Noel Clarke

Noel Anthony Clarke (born 6 December 1975) is an English actor, writer, director, and producer. Rising to prominence for playing Mickey Smith in Doctor Who (2005–2006, 2008, 2010), he received critical acclaim for writing, directing, and starring in the teen crime drama films Kidulthood (2006), Adulthood (2008), and Brotherhood (2016). He has also either written, directed, produced or starred in the heist film 4.3.2.1. (2010), the sport drama Fast Girls (2012), and the sci-fi films Storage 24 (2012) and The Anomaly (2014). He co-created, co-wrote and starred alongside Ashley Walters in the Sky One action drama Bulletproof (2018–2021). His work in film and television has been praised for bringing the Black British working class experience to the mainstream.

As an actor, Clarke made his film debut in I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003) and since has gone on to appear in films including Centurion (2010); Star Trek Into Darkness (2013); I Am Soldier (2014); I Kill Giants (2017); Mute (2018); 10x10 (2018); The Corrupted (2019); Twist (2021); and SAS: Red Notice (2021), some of which he also wrote, directed, or produced.

Following Kidulthood, Clarke founded the company Unstoppable Film and Television, which he ran with his friend and fellow actor Jason Maza, and they have written, directed, and starred in several productions. Clarke won numerous accolades, including the Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Performer in 2003 and the BAFTA Orange Rising Star Award in 2009, and received the BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award in 2021.

In April 2021, twenty-six women raised allegations of verbal abuse, bullying, and sexual misconduct by Clarke. His BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award, announced in March 2021, was suspended shortly afterwards, and not reinstated. In 2025, a High Court judgement in a libel case Clarke brought against The Guardian found that the allegations of sexual misconduct were "substantially true".

Noel Anthony Clarke was born on 6 December 1975 in Notting Hill, west London, to Trinidadian parents Gemma (née Clarke), a nurse and part-time laundrette worker, and Alphaeus Baptiste "Alf" Clarke, a carpenter. He has an older half-brother. His parents divorced shortly after he was born, and he was brought up by his mother on a council estate in Ladbroke Grove. In 2018, when appearing on the BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, Clarke discovered that his maternal great-grandparents emigrated to Trinidad from Saint Vincent, while his paternal grandmother, Menelvia Clarke (née Bedeau), emigrated there from Grenada.

Clarke studied media at the University of North London, and worked as a personal trainer before taking acting classes at London's Actors Centre.

Clarke had recurring television roles as Wyman Norris in the revived series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (2002–2004) and as Mickey Smith in the first two series of the revival of the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who (2005–2006). Starting with the episode "School Reunion", Mickey became a series regular for the remainder of the second series. Clarke also starred in the Doctor Who audio series Dalek Empire: The Fearless, which was released from September to December 2007. Clarke reprised his role as Mickey in "Journey's End" in 2008 and in "The End of Time" Part 2 in 2010.^{[citation needed]}

Clarke's other television work includes appearances in Casualty and Metrosexuality. He also wrote "Combat", an episode of the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood (2006), and West 10 LDN (2008), a pilot for BBC Three about the intense lives of the teenagers who live on a West London housing estate.^{[citation needed]}