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Andrew Clement Serkis is a British actor, director, producer, author, and motion capture artist born on 20 April 1964 in Ruislip Manor, Middlesex. He is hugely popular for playing monumental CGI characters like Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings and Hobbit trilogy, Kong in King Kong, Caesar in Rise Of Planet Of The Apes Trilogy, Captain Haddock in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin, Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Despite getting famous for his performance capture roles, Andy Serkis is not just limited to a CGI suit. He is a renowned theater artist and a BAFTA-winning mainstream actor, having starred in movies like The Prestige, The Batman, Avengers: Age of Ultron, etc.
Starting With Stage Designs
Andy Serkis was born in a catholic family to an Armenian father and an English mother. He spent the first ten years of his childhood moving from Baghdad to London. Andy was very fond of painting as a child and wanted to be an artist. He completed his schooling at St. Benedict's School and later joined a visual arts course at Lancaster University, as reported by IMDB.
At Lancaster University, Andy got introduced to theater and started doing stage designs and production management for the university's theatrical productions. Eventually, he was offered a role in a student production and starred in his first stage role in Barrie Keeffe's play, Gotcha. Andy’s role in the play made him focus more on acting.
In his third year of university, Andy Serkis joined the backstage of Duke’s Playhouse in Lancaster and started his professional acting career. He was advised to join an acting course after graduation. Still, he never joined one and began appearing in a series of plays for Duke’s Playhouse, eventually earning his Equity Card after 16 months of hard work.
Andy’s Early Theatre And TV Roles
Andy Serkis worked as an actor in Duke’s Playhouse under the mentorship of Jonathan Petherbridge and performed in 14 back-to-back plays. Afterward, he joined touring theater companies and performed in plays across different towns. He earned widespread critical acclaim for his roles in plays like Macbeth, She Stoops to Conquer, King Lear, Mojo, etc.
Andy’s vast experience in theater earned him his first TV role in 1987. Throughout the 90s, he starred in supporting and minor roles in various British TV shows like Saracen, The Darling Buds of May, Grushko, Finney, Oliver Twist, etc. Apart from TV, he starred in movies like Loop alongside Susannah York, Topsy-Turvy in 1999, and The Jolly Boys' Last Stand alongside Sacha Baron Cohen.
The Pioneer Of Performance
Despite his minor and supporting roles in movies and TV shows throughout the 90s, Andy Serkis created a limelight for himself and was noticed by the Lord Of The Rings makers. In 1999 Andy Serkis got his career-defining role as Gollum in the first installment of the Peter Jackson-directed LOTR franchise; the rest is history. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released in 2001 with groundbreaking CGI and motion capture. Andy lent his voice and physical movements to the character of Gollum, as reported by Rotten Tomatoes, and was lauded by critics and audiences alike. People even demanded an Academy Award nomination for Andy which unfortunately did not happen, but he did get his big break.
Subsequently, Andy devoted four years of his life and reprised his role as Gollum in all three movies in the LOTR franchise. Andy put a lot of hard work into this role, staying away from his home and family for two years due to the extensive post-production that the LOTR movies demanded. After the release of the third movie, Andy was already a bonafide star and became the face of Performance Capture in Hollywood. He went on to work with Peter Jackson again in the 2005 movie King Kong where he played the role of Kong to perfection. Andy’s role as Kong was hugely appreciated. He received the Toronto Film Critics Association Award as per Encyclopediaand the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live-Action Motion Picture.
Andy Serkis's journey went uphill after he collaborated with Peter Jackson, and he became one of the most sought-after actors in the industry. He then landed the titular role of Caesar in 2011s Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and reprised his position throughout the trilogy. In 2012, he again reprised his role as Gollum in the first installment of the superhit Hobbit trilogy, thus reaching the pinnacle of success. He starred as Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, earning more than $2 Billion worldwide.
Andy Serkis tasted success inside as well as outside the CGI suit. Apart from his excellent performance capture roles, Andy established himself as a credible mainstream actor. He has worked in various commercially and critically acclaimed movies like the Christopher Nolan directed The Prestige, 2006s Longford, where he played the role of a serial killer and won his first Golden Globe and BAFTA nomination, and 2009’s Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll for which he got a BAFTA nomination. He appeared in MCU movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Black Panther and as Alfred Pennyworth in 2022’s The Batman alongside Robert Pattinson.
Andy Serkis has established himself as a successful Hollywood actor with years of hard work. Despite being known for his motion capture performances, he has not typecasted himself and has proved his ability as a mainstream actor. He was honored with a BAFTA award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema in 2020. He is currently the 4th highest-grossing actor of all time, with his films having collected a whopping $15.19 Billion worldwide, as reported by CBR.
Source - IMDB, CBR, Encyclopedia, Rotten Tomatoes
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