehearsals when his appendix ruptured.
34.
David Morrissey first met screenwriter Peter Bowker when he played Detective Sergeant Jim Llewyn in the second series of Bowker's Out of the Blue.
35.
In Finney, David Morrissey assumed the role originated by Sting in Stormy Monday.
36.
David Morrissey was the first choice for the part and had to learn to play the double bass.
37.
David Morrissey studied the role and decided to take it on the basis that the character was unloved and that his motivation by social class causes his mental health problems.
38.
In 1999, David Morrissey returned to the theatre for the first and last time in nine years to play Pip and Theo in Three Days of Rain.
39.
David Morrissey continued to take in offers for stage roles, but turned them down because he did not want to be away from his family for long periods.
40.
David Morrissey was attracted to the role because the play began with a long speech and the cast and crew had only two weeks' rehearsal time.
41.
David Morrissey researched the character of Pete, a chef, by shadowing the head chef at the Terrace Restaurant in Kensington, London and chopping vegetables in the kitchen for two hours a day.
42.
David Morrissey returned to television in 2002 playing Franny Rothwell, a factory canteen worker who wants to adopt his dead sister's son, in an episode of Paul Abbott's Clocking Off.
43.
David Morrissey's performance was described as characteristically powerful in The Independent.
44.
David Morrissey played tabloid journalist Dave Dewston in the four-part BBC serial Murder, and prison officer Mike in the part-improvised single drama Out of Control.
45.
David Morrissey researched the latter part by shadowing prison officers in a young offenders' institution for a week.
46.
David Morrissey researched premature births by speaking to paediatricians at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.
47.
David Morrissey received the scripts for the first three episodes and was keen to read the last three.
48.
Unsure how to approach the role, David Morrissey was advised by his friend, director Paul Greengrass, to get Collins' job as politician right.
49.
David Morrissey contacted State of Play producer Hilary Bevan Jones, who set up meetings between David Morrissey and select committee members Kevin Barron and Fabian Hamilton.
50.
David Morrissey was able to shadow Peter Mandelson around the House of Commons for a fortnight.
51.
David Morrissey questioned Mandelson about his job as a cabinet minister but did not ask about his personal life.
52.
Unlike his research for the fictional State of Play, David Morrissey discovered that no politicians wanted to talk to him for this fact-based drama, so he turned to journalists Jon Snow and Simon Hoggart.
53.
David Morrissey travelled to Brown's hometown of Kirkcaldy and immersed himself in numerous biographies of the man, including Ross Wilson's documentary films on New Labour in the year surrounding the 1997 election.
54.
When speaking to many of Brown's friends to gain insight into his "private persona", David Morrissey discovered that Brown was funny, approachable and charming, which were characteristics he did not see in his "public persona".
55.
David Morrissey's acting in State of Play and The Deal won him considerable acclaim; he was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his role as Collins but lost to his co-star Bill Nighy.
56.
David Morrissey's performance won the RTS Programme Award for Best Male Actor the next year, this time beating Nighy.
57.
David Morrissey was eager to play a comic role after starring in these dramas.
58.
David Morrissey subsequently reunited with Peter Bowker for the BBC One musical serial Blackpool, in which he plays Blackpool arcade owner Ripley Holden.
59.
David Morrissey was pleased to revive Ripley after filming dramatic roles since the original serial.
60.
David Morrissey was flown out to Los Angeles for a one-hour screen test with Sharon Stone.
61.
David Morrissey had enjoyed the first film and liked the script for the sequel.
62.
David Morrissey read up on psychiatry and worked out in a gym for the nudity scenes.
63.
Club wrote that David Morrissey had "the charisma of beige wallpaper" and that "the producers could have replaced him halfway through shooting with a handsome mahogany coat rack and nobody would be able to tell the difference".
64.
David Morrissey took the role because he was a fan of Swank, and Hopkins' film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, and he preferred the thriller aspect of the Reaping script above the horror aspect.
65.
David Morrissey found the filming schedule quite demanding, particularly the three weeks of night filming and a scene in which his character is attacked by a plague of locusts, most of which were computer-generated in post-production but some were real on camera.
66.
In March 2006, David Morrissey filmed a role in The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep in New Zealand.
67.
David Morrissey signed on to the seven-part series in September 2006 and filmed the series until the end of the year.
68.
David Morrissey relished working on the character's back story as it confounded the expectations of both him and the audience.
69.
David Morrissey appeared as Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk in The Other Boleyn Girl.
70.
David Morrissey compared Norfolk to bassist Lemmy from Motorhead and researched the role by reading history books and literature from the 16th century.
71.
