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49-567: Andy Serkis first became interested in "cyber-thespianism" when he worked with Peter Jackson at his Weta Workshop in New Zealand for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong (2005). Serkis stated, "People come out of film schools not equipped with the skills for doing anything other than shooting kitchen sink drama . We need to change our mindset, cross-fertilise our talent and encourage writers, directors and producers to think on

98-450: A Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, his co-star James Franco stated: "Andy Serkis is the undisputed master of the newest kind of acting called 'motion capture,' and it is time that Serkis gets credit for the innovative artist that he is." In 2010, Serkis played Monkey, the lead character along with Lindsey Shaw in the videogame Enslaved: Odyssey to the West . In January 2011, it

147-529: A comic book series titled Eternus , about Heracles , the son of Zeus , trying to identify Zeus's killer. The series is published by Thunder Books . In 2022, Serkis recorded a new audiobook version of the Terry Pratchett Discworld book Small Gods with Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz . In 2002 and 2024, he would guest star on The Simpsons. Serkis was born to Catholic parents. An atheist since his teenage years, he

196-908: A criminal called Maxwell in an episode of Pie in the Sky (1994). Serkis joined director Mike Leigh 's ensemble for two film productions, and appeared in the romantic comedy Loop (1997) alongside Susannah York . Serkis portrayed Victorian choreographer John D'Auban in Topsy-Turvy , a 1999 film about Gilbert and Sullivan 's creation of The Mikado . In 1999, Serkis played Bill Sikes in ITV 's adaptation of Oliver Twist . He appeared alongside Sacha Baron Cohen in The Jolly Boys' Last Stand in 2000. Serkis first came to wide public notice for his performance as Sméagol / Gollum , in The Lord of

245-419: A kids’ show that's fun enough for adults to enjoy, with its bowdlerised fights and romance." David Opie of Digital Spy gave it 2 out of 5 stars and wrote: "Unfortunately, The Letter For The King is not the new fantasy smash we were hoping for, so you can toss out any high expectations you might have like a coin to your Witcher. In fact, it's not even that great for fans of the book either.". The Letter for

294-525: A low-budget independently made film, playing local crime lord Hoodwink, who terrorises an east London housing estate. For the role, Serkis shaved his head and had sessions lasting 20 hours each to have temporary tattoos stencilled onto his body. The film premiered at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival and released in the UK on 24 August. Also that year, Serkis provided the voiceover for Monkey Life , on Five broadcast for three weeks from 13 to 31 August 2007. This series

343-465: A much larger scale." Serkis partnered with Jonathan Cavendish in 2009, opening The Imaginarium officially in 2011 after securing a permanent place at Ealing Studios in London. In January 2012 the studio signed an agreement with Vicon, the world's largest supplier of precision motion tracking systems. In May 2017, The Imaginarium Studios was subject to a management buyout having lost £4.2 million over

392-460: A strong quest, The Letter for the King is a reasonable success. But it does feel a bit like Netflix has crushed our favourite children's book with a steam engine." Belinda van de Graaf of Trouw also awarded the series 3 out of 5 stars and wrote: "In their dedication to inclusivity, the creators went even further. Tiuri's most important companion is no longer a boy (Piak) but a girl, Lavinia. And near

441-534: Is "drawn to the karmic possibilities of energy transference", specifically "the idea that your energy lives on after you". Serkis married actress Lorraine Ashbourne in July 2002. He lives in Crouch End , North London with Ashbourne and their three children: Ruby (b. 1998), Sonny (b. 2000) and Louis (b. 2004), all of whom are actors. Louis and Ruby starred in the 2019 film The Kid Who Would Be King and

490-495: 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 in 2023 was in production with a new motion capture adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm . Serkis served as

539-545: Is the first Netflix adaptation of a Dutch book, although it will be adapted in English; the series is titled after the English translation, which was published in 2014. FilmWave acquired the international rights in a deal with Leopold . Paul Trijbits of FilmWave is executive producing, Chris Clark is producing, and Alex Holmes and Felix Thompson are directing. The cast was announced in December 2018 with Amir Wilson in

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588-563: Is the next big fantasy series that Netflix might have hoped for. The hunt for the next Game of Thrones goes on…". Although the series topped the Netflix ratings in the Netherlands, it also received very mixed critical reviews, mostly directed towards the execution of the series based on the book by Dragt. Mark Moorman of De Volkskrant awarded the show 3 out of 5 stars and commented: "With nice young actors, beautiful cinematography and

637-571: The Star Wars Disney+ series Andor (2022). Serkis's 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

