Andy Serkis

Andrew Clement Serkis is an English actor, director and producer. He is best known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), King Kong in the eponymous 2005 film, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy (2011–2017), Captain Haddock / Sir Francis Haddock in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Baloo in his self-directed film Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018) and Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), also portraying Kino Loy in the Star Wars Disney+ series Andor (2022).

Serkis is the eighth highest-grossing actor of all time, and his film work in motion capture has been critically acclaimed. He has received an Empire Award and two Saturn Awards for his motion-capture acting. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of serial killer Ian Brady in the British television film Longford (2006) and was nominated for a BAFTA for his portrayal of new wave and punk rock musician Ian Dury in the biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010). In 2020, Serkis received the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema. In 2021, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for the series The Letter for the King (2020).

Serkis portrayed Ulysses Klaue in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Black Panther (2018), as well as the Disney+ series What If…? (2021). He has played Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman (2022). Serkis has his own production company and motion capture workshop, The Imaginarium in London, which he used for Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle. He made his directorial debut with Imaginarium's 2017 film Breathe. He directed Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), which is set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU).

Born on April 20, 1964, in West London, Serkis hails from a diverse background. His father, Clement Serkis, an Armenian-Iraqi gynecologist, and his mother, Lily, an Englishwoman, worked as a special education teacher at a school for children with learning disabilities. Andy was one of five children in the family.

He attended St Benedict's School in Ealing and pursued visual arts and theatre at Lancaster University, where he became involved in acting and set design. He joined the Nuffield Studio and gained experience in designing and producing plays.

The aspiring actor spent his childhood in Ruislip, a small town near London. As his father frequently traveled to the Middle East for work, Andy had the opportunity to visit major cities in the region, such as Baghdad and Damascus, during his formative years. He attended St. Benedict's School, where he discovered a passion for the arts, initially intending to become an expressionist painter.

Upon graduating from high school, Serkis enrolled in Lancaster University's Fine Arts
program. After graduating from university, Andy Serkis became a permanent fixture at the Dukes Theatre in Lancaster. He later performed at numerous theaters across the United Kingdom, landing leading roles in prominent plays such as "Othello," "King Lear," "Macbeth," and "Faust." In 1990, he settled in London and participated in several Royal Court Theatre productions.

In 1994, Andy Serkis made his cinematic debut with a minor role in the adventure film "Prince of Jutland." Following this, he secured numerous roles in films like "Career Girls" (1997), "Among Giants" (1998), "Pandaemonium" (2000), and others. 

However, it was Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's
renowned book series, that catapulted Serkis to worldwide fame. Audiences were captivated by his portrayal of the semi-deranged Gollum, a key character and villain with a grotesque appearance, brought to life using computer graphics.

The actor reprised his iconic role in all installments of "The Lord of the Rings" as well as the "The Hobbit" film series (the first part released in 2012), which also detailed the backstory of his character. 

In 2005, Serkis portrayed King Kong in the eponymous film while also playing a human role using the motion capture technology, and in 2011, he used the same technology in "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn."

In 2011, 2014, and 2017, Serkis, already well-acquainted with motion capture technology and the portrayal of gigantic apes, played the key character Caesar, an intelligent gorilla, in the "Planet of the Apes" film series. His character is a wise and judicious strategist, forced to seek revenge on humans after his family's murder, and the viewer witnesses Caesar's development
as an individual.

In Gareth Edwards' 2014 science-fiction monster film Godzilla, Serkis was the consultant on the film's motion capture sequences in order to "control the souls" of the creatures. Serkis played Ulysses Klaue in Marvel Studios' Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and was also a motion capture consultant on the film. He reprised the role in Marvel Studios' Black Panther (2018), and provided the voice in the sixth episode of Marvel's What If...?. He played Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and reprised the role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Serkis appeared as the Ghost of Christmas Past in the 2019 BBC/FX three-part miniseries A Christmas Carol. In 2019, it was announced that Serkis would play Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman (2022).

In late 2015, it was announced that Serkis was working on a modern film adaptation of Rumpelstiltskin, titled Steelskin. In addition to starring in the film, Serkis will serve as producer and director.

