Owen Teale

Welsh actor (born 1961)

Dilys Watling

(m. 1986, divorced)

Sylvestra Le Touzel

(m. 2001)

Children3

Owen Teale (born 20 May 1961) is a Welsh character actor having appeared in many films, including Robin Hood (1991), The Hawk (1993), King Arthur (2004), The Last Legion (2007), Tolkien (2019), and Dream Horse (2020). On television, he has appeared in Doctor Who (1985), David Copperfield (1986), The Thin Blue Line (1995), Ballykissangel (1999), Line of Duty (2012), Stella (2012–2013), A Discovery of Witches (2018–2022), and The Rig (2023).

Teale is best known known for his role as Ser Alliser Thorne in the HBO fantasy TV series Game of Thrones (2011–2016).

Early life

Owen Teale was born on 20 May 1961,^[1] in North Cornelly, south Wales, son of Roy and Louise Teale.^[2] He attended Cynffig Comprehensive School in Kenfig Hill;^[1] he was suspended from the school for disciplinary offences,^[1] and credits one of the teachers Mr Davis, with awakening his interest in acting.^[1] He trained at the Guildford School of Acting.^[1]

Career

In 1984, Teale made his television debut in The Mimosa Boys^[1] a film about the Falklands War.^[1] In 1985, he appeared in the Doctor Who serial Vengeance on Varos as the dis-loyal guard Maldak who helps Peri escape. His film debut was in War Requiem in 1989. He later appeared in Knights of God (1989), Great Expectations (1989), The Fifteen Streets (1989) and Boon (1990) before being cast as Will Scarlet in the 1991 film Robin Hood.^[3]^[4]

He went on to appear in such series as Dangerfield, Ballykissangel,^[1] The Thin Blue Line and the long-running Belonging, and later Spooks and Murphy's Law.^[1]^[3]

He later appeared as Lophakin in the 1999 adaptation of The Cherry Orchard, opposite Charlotte Rampling as Ranevskaya and Alan Bates as Gayev. He played the infamous Nazi judge Roland Freisler in Conspiracy. He also had parts In Midsomer Murders and Lewis.^[3]

In 2005, he played a lead role in Marian, Again, in which he was the abusive husband of Harrison's eponymous character.^[5] He also did voice over narration for "Tales from the Green Valley", one of several farm series he has done for the BBC.^[3]

In 2006, he appeared in the Torchwood episode "Countrycide".^[6] Also in 2006 he had a role in the HBO UK TV movie Tsunami: The Aftermath. In 2007, he guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio drama The Mind's Eye. In the same year, he starred in The Last Legion^[7] alongside Ben Kingsley and Colin Firth,^[5] and was shot on location in Morocco, Tunisia and Slovakia.^[5]

In 2011, Teale appeared as Ser Alliser Thorne in Game of Thrones, the HBO TV adaptation of George R. R. Martin's novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, replacing at short notice Derek Halligan.^[8] He reprised this role in Season 4, Season 5, and Season 6.^[9]^[10]

In 2012, he played Dai in the comedy-drama series Stella,^[2] and Robert Holland, the fictional UK Foreign Secretary, in the drama series Kidnap and Ransom.^[11] He also played Chief Constable Osborne in the BBC police drama Line of Duty. Between 2018 and 2022. he played Peter Knox in A Discovery of Witches,^[3] a series based on the book of the same name by Deborah Harkness.

In 2020, he starred opposite Toni Collette and Damian Lewis in the Wales based sports comedy-drama film Dream Horse.^[2]

In 2023, Teale starred as Lars Hutton, causing problems on the Kinloch Bravo oil rig in The Rig, in a cast that included Iain Glen, Emily Hampshire, Mark Addy, and Martin Compston.^[12]

He has also worked as a voiceover artist for television advertisements.^[13]

Personal life

In 1986, Teale married actress Dilys Watling, with whom he has a son, Ion.^[14] They divorced in the mid-1990s.^[15] In 2001, he married actress Sylvestra Le Touzel;^[15] they have two daughters, Eliza and Grace.^[5] He likes to play golf, and was made an honorary member of the Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club.^[5]

Awards

Teale won the 1997 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Torvald opposite Janet McTeer in Ibsen's A Doll's House.^[1]^[16]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Director
1989	War Requiem	The Unknown Soldier	Derek Jarman
1991	Robin Hood	Will Scarlet	John Irvin
1993	The Hawk	Ken Marsh	David Hayman
1996	Marco Polo: The Missing Chapter	Adolph	Rafi Bukai
1999	The Cherry Orchard	Lopahin	Michael Cacoyannis
2001	The Search for John Gissing	Giles Hanagan	Mike Binder
2004	Jack Brown and the Curse of the Crown	Jack Brown	Andrew Gillman
2004	King Arthur	Pelagius	Antoine Fuqua
2007	The Last Legion	Vatrenus	Doug Lefler
2008	Inconceivable	Richard Newman	Mary McGuckian
2008	Love Me Forever	Peter Schwarz	Åsa Faringer & Ulf Hultberg
2009	It's Alive	Sgt. Perkins	Josef Rusnak
2011	Hunky Dory	Davy's Dad	Marc Evans
2013	The Fold	Edward Ashton	John Jencks
2016	Nocturne	Murray	Konstantinos Frangopoulos
2019	Tolkien	Headmaster Gilson	Dome Karukoski
2020	Dream Horse	Brian Vokes	Euros Lyn

