The star of British cinema Christopher Eccleston is known to fans for dozens of films. The Ninth Doctor, the elf Malekith, Detective Bilborough, the Duke of Norfolk are just a small list of the roles played by this talented actor. But fame did not come to him immediately. How did his career start? Why did he choose an acting career over football? What mysterious events took place in the personal life of Christopher Eccleston?
Fans of modern cinema will surely remember Major Henry West from the thriller "28 Days Later", the leader of the dark elves Malekith in the second film "Thor" and the stinging Ninth Doctor from the TV series "Doctor Who". What unites these so different characters? Only one thing: they were all played by the famous British actor, Christopher Eccleston.
Childhood and youth
Christopher's childhood was spent in the small town of Salford, located in Lancashire. He was born on February 16, 1964 in a poor working-class family with three children. The brothers of the future actor, the twins Keith and Alan, were 8 years older than him.
Then, in the midst of the Cold War, no one could have imagined that this little agile boy would become one of the most famous actors in Britain. In his early years, Christopher had one all-consuming passion: football. He dreamed of a professional career, and this dream was close to being fulfilled: he managed to enter a prestigious sports school, supervised by the club "Manchester United". And in the not too distant future, he hoped to become a member of the adored team. But fate decreed otherwise.
During his school years, Eccleston became interested in theater. And, although the new hobby could not overcome his love for football, he gladly participated in amateur productions. His talents in this field were so outstanding that school teachers began to actively advise the young man to try to get an education related to the theater. This is exactly what happened in the end. After graduating from school, Christopher went to London, where he entered the School of Oratory and Drama. Football remained just a passion, and the young actor began performing on the stage of London theaters.
Carier start
The role of the actor is extremely versatile. His roles include madmen, supervillains, space time travelers, detectives, butlers. However, the recognition did not come to Eccleston right away: after the first significant role in the play "A Streetcar Named Desire", he seemed to be forgotten. Several years after graduating from acting school, Christopher had to play minor characters in small theaters, and in his free time to earn a living through hard work. Eccleston worked as a salesman in a supermarket, an auxiliary worker at a construction site. Several times, from lack of money, he was hired by artists as a model. He was repeatedly invited to television, but all roles in films and television series were minor; quite often his name was not even indicated in the credits.
The breakthrough came in 1990, when the actor turned 26 years old. In the TV series Blood Rights, he played a supporting character, Dick. Despite not the most significant role, the actor was noticed. A year later, director Peter Murdoch invited him as the lead actor in his film Let It Get Its Own. Christopher's hero, psychopathic killer Derek Bentley, turned out to be very convincing and brought the actor the long-awaited fame. After that, proposals fell in one after another: over the next 3 years, Eccleston starred in 10 films. Among them:
- the 1991 series Inspector Morse, Boone, and The Thief, in which the actor played minor characters;
- the television series Poirot, in which Christopher played the role of Frank Carter;
- the short film "Rachel's Dream";
- and, finally, the popular 1993-1994 series "The Cracker Method", remembered by many thanks to the secondary, but charismatic character - Detective Billborough.
However, supporting roles were only the beginning of the actor's creative career. In 1992, the film "Death and the Compass" was released based on the story of the same name by Borges, where Christopher played one of the main roles. A year later - a new project, "The Hermit" and again Eccleston plays the main character.
Popularity period
The real fame came to Christopher Eccleston in 1994, after the role of David in the movie "Shallow Grave". A comedy thriller about three young people who decided to hide the corpse of their neighbor and take the money that turned out to be from him, instantly became popular. And he brought the British actor, who brilliantly played a slowly going crazy man, world fame.
This was followed by the main roles in the films "Hillsborough" and "Jude", as well as in the miniseries "Our Friends in the North" (1992). In 1997, Eccleston became Renée Zellverger's partner in The Price of Rubies, and a year later, along with Cate Blanchett and Joseph Fiennes, he took part in the drama Elizabeth about the early years of the Queen of England, playing the Duke of Norfolk.
In the period from 1999 to 2004, the famous actor participated in a number of sensational projects: "Existence", "Gone in 60 Seconds", "Othello", "League of Gentlemen", "28 Days Later" and some others.
And in 2005 he was approved for the role that has become a cult for millions of viewers. The ninth reincarnation in the popular BBC series Doctor Who was recognized as one of the most successful. The first "modern" Doctor will forever be remembered by fans of his unchanging black leather jacket, a malicious smile and an inexplicable love for bananas (into a grove of which he, by his own admission, once turned an alien military factory). And his exclamation "Fantastic!", Used on almost any occasion, has become almost an identifying sign of the fans of the series.
After leaving the role of Doctor Eccleston, he starred in more than a dozen films, of which the most sensational were the series "Heroes", which aired on TV from 2006 to 2010, the films "Rise of Darkness" (2007) and "Throw the Cobra" (2009), and also the superhero thriller Thor 2: The Kingdom of Darkness. The last project, where Christopher played the main villain, the dark elf Malekith, the actor himself calls one of the unsuccessful ones. The success of the film turned out to be much lower than expected, and the make-up was unexpectedly difficult: to transform into a character, Eccleston had to spend 7-8 hours daily.
In 2015, he took part in two successful projects: "Legend" and "Fortitude", and in 2018 received a minor role in the film adaptation of Shakespeare's play "King Lear".
Actor's family
Christopher Eccleston has been absorbed in his career for many years; if there was early love in his life, he never told the fans about it. The actor got married only in 2011, at the age of 48. His wife, Mishka, worked as a copywriter, and at the time of marriage she was 31 years old.
In 2012, on February 2, the couple had their first child, Albert. Less than a year later, a daughter, Esmeralda, or, as her parents often call her, Esme, appeared in the family.
Eccleston does not like to spread about his personal life, and little is known about the vicissitudes of his relationship with his wife. Nevertheless, on December 16, 2015, a rumor leaked to the press that the star couple had broken up. Eccleston himself filed for divorce, saying that due to the unreasonable behavior of his wife, he suffered from insomnia, weight loss and was under constant stress. The actor did not give any explanations, and the mystery of what this "unreasonable behavior" consisted of still torments the fans.
