Adrian Lester

Adrian Anthony Lester, OBE (born 14 August 1968), born Anthony Harvey, is an English actor, director, and writer.

Lester was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, the son of Jamaican immigrants, Monica a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. From the age of nine, Lester sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham. At 14, he began acting with the Birmingham Youth Theatre. After leaving Archbishop Masterson RC School, he attended Joseph Chamberlain VI Form College for one year, before completing three years of training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Lester received an Ian Charleson Award commendation and a Time Out Award for his 1991 performance as Rosalind in Cheek by Jowl's all-male production of As You Like It. In 1993, he played Anthony Hope in the National Theatre's production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He has also appeared on stage in the musical Company, for which he won an Olivier Award, and in the title role of Hamlet (Carlton TV Theatre Award).

In 2003, Lester played the title role in Henry V at the National Theatre.

In 2010, he played the part of Brick in Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre in London.