Television

Year	Title	Character	Production	Notes
1985	Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos	Maldak	BBC	2 episodes
1986	David Copperfield	Ham Peggotty	BBC	5 episodes
1989	The Fifteen Streets	John O'Brien		Part of a collection of small-screen epics based on the best-selling books of Catherine Cookson
1995	The Thin Blue Line	Gary	BBC	Season 1, Episode 2 "Fire and Terror"
1996	Dangerfield	PC Dave Chapman	BBC	"Scars" series 3, Episode 4
1999	Ballykissangel	Connor Devlin	BBC	Season 5
2001	Conspiracy	Roland Freisler
2004	Island at War	PC Wilf Jonas
2004	Spooks	Robert Morgan	BBC	"Frequently Asked Questions" – Series 3, Episode 9
2005	Midsomer Murders	Little Mal Kirby	ITV	"Second Sight" – Series 8, Episode 5
2005	Timewatch	Erucius	BBC	Episode: "Murder in Rome"
2005	Tales from the Green Valley	narrator	BBC2
2006	Torchwood	Evan Sherman	BBC	"Countrycide" – Series 1, Episode 6
2007	Inspector Lewis	Nicky Turnbull	ITV	"Old School Ties" – Series 1, Episode 3
2011, 2014–2016	Game of Thrones	Alliser Thorne	HBO	Recurring role 19 episodes
2012	The Hollow Crown – Henry V	Fluellen	BBC	"Henry V"
2012	Kidnap and Ransom	Robert Holland	ITV1	3 episodes
2012, 2021	Line of Duty	Chief Inspector/Chief Constable Phillip Osborne	BBC	3 episodes (2012)
2012–2013	Stella	Dai Kosh	Sky 1	20 episodes
2015	River	CSupt Marcus McDonald	BBC One	6 episodes
2016	Houdini & Doyle	Professor Havensling
2017	Pulse	Chad Berger	ABC TV	Recurring role
2018–2022	A Discovery of Witches	Peter Knox	Sky 1	18 episodes
2021	The Pembrokeshire Murders	Gerard Elias QC	ITV1	3 Part Mini-Series
2023	The Rig	Lars Hutton	Amazon Prime Video	6 episodes
2023	Wolf	Oliver Anchor-Ferrers	BBC One

Theatre

Year	Production	Role	Ref.
1996	A Doll's House	Torvald
2003	The Dance of Death	Kurt
2008	Macbeth	Macbeth
2013	Passion Play	James	^[17]
2014	Under Milk Wood	Narrator	^[18]
2015	The Broken Heart	BASSANES	^[19]
2016	No Man's Land	Briggs	^[20]
2016	Gaslight	Jack Manningham	^[21]
2022	A Christmas Carol	Ebenezer Scrooge	^[22]
2023	A Christmas Carol	Ebenezer Scrooge	^[23]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j "Game of Thrones' Owen Teale on his best teacher: Mr Davis". tes.com. 1 May 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c Williams, Kathryn (31 May 2021). "From Line of Duty to Game of Thrones: Owen Teale, the Welsh actor who has been in a host of the biggest shows in TV history". WalesOnline. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Owen Teale cv". independenttalent.com. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
^ "Owen Teale cv". tvguide.com. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "'No more Mr Nice Guy' says Owen Teale". walesonline.co.uk. 2 September 2005. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Torchwood Recap: Season 1, Episode 6: "Countrycide" | The House Next Door | Slant Magazine". slantmagazine.com. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
^ "Movie Review: The Last Legion – History of the Ancient World". historyoftheancientworld.com. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
^ Profile, winteriscoming.net; accessed 18 March 2015.
^ "'Game of Thrones' death: Longtime actor exits with touching interview". ew.com. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
^ "Game of Thrones' Owen Teale on Jon Snow, That Hanging Scene, and Why He Didn't Enjoy Playing Ser Alliser". vulture.com. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
^ "Game Of Thrones' Owen Teale, Helen Baxendale and Trevor Eve cast in ITV's Kidnap and Ransom | Unreality TV". primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk. 5 September 2011. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
^ "Meet the cast of The Rig". radiotimes.com. 6 January 2023.
^ "Deliveroo. We get it". Red Facilities. 29 April 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
^ Hayward, Anthony (31 August 2021). "Dilys Watling obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ ^a ^b D'Emilio, Isabella (1 February 2022). "ITV Midsomer Murders star Owen Teale's love life from first wife in Coronation Street and marriage to Endeavour actress". MyLondon. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "The 1997 Tony Award Winners". The New York Times. 3 June 1997. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
^ "Owen Teale, Samantha Bond and More Join Zoe Wanamaker in London Passion Play Revival | Broadway Buzz | Theatre.com". www.theatre.com. 8 March 2013. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016.
^ "INTERVIEW: Game of Thrones star Owen Teale talks to Simon Lockyer about Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood". northdevonjournal.co.uk. 22 May 2014. Archived from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
^ "Shakespeare's Globe". www.shakespearesglobe.com. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
^ "Odds & Ends: Game of Thrones' Owen Teale Set for Ian McKellen & Patrick Stewart's No Man's Land & More". broadway.com. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
^ "Sparring Game of Thrones actors a highlight of Gaslight: review | Toronto Star". thestar.com. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
^ "Owen Teale will be Scrooge in Old Vic's A Christmas Carol | Playbill". playbill.com. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
^ "A Christmas Carol 2023". Marriner Theatres. Marriner Group. 28 September 2023. Archived from the original on 25 October 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.