Ray Fearon

Ray Fearon is the actor who portrayed Firenze the Centaur in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film). Due to the characters computer generated appearance, he most likely performed his scenes in front of a blue screen.

Career

Ray Fearon was born in London in 1967, he is one of eight children. He was a junior international tennis player in his teens, but chose to follow acting as a career and trained at the Rose Bruford college of Speech and Drama. Ray has appeared in countless television programmes as well as performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Early life

The son of West Indian immigrants, Fearon has seven brothers and sisters. Growing up, he was a promising junior tennis player in his early teens.

Career

Theatre

After studying drama under Janet Amsden at Rose Bruford College, Fearon went on to make his reputation as a stage actor, working at Liverpool Everyman Theatre; Manchester Contact Theatre; Manchester Royal Exchange; Oxford Playhouse; Barn Theatre, Kent; The Almeida; The Crucible, Sheffield; The Donmar Warehouse; The Royal Shakespeare Theatres in Stratford and the National Theatre. He has also toured in the America and Europe.

His early stage roles included Othello in Othello — opposite Gillian Kearney's Desdemona — in Liverpool at the age of 24; Charles Surface in The School for Scandal; Betty/Martin in Cloud Nine; Longaville in Love's Labour's Lost; Ferdinand in The Tempest; and Pete in Blues for Mr Charlie.

His early theatre work in London included Hugo/Frederick in Ring Round the Moon at the Lilian Baylis Theatre; the title role in The Invisible Man (his one-man show) at the Bridewell Theatre; and Pierre in Venice Preserv'd at the Almeida.

He has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company in their Stratford and London theatres and on tour, appearing as the First Knight and First Tempter in Murder in the Cathedral (1993), Stubb in Moby Dick (1993), the Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice (1994), Brachiano in The White Devil (1994), Paris in Troilus and Cressida (1996), Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1997), Othello in Othello (1999), the Marquis of Posa in Don Carlos (1999) and Pericles in Adrian Noble's Pericles, Prince of Tyre (2002).

In 2003 he made a notable Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre. In 2004 he appeared in as Jean Kiyabe in World Music by Steve Waters at the Donmar Warehouse, and in the same year at the National Theatre as Mark in Sing Yer Hearts Out for the Lads by Roy Williams.

Television and film

Fearon played Nathan Harding in Coronation Street and appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (as Firenze the centaur). He was in the 2006 series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered by Camilla Dallerup, but was voted out in Week 6.

Personal life

Fearon has a daughter, Rosa May, with former partner Jane Gurnett. From 2006 to 2007 he reportedly dated Australian supermodel Elle McPherson.

Notable roles

• Lulu und Jimi (2009) … as Jimi
• The Chef's Letter (2008) … as The Sous Chef
• Doctors (2000) … as Malcolm Tumelo — recurring role, 2008
• Wikipedia:Coronation Street (1960) … as Nathan Harding — recurring role, 2005–2006
• Waking the Dead (2000) … as Miles Patterson in "Walking on Water" (2003)
• Wikipedia:As If (2001) … as Riggs — recurring role, 2002
• Outside the Rules (2002) … as Gary Rainford
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) … as Firenze (voice)
• A Christmas Carol (2000) … as Jacob Marley
• Hamlet (1996) … as Francisco
• Prime Suspect (1991) … as Mark Whitehouse in "Scent of Darkness" (1995)

External links

• MarkhamFroggatt.com — listing on agent's website