In 2021, he received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Daytime Fiction Program for his role as Mayor of Mistrinaut, the father of his real life daughter Ruby's character, in the Netflix fantasy series The Letter for the King. Also for Netflix, Serkis is scheduled to star alongside Idris Elba and Cynthia Erivo in a new TV movie of Elba's show, Luther.

In 2022, Serkis returned to the Star Wars franchise in a different, non-CGI role in the Disney+ television series Andor, as Kino Loy.

In 2011, Serkis founded The Imaginarium Studios with film producer Jonathan Cavendish. The Imaginarium is a production company and creative digital studio based in Ealing, London and is dedicated to invention of believable, emotionally engaging digital characters using Performance Capture technology, in which Serkis specialises. On 20 October 2012, the studio acquired rights to The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon and a new motion capture adaptation of Animal Farm.

Serkis has served as the second unit director for The Hobbit films and made his directorial debut with Breathe. He also directed and starred in the film, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle. In 2021, Serkis directed the sequel to Venom, titled, Venom: Let There Be Carnage. It was released on 1 October in the US and 15 October in the UK. In 2022, he was set to direct Animal Farm an animated adaptation of George Orwell's novel of the same name.

Additional work

Serkis made an appearance in the music video for Neneh Cherry's "Woman", portraying an abusive boyfriend, in 1996. After portraying Gollum in The Lord of the Rings series, he published a memoir about his experiences, titled Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic, published in late 2004. In 2015, Serkis collaborated with rock band Coldplay in the making of the music video for "Adventure of a Lifetime". The group performed as chimpanzees with Serkis acting as a performance capture consultant.

In December 2018, he appeared in a video for People's Vote as UK Prime Minister Theresa May using the voice of Gollum, spoofing May's Brexit deal. He also appears in the BBC Earth programme, Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors.

Serkis, together with fellow Lord of the Rings castmates Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, Miranda Otto, John Rhys-Davies, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban and Elijah Wood, plus writer Philippa Boyens and director Peter Jackson, on 1 May 2020 joined Josh Gad's YouTube series Reunited Apart which reunites the cast of popular movies through video-conferencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and promotes donations to non-profit charities.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, on VE Day, Serkis read the entire book of The Hobbit to raise money for NHS Charities Together and Best Beginnings, a pregnancy charity of which he has been an ambassador. More than 650,000 people tuned in worldwide, and Serkis raised more than £283,000 ($351,000). On 2 July 2020, HarperCollinsUK announced that Serkis would professionally narrate The Hobbit again to be published for Audible. The audiobook was released on 3 September 2020 in the UK, published by HarperCollins, and 21 September in the US, published by Recorded Books. The cover art, by Alan Lee, was drawn specially for the release.

On 7 July 2021, HarperCollinsUK and Recorded Books announced Serkis would follow up his narration of The Hobbit with a professional recording of all three The Lord of the Rings novels that were released on 16 September. The CDs were released on 14 October 2021.

Serkis and producer Andrew Levitas will release a seven-part comic book series in 2022, titled Eternus, about Heracles, the son of Zeus, trying to identify Zeus's killer. The series will be published by Thunder Books.

In 2023 he starred in the Netflix Film 'Luther: The Fallen Sun' based upon the BBC TV Series Luther playing a psychopathic killer.

Andy Serkis possesses a visionary approach to storytelling and filmmaking. He embraces the power of motion capture technology and performance capture to bring digital characters to life with unparalleled depth and realism. His passion lies in pushing the boundaries of what is possible in cinematic storytelling, blending the art of acting, animation, and technology to create compelling and transformative performances.

Serkis's vision extends beyond his own acting career. He has established his own production company and motion capture workshop, The Imaginarium, which serves as a hub for creative exploration and innovation. Through The Imaginarium, Serkis aims to cultivate a space where artists can collaborate and push the boundaries of storytelling techniques, particularly in the realm of motion capture. His directorial ventures, such as Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, showcase his commitment to bringing unique and immersive cinematic experiences to audiences. Serkis's vision encompasses both artistic excellence and technical advancement, showcasing his belief in the power of storytelling to captivate and inspire audiences in entirely new ways.