686-845: The BAFTA -nominated Longford , co-starring Samantha Morton as Myra Hindley and Jim Broadbent as Lord Longford . That same year, Serkis appeared in the role of Mr. Grin in the film rendition of Anthony Horowitz 's Alex Rider novel Stormbreaker . He also acted in the film The Prestige as Mr. Alley (assistant to Nikola Tesla ), as the voice of one of the henchrats in the Aardman Animations film Flushed Away named Spike, and appeared in Jim Threapleton 's improvised feature film Extraordinary Rendition , which premiered in 2007. In 2007, he appeared in Sugarhouse ,

735-669: The Burke and Hare murders in Scotland in 1828. He also featured in the TV series The Accused , in "Liam's Story", written by Danny Brocklehurst and Jimmy McGovern. He played Caesar in the 20th Century Fox science-fiction film Rise of the Planet of the Apes . Serkis was acclaimed for his performance as Caesar in 2011, and in a high-profile campaign by 20th Century Fox for him to be honoured with

784-641: 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, HarperCollins UK announced that Serkis would professionally narrate The Hobbit again to be published for Audible . The audiobook

833-830: The Disney+ series What If…? (2021). He also 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 and also directed Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021). Serkis was born on 20 April 1964 in Ruislip Manor in Middlesex (now Greater London ). He grew up in both Ruislip and Baghdad , Iraq . His mother, Lylie Weech,

882-462: The second unit director for The Hobbit films and made his directorial debut with Breathe (2017). He also directed and starred in the film, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle . In August 2019, Serkis closed a deal to direct the superhero film Venom: Let There Be Carnage , the sequel to Venom (2018). It was released in theatres on 1 October 2021 in the United States and 15 October in

931-422: The 2017 BFI London Film Festival . Andy Serkis Andrew Clement Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his motion 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

980-524: The 2020 Netflix series The Letter for the King respectively. Serkis also starred alongside Ruby, and they played father and daughter. Louis also voiced Bhoot in Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle , which was directed by and co-starred his father as Baloo . The Letter for the King (TV series) The Letter for the King is a coming-of-age fantasy adventure television series developed by Will Davies and FilmWave for Netflix inspired by

1029-418: The King was frequently dubbed as a Game of Thrones for children. Patrick Cremona of Radio Times gave it 2 out of 5 stars and wrote: "The show is watchable enough, and might serve as a useful way into medieval fantasy for younger audiences who aren’t yet ready for the more adult-orientated series that have recently dominated the genre, which is by no means a bad thing. It seems unlikely, however, that this

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1078-453: The King aspires for greatness, but poor pacing stretched across too many episodes hinder what could be an epic journey." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 55 out of 100 based on reviews from 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Jack Seale of The Guardian , in awarding the series 3 out of 5 stars, wrote: "But while The Letter for the King doesn’t feel like an adults’ show that kids can get away with watching, it's also not

1127-535: The Old Iron Woman , a satire about the Falklands War, as a one-man show, which he performed to acclaim. In his third year at university, Serkis joined the backstage team at the local Duke's Playhouse to earn his Equity card. On graduating, although advised to take a one-year post-graduate acting course, he joined Dukes as an actor. Under director Jonathan Petherbridge, who used workshops based on

1176-492: The Planet of the Apes , and again in 2017 for War for the Planet of the Apes , the last of the trilogy. 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

1225-419: 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

1274-572: The Rings film trilogy (2001–2003), for which he provided motion-capture movements and voice for the CGI character. His work on The Lord of the Rings started a debate on the legitimacy of CGI-assisted acting. Some critics felt Serkis should have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor , since his voice, body language and facial expressions were used. Serkis has performed motion-capture work in several other films, including

1323-673: The United Kingdom. In April 2022, he was set to direct Animal Farm , an animated adaptation of George Orwell 's novella of the same name . In May 2024, it was announced that Serkis would direct, executive produce, and star in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum for Warner Bros. Pictures , a working title for a new installment in the Lord of the Rings film series, with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens co-writing

1372-539: 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

1421-544: The classic 1962 Dutch novel of the same name by Tonke Dragt . The six-episode series was released on Netflix on 20 March 2020. A young aspiring knight Tiuri ( Amir Wilson ) finds himself on a perilous mission to deliver a secret letter to the King who lives across the Great Mountains. In July 2018, it was announced Netflix had ordered an original series based on Tonke Dragt 's De brief voor de Koning with Will Davies as showrunner and executive producer. This

1470-642: The early 1990s he settled in London, and took a role in April De Angelis's Hush (Royal Court) as Dogboy. Also the Royal Court Theatre 's production of Mojo, and Wilson Milam 's production of Hurlyburly (1997) at the Queen's Theatre , Shaftesbury Avenue , with Rupert Graves and David Tennant . Serkis also developed a career in television, appearing in small roles such as Greville in an episode of The Darling Buds of May (1992) and

1519-654: The eponymous 2005 film , Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot series (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

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1568-564: 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