From November 2008 to January 2009, David Morrissey returned to the theatre for the first time in nine years to appear in the Almeida Theatre's British premiere of Neil LaBute's In a Dark Dark House.
72.
David Morrissey played Terry, one of two brothers who had been abused as a child, opposite Steven Mackintosh and Kira Sternbach.
73.
David Morrissey took the role because he liked LaBute's previous play, The Mercy Seat.
74.
David Morrissey learned about how they coped with the shame of their abuse, and incorporated those feelings into his acting.
75.
David Morrissey was able to consult LaBute during rehearsals but avoided asking him exactly how to play Terry.
76.
David Morrissey had been asked to appear in the series before but had to turn down the offers due to other commitments.
77.
David Morrissey approached the character like any other dramatic part, and was influenced in his performance by previous Doctor actors William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker.
78.
David Morrissey was pleased that the episode was a "decoy" for the truth that actor Matt Smith had actually been chosen for the part of the Eleventh Doctor.
79.
David Morrissey already knew the directors of the films, enjoyed reading the script and had either worked with his co-stars on projects, or wanted to work with them.
80.
David Morrissey liked the flaws in the Jobson character and that he differs from typical vigilante police officers portrayed on television.
81.
David Morrissey starred as Theunis Swanepoel, the interrogator of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, in the BBC single drama Mrs Mandela.
82.
David Morrissey's performance was praised by The Guardian and Independent critics.
83.
David Morrissey returned to a weekly television role at the end of 2010 playing police detective Tom Thorne in Thorne, a six-part television series for Sky1 that was adapted from Mark Billingham's novels Sleepyhead and Scaredy Cat.
84.
David Morrissey found an interview in which Billingham stated his preference for Morrissey to play Thorne should a screen adaptation ever be made.
85.
When he returned to the UK, David Morrissey arranged a meeting with Billingham and the two began developing the TV series.
86.
David Morrissey shadowed officers in the Metropolitan Police's murder unit during their duties to learn about their jobs.
87.
David Morrissey discovered that the officers felt undervalued in their jobs, and he incorporated these feelings into the series.
88.
In 2011, David Morrissey starred as Robert Carne in South Riding, and played Dunlop in the Lionsgate crime drama feature Blitz.
89.
David Morrissey talked about the role to criminologists, to draw parallels with real-life serial killers, and focused on Macbeth's status as a war hero and his childless relationship with Lady Macbeth.
90.
David Morrissey's performance was commended by Laura Davis in the Liverpool Daily Post, who highlighted his delivery of his lines and portrayal of Macbeth "[shifting] from straight-spined statesman to a fervent slayer".
91.
David Morrissey joined the cast of The Walking Dead for its third season in 2012.
92.
David Morrissey portrayed The Governor, a major villain from the graphic novel upon which the series is based.
93.
David Morrissey read the prequel novel Rise of the Governor to gain insight into the character and his motivations.
94.
David Morrissey worked with an accent coach and listened to politicians with Southern accents, including Bill Clinton.
95.
David Morrissey returned for the fourth season in 2013, and made a cameo appearance in 2015.
96.
David Morrissey was awarded an honorary doctorate by Edge Hill University in 2016.
97.
From January 2018, David Morrissey appeared as Mark Anthony in Julius Caesar at the new Bridge Theatre.
98.
David Morrissey has said that he prefers to keep acting and directing separate, and would not direct anything he is acting in.
99.
In 2001, David Morrissey directed Sweet Revenge, a two-part BBC television film starring Paul McGann that got him a BAFTA nomination for Best New Director.
100.
In 2004, David Morrissey reunited with Tony Marchant to direct the two-part television film Passer By, about a man who witnesses an attack on a woman but does nothing to stop it.
101.
David Morrissey developed his directing techniques by watching the directors on films and television series that he acted in; he took the minor role of Tom Keylock in Stoned so that he could watch Stephen Woolley at work.
102.
On 20 July 2007, David Morrissey was given an Honorary Fellowship from Liverpool John Moores University for contributions to performing arts.
103.
David Morrissey was a part of Stagereel, a production house previously set up by Morrissey's brother Paul.
104.
David Morrissey bought the rights to adapt the Thorne novels and Morrissey was already developing it to pitch to television channels when Sky made an offer to broadcast it.
105.
David Morrissey is a patron of The SMA Trust, Liverpool's Unity Theatre, and the human rights organisation Reprieve.
106.
David Morrissey married his girlfriend of over 13 years, novelist Esther Freud, in a ceremony on Southwold Pier on 12 August 2006.
107.
David Morrissey is the sister of fashion designer Bella Freud, daughter of painter Lucian Freud, and great-granddaughter of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.
108.
David Morrissey is a lifelong supporter of his hometown football team Liverpool FC and the Labour Party.