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Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi (/ˈdʒækəbi/; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen as well as for his work at the Royal National Theatre, he has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was given a knighthood for his services to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
Jacobi started his professional acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the founding members of the National Theatre. He has appeared in numerous Shakespearean stage productions including Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, King Lear, and Romeo and Juliet. Jacobi received the Laurence Olivier Award, for the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac in 1983 and Malvolio in Twelfth Night in 2009. He also won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing in 1985.
On television, he portrayed Claudius in the BBC series I, Claudius (1976), for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. He received two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for The Tenth Man (1988), and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Frasier (2001). He also took roles in ITV drama series Cadfael (1994–1998), the HBO film The Gathering Storm (2002), the sitcom Vicious (2013–2016), in BBC's Last Tango in Halifax (2012–2020), and the Netflix series The Crown in 2019.
Jacobi has acted in numerous films including Othello (1965), The Day of the Jackal (1973), Henry V (1989), Dead Again (1991), Hamlet (1996), Nanny McPhee (2005), The Riddle (2007), My Week with Marilyn (2011), Anonymous (2011), Cinderella (2015), and Murder on the Orient Express (2017). Jacobi portrayed Senator Gracchus in Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000) and Gladiator II (2024). Jacobi has also earned two Screen Actors Guild Awards along with the ensemble cast for Robert Altman's Gosford Park (2001), and Tom Hooper's The King's Speech (2010).
Derek George Jacobi was born on 22 October 1938 in Leytonstone, Essex, England, the only child of Daisy Gertrude (née Masters; 1910–1980), a secretary who worked in a drapery store in Leyton High Road, and Alfred George Jacobi (1910–1993), who ran a sweet shop and was a tobacconist in Chingford. His patrilineal great-grandfather had emigrated from Germany to England during the 19th century. He also has a distant Huguenot ancestor. His family was working-class, and Jacobi describes his childhood as happy. In his teens he went to Leyton County High School for Boys, now known as the Leyton Sixth Form College, and became an integral part of the drama club, The Players of Leyton.
While in the sixth form, he starred in a production of Hamlet, which was taken to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and very well regarded. At 18 he won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge, where he studied history at St John's College and earned his degree. University contemporaries included Ian McKellen (who had a crush on him—"a passion that was undeclared and unrequited", as McKellen relates it) and Trevor Nunn. During his studies at Cambridge, Jacobi played many parts including Hamlet, which was taken on a tour to Switzerland, where he met Richard Burton. As a result of his performance of Edward II at Cambridge, Jacobi was invited to become a member of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre immediately upon his graduation in 1960.
Jacobi's talent was recognised by Laurence Olivier, who invited the young actor back to London to become one of the founding members of the new National Theatre, even though at the time Jacobi was relatively unknown. He played Laertes in the National Theatre's inaugural production of Hamlet opposite Peter O'Toole in 1963. Olivier cast him as Cassio in the successful National Theatre stage production of Othello, a role that Jacobi repeated in the 1965 film version. He played Andrei in the NT production and film of Three Sisters (1970), both featuring Olivier. On 27 July 1965, Jacobi played Brindsley Miller in the first production of Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy. It was presented by the National Theatre at Chichester and subsequently in London.
After eight years at the National Theatre, Jacobi left in 1971 to pursue different roles. In 1972, he starred in the BBC serial Man of Straw, an adaptation of Heinrich Mann's book Der Untertan, directed by Herbert Wise. Jacobi appeared in a somewhat comical role, as Lord Fawn, in eight episodes of the 26-episode mini-series The Pallisers for BBC Two in 1974. Most of his theatrical work in the 1970s was with the touring classical Prospect Theatre Company, with which he undertook many roles, including Ivanov, Pericles, Prince of Tyre and A Month in the Country opposite Dorothy Tutin (1976).
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Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi (/ˈdʒækəbi/; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen as well as for his work at the Royal National Theatre, he has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was given a knighthood for his services to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
Jacobi started his professional acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the founding members of the National Theatre. He has appeared in numerous Shakespearean stage productions including Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, King Lear, and Romeo and Juliet. Jacobi received the Laurence Olivier Award, for the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac in 1983 and Malvolio in Twelfth Night in 2009. He also won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing in 1985.
On television, he portrayed Claudius in the BBC series I, Claudius (1976), for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. He received two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for The Tenth Man (1988), and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Frasier (2001). He also took roles in ITV drama series Cadfael (1994–1998), the HBO film The Gathering Storm (2002), the sitcom Vicious (2013–2016), in BBC's Last Tango in Halifax (2012–2020), and the Netflix series The Crown in 2019.
Jacobi has acted in numerous films including Othello (1965), The Day of the Jackal (1973), Henry V (1989), Dead Again (1991), Hamlet (1996), Nanny McPhee (2005), The Riddle (2007), My Week with Marilyn (2011), Anonymous (2011), Cinderella (2015), and Murder on the Orient Express (2017). Jacobi portrayed Senator Gracchus in Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000) and Gladiator II (2024). Jacobi has also earned two Screen Actors Guild Awards along with the ensemble cast for Robert Altman's Gosford Park (2001), and Tom Hooper's The King's Speech (2010).
Derek George Jacobi was born on 22 October 1938 in Leytonstone, Essex, England, the only child of Daisy Gertrude (née Masters; 1910–1980), a secretary who worked in a drapery store in Leyton High Road, and Alfred George Jacobi (1910–1993), who ran a sweet shop and was a tobacconist in Chingford. His patrilineal great-grandfather had emigrated from Germany to England during the 19th century. He also has a distant Huguenot ancestor. His family was working-class, and Jacobi describes his childhood as happy. In his teens he went to Leyton County High School for Boys, now known as the Leyton Sixth Form College, and became an integral part of the drama club, The Players of Leyton.
While in the sixth form, he starred in a production of Hamlet, which was taken to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and very well regarded. At 18 he won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge, where he studied history at St John's College and earned his degree. University contemporaries included Ian McKellen (who had a crush on him—"a passion that was undeclared and unrequited", as McKellen relates it) and Trevor Nunn. During his studies at Cambridge, Jacobi played many parts including Hamlet, which was taken on a tour to Switzerland, where he met Richard Burton. As a result of his performance of Edward II at Cambridge, Jacobi was invited to become a member of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre immediately upon his graduation in 1960.
Jacobi's talent was recognised by Laurence Olivier, who invited the young actor back to London to become one of the founding members of the new National Theatre, even though at the time Jacobi was relatively unknown. He played Laertes in the National Theatre's inaugural production of Hamlet opposite Peter O'Toole in 1963. Olivier cast him as Cassio in the successful National Theatre stage production of Othello, a role that Jacobi repeated in the 1965 film version. He played Andrei in the NT production and film of Three Sisters (1970), both featuring Olivier. On 27 July 1965, Jacobi played Brindsley Miller in the first production of Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy. It was presented by the National Theatre at Chichester and subsequently in London.
After eight years at the National Theatre, Jacobi left in 1971 to pursue different roles. In 1972, he starred in the BBC serial Man of Straw, an adaptation of Heinrich Mann's book Der Untertan, directed by Herbert Wise. Jacobi appeared in a somewhat comical role, as Lord Fawn, in eight episodes of the 26-episode mini-series The Pallisers for BBC Two in 1974. Most of his theatrical work in the 1970s was with the touring classical Prospect Theatre Company, with which he undertook many roles, including Ivanov, Pericles, Prince of Tyre and A Month in the Country opposite Dorothy Tutin (1976).