Brendan Coyle (born 2 December 1963) is an English-born Irish actor. He is well-known to television audiences for playing Nicholas Higgins in the mini-series North & South, Robert Timmins in the first three series of Lark Rise to Candleford, and John Bates, the valet, in Downton Abbey. The last role earned him a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role
Nominations
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor
Movies
Me Before You, The Jacket, Perrier's Bounty, Tomorrow Never Dies, Noble, The Raven, The Mark of Cain, Mapmaker, The General, Offside, Unless, A Short Stay in Switzerland, Amnesia, Ailsa, Perfect Parents, Soundproof, Happy Birthday To Me, Damage
TV Shows
Downton Abbey, Spotless, Lark Rise to Candleford, North & South, The Glass Virgin, Starlings, Paths to Freedom, Rockface, Thief Takers, True Dare Kiss, Rebel Heart, McCready and Daughter
Star Sign
Sagittarius
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Quote
1
By the time you've been single for quite a long time, you can get quite specific about what you can and can't put up with.
2
I see myself as a performer and that applies to a Greek drama or a modern comedy.
3
Acting meant so much to me.
4
If this TV success had come in my twenties and I'd become a heart-throb, I would have been very stupid. I would have got into a lot of situations that I really wished I hadn't.
5
Britain's a funny place and there's a lot of funny people coming out of there and a lot of people are finding mediums to express themselves.
6
I think with Sky and BBC Three and Channel 4, there are some great television platforms, and the stand-up movement in this country is phenomenal. It's like rock n' roll here. Britain's a funny place and there's a lot of funny people coming out of there and a lot of people are finding mediums to express themselves.
7
Sometimes I think I missed out on things like travelling. I'd have been terrified of missing an audition. I didn't start a family because that's not something I take lightly. Acting meant so much to me.
8
The qualities I am looking for in Miss Right are intelligence and humour.
9
It's not something that's at the forefront of my mind, but I think I'd regret it if I didn't have children.
10
When I was in my 30s, I was at the end of a long-term relationship and going through a very hard time. I'd had about 15 different addresses and a series of relationships. I thought, 'It's time to have a look at yourself.'
11
I left school at 16 but I wish I'd gone to university - I think I would have studied English literature. I had a knack for that. But I don't think you have the kind of wisdom at 16 to make that decision.
12
I'm going to be 50 soon. I'm single, I'm looking for something meaningful. By the time you've been single for quite a long time, you can get quite specific about what you can and can't put up with.
13
You can't be a casual observer of something humorous - you have to engage, you have to find it funny for the relationship between actor and audience to work.
14
My dad was a master butcher and I trained to be a butcher when I left school. I didn't enjoy it at the time but I love cooking now, so perhaps I would have been a chef.
15
Am I a household name? I still can't get my head around that.
16
I can pretty much say all of us know when 'Downton' is going to end. This is a show with a finite life.
17
I think great humor lies in playing the truth of a situation.
18
I'd seen a play of 'Richard III' in Coventry when I was 15, which sowed the seeds that you could act for a living.
19
I'm more rooted in new plays and new writing.
20
I'm single, I'm looking for something meaningful.
21
I would have loved to have been a footballer like my great uncle Matt Busby, but I knew quite early on that I wasn't going to make the grade. Luckily I was told by the age of 13 that I wasn't good enough. That's not a bad thing. You see this 'X Factor' generation of kids now who don't accept that they're not good enough.
22
You get a lot of people requesting photographs but I tend to keep myself to myself, pull my cap down.
23
I had to escape the destruction of my father's bankruptcy and all that difficulty.
24
I think great humor lies in playing the truth of a situation. I see myself as a performer and that applies to a Greek drama or a modern comedy.
25
I took a gamble in becoming an actor and my dream job has been realised.
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Fact
1
He was awarded the 1999 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for best supporting performance for his role in The Weir in the 1998 season.
$5 Million
