Colin Morgan

Colin Morgan (born 1 January 1986) is an Irish film, television, theatre and radio actor best known for playing the title character in the BBC fantasy series Merlin, the lead in The Living and the Dead, and main roles in Humans and The Fall; his stage role as Ariel in The Tempest; and film roles in Testament of Youth, Legend and The Huntsman: Winter's War. Morgan made his West End theatre debut in 2007 to critical acclaim as the title character in DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little. He went on to appear in the London theatre productions Pedro Almodóvar's Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother) in 2007, Thomas Babe's A Prayer for My Daughter in 2008, Pedro Miguel Rozo's Our Private Life in 2011, Step in Time at The Old Vic 24 Hour Musicals Celebrity Gala in 2012, Shakespeare's The Tempest in 2013, and Jez Butterworth's Mojo during 2013 and 2014. In addition to his lead role in the fantasy-adventure television programme Merlin (2008–12), Morgan has appeared in The Catherine Tate Show (2007), Doctor Who (2008), Quirke (2014), The Fall (2014–2016), Humans (2015–present), and The Living and the Dead (2016). Film roles include Parked (2010), Island (2011), Testament of Youth (2015), Legend (2015), The Laughing King (2016), and The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016). He will be starring as the lead character Paul Ashton in Waiting for You (2016), a British coming-of-age feature set in France and England. He will also play the role of Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas in the Oscar Wilde biopic The Happy Prince (2017). Next, he will be portraying the central role of the Irish revolutionary mastermind Seán Mac Diarmada in the Easter Rising centenary commemoration film The Rising (2017). For his performance in Merlin, Morgan received the 2008 Outstanding Newcomer award from Variety Club Showbiz Awards, and was nominated for Outstanding Actor (Drama) in the Monte Carlo TV Festival Awards in 2009, 2010, and 2011, the Best Actor award in Virgin Media TV Awards in 2012, and the prestigious Best Actor in Drama Performance: Male award in National Television Awards in 2013. In the same year, Morgan won Broadway World West End Awards' Best Featured Actor in a New Production of a Play for his performance as Ariel in The Tempest. In July 2008, Screen International named Morgan as a "Star of Tomorrow," alongside actors like Carey Mulligan where he was "hailed as the most exciting drama-school graduate since Ben Whishaw." In October 2013, he was ranked in the No. 1 spot in BuzzFeed's "The 17 Rising British Actors Most Likely To Do A Cumberbatch." In April 2014, Irish entertainment website The Daily Edge included Morgan in their list of "8 young Irish actors who could be on the brink of global stardom," and in December 2014, The Independent listed him as one of their "Bright Young Things: 10 Faces to Watch in 2015." In August 2015, Indiewire's entertainment blog The Playlist included him in their list "On The Rise 2015: 20 Actors To Watch."