1617-652: The film adaptation of Cornelia Funke 's novel. In 2010, Serkis played 1970s new wave singer Ian Dury in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll . Serkis reunited with Peter Jackson, as a cast member in Jackson's and Steven Spielberg 's Tintin trilogy, based on The Adventures of Tintin . Serkis supplied the voice and motion capture performance of Captain Haddock (adopting a Scottish accent ) as well as his ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock . Filming began in January 2009 and

1666-670: The film was released in 2011. Filming was due to begin in September 2008, but was delayed due to Universal pulling out of backing the project. In 2009, Serkis voiced the role of the demon Screwtape in Focus on the Family 's Radio Theatre audio adaptation of C. S. Lewis 's The Screwtape Letters . In 2010, Serkis was cast as William Hare , with Simon Pegg as Burke, in the John Landis black comedy film Burke and Hare based on

1715-741: 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

1764-573: The lead role in Barrie Keeffe 's play Gotcha as a rebellious teenager holding a teacher hostage. As a result, he changed his major subject to acting, constructing his Independent Studies Degree around acting and set design, studying Konstantin Stanislavski and Bertolt Brecht , and including minor modules in art and visual graphics. In his final year at Lancaster he adapted Raymond Briggs 's graphic novel The Tin-Pot Foreign General and

1813-460: The lead role. Principal photography took place in New Zealand and Prague , Czech Republic. Brandon Campbell composed the music for the series. "It’s an orchestral, adventure score, but we wove in a lot of Western elements. There are acoustic guitars, some vocals, the fiddle, and trumpet. Our approach to this project, and our vision as it came together, was a Western that takes place in

1862-486: The making of the music video for " Adventure of a Lifetime ". The group performed as chimpanzees with Serkis acting as a motion-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

1911-529: The methods of Augusto Boal , he spent 18 months acting in a broad range of productions from Brecht , Shakespeare and modern British playwrights. After 16 months, and having gained his Equity card, Serkis joined a series of touring companies, including productions of: Bouncers opposite Hull Truck ; Florizel in The Winter's Tale ; and the fool in King Lear with director Max Stafford-Clark . In

1960-641: The middle of this magical adventure," he told Awards Daily . Jussipo uses the score of "In Hell, I'll Be in Good Company" from the band "The Dead South" as music for his songs, this music is also sung for his burial. First-look promotional pictures were released in January 2020 followed by a teaser and trailer in February. On Rotten Tomatoes , the series has an approval rating of 60% based on reviews from 20 critics, with an average rating of 6.69/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "The Letter for

2009-477: The preceding two years. The company went into administration on 15 May 2017 facing insolvency due to project delays. The first feature film produced by The Imaginarium, Breathe , directed by Serkis (also the story of Robin Cavendish , the father of Serkis' business partner, Jonathan) and starring Andrew Garfield , Claire Foy , Tom Hollander , and Hugh Bonneville , was the opening night gala presentation of

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2058-461: The screenplay and Jackson co-producing alongside Walsh and Boyens; the film is expected to be released in 2026. 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

2107-546: The title character in the 2005 version of King Kong (in which he also played the ship's cook in live-action) and as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). He also worked with game developers Ninja Theory on the 2007 release Heavenly Sword , providing the motion capture and voice for King Bohan (the game's main villain). In 2006, Serkis starred as serial killer Ian Brady in

2156-583: Was about Monkey World , the popular ape and monkey sanctuary and zoo near Wool, Dorset . In the joint BBC/ HBO production Einstein and Eddington , (2008) Serkis played Albert Einstein , following the development of his theory of relativity , while David Tennant played scientist Sir Arthur Eddington . In 2008, Serkis appeared as Rigaud in the BBC Television adaptation of Charles Dickens ' Little Dorrit and as Capricorn in Inkheart ,

2205-440: 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. Serkis received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Daytime Fiction Program in 2021 for his role as Mayor of Mistrinaut,

2254-758: Was confirmed that Serkis would reprise the role of Gollum in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey the first film in the three-part The Hobbit films. It was released in 2012, and the follow-ups were released in 2013 and 2014. He was also the trilogy's second unit director, which included directing aerial shots and battle scenes. He was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012 along with 175 other individuals. In 2014, Serkis reprised his role as Caesar in Dawn of

2303-499: Was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing . He studied visual arts and theatre as part of his degree at Lancaster University and graduated in 1985. Serkis was a member of The County College and part of the student radio station Bailrigg FM . He joined the Nuffield Studio, getting involved in designing and producing plays. Having agreed to act in a couple of productions towards the end of his first year, Serkis played

2352-607: Was half Iraqi and half English, and taught disabled children; his father, Clement Serkis, was an Iraqi-Armenian gynaecologist . His parents are Catholic . His ancestors' original surname was " Sarkisian ". His father often worked abroad in the Middle East, while Serkis and his siblings were raised in Britain, with regular holidays in the Middle Eastern cities of Tyre , Sidon , Damascus and Baghdad. Serkis

2401-570: 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 are creating

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