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Anatol Yusef

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Anatol Yusef
EducationBristol Old Vic Theatre School (2000)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • Writer
  • Director

Anatol Yusef is an English film, television and stage actor, writer, director. He was born in Barking, East London and is best known for his work at The Royal Shakespeare Company, for his portrayal of Meyer Lansky in the television series Boardwalk Empire, and Channel 4's Southcliffe.

Biography

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As a teenager, Yusef found early work in television shows including Jeeves and Wooster, Grange Hill, and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He appeared in the films Batman and Aliens (director's cut). He received the country’s highest marks in GCSE and A-Level Drama studies which awarded him a scholarship from Essex County Council for Acting School. He then trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. While training he worked on the television show, Thief Takers and was a finalist in the BBC Carleton Hobbs Radio Award.[1]In his formative years Anatol also enjoyed success in national debating competitions which earned him the position of compère at Youth Makes music festival at the Royal Albert Hall.

Upon graduating drama school in 2000, Yusef was offered a role in Fred Schepisi's award-winning film Last Orders, playing the younger self of Bob Hoskins' "Ray" and working with British actors Sir Michael Caine, Dame Helen Mirren, Ray Winstone, David Hemmings, and Tom Courtenay.[2]

He became a resident company member with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In the RSC's production of King Lear, Nicholas de Jongh of the London Evening Standard claimed "Anatol Yusef's tremendous Cornwall, the best [he] [had] ever seen".[3]

In 2006, Yusef's performance as Mercutio in Bill Bryden's Romeo and Juliet at the Birmingham Rep was heralded as "sparkl[ing]"[4]

In 2008, Yusef appeared in the title role in a New York off-off Broadway production of Richard III, and was described by Backstage as "a superlative actor" and "magnetic".[5] Yusef has since remained in New York City. He has worked throughout New York, in 2011 appearing in A Movement of the Soul, playing Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, for which he learned American Sign Language. In 2012, he appeared in José Rivera’s “Massacre (Sing to Your Children)” and received special mention by David Rooney in The New York Times for his role as Joe.[6]

From 2009–2012 he was co-founder and joint-artistic director of Fixitsolife Theater Company in Manhattan, New York.

In 2010 he was cast as Meyer Lansky in HBO's Boardwalk Empire, first appearing in Episode 7 of Season 1, "Home" and remained throughout the series. In an interview with The Morton Report, Yusef described Lansky as self-educated, a massively intelligent overachiever and "a ruthless, ruthless man".[7] Anatol's characterization of Mr. Lansky has been recognized in many publications, including from author and critic Clive James's article in Prospect magazine, 'Martin Scorsese: American God’ [8] where he describes Yusef’s as “the most impressive performance in the show,” as well as Michael Noble's review of the show on Den of Geek.[9]

In 2014 he appeared in a central ensemble including, Rory Kinnear, Shirley Henderson, Sean Harris, and Eddie Marsan, in Channel 4's BAFTA-nominated Southcliffe, receiving special mention in an article by IndieWire on the best TV episodes of 2014.[10]

In 2016, Yusef narrated the European championship series on Howler Radio, a collection of five podcast narratives written by a selection football journalists, the most popular being "The Summer Football Came Home".[11]

In 2017, he appeared as Laertes and the Player King in Sam Gold’s Hamlet at the Public Theatre with Oscar Isaac in the title role. He received unilaterally excellent reviews including, Marilyn Stasio of Variety who stated that “he makes his presence felt in a riveting performance”[12] and Ben Brantley of The New York Times added that he “is splendid as a pugilistic Laertes and a lyrical Player King.”[13] Helen Shaw also commented that Anatol  “does a speech as the Player that runs rings around the stars nearby.”[14][15]

In 2018, Anatol starred as King Leontes in Arin Arbus’ production of The Winter’s Tale at Theatre for a New Audience, again receiving positive reviews. Off Off Online praised him as “completely convincing, masterly in the language and commanding a range of emotions.”[16] Jesse Green of The New York Times called the production terrific and haled Anatol’s performance.[17]

Anatol was last seen playing opposite Elizabeth McGovern in the two-hander Ava: The Secret Conversations, directed by Gaby Dellal, and written by McGovern. His portrayal of biographer Peter Evans as well as turns as Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney, and Artie Shaw were described as "capturing the essence of Ava’s trio of lovers with an interesting character performance that really brings the story to life.”[18]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2001 Last Orders Young Ray
2003 Ten Minutes Peter Short
2003 The Gathering The Gathering
2006 O Jerusalem Major Tell
2009 The Reward Felix Short
2011 Corner Shop Danny Short
2016 Bastille Day Tom Luddy
2020 You can't Win Dirty Dick
2023 Day of the Fight

Television

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Year Title Role
1990, 1992 Jeeves and Wooster Sydney Blumenfield Seasons 1 and 3
1993 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Hubert Van Hook Episode: "Benares, January 1910"
1995 Grange Hill Mark Episode #18.4
1999 Thief Takers Aziz Episode: "Shadows"
2000 Second Sight: Kingdom of the Blind Sandwich Shop Owner TV movie
2002, 2006 The Bill Rick Lessalles, Kevin Mann 2 episodes
2003 Trial & Retribution PC Barry Skinner 2 episodes
2003 The Afternoon Play: Turkish Delight Ahmed
2010–2014 Boardwalk Empire Meyer Lansky 31 episodes
2013 Southcliffe Paul Gould TV miniseries
2016 Preacher Deblanc Season 1

Theatre

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Year Title Role Notes
2000 The Mysteries Herod/Cain
2000 Under Milk Wood Rev. Eli Jenkins, Dai Bread
2000 After Miss Julie John
2002 Blackbird Sarhad
2004 Best of Motives Ahmed
2005 King Lear Duke of Cornwall
2005 Romeo and Juliet Sampson
2005 Macbeth Banquo
2006 Romeo and Juliet Mercutio
2007 Startled Response Umut
2008 Richard III Richard III
2009 Moonlight Jake
2010 Proof Hal
2010 The Science of Guilt Kevin
2011 A Movement of the Soul Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
2012 Massacre (Sing to Your Children) Joe
2017 Hamlet Laertes, The Player King
2018 The Winter's Tale Leontes
2022 Ava: The Secret Conversations Peter Evans, Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw

References

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  1. ^ "Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Graduates". Winterbourne. Archived from the original on 8 May 2010.
  2. ^ "Last Orders Cast". IMDB.
  3. ^ de Jongh, Nicholas. "King Lear". Evening Standard. Retrieved 1 July 2004.
  4. ^ Uusitalo, Irja. "Romeo and Juliet". The Stage. Retrieved 6 October 2005.
  5. ^ Cohen, Ron. "Richard III". Backstage. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
  6. ^ Rooney, David (16 April 2012). "They Kill the Tyrant but Can't Seem to Bury Him". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  7. ^ The Morton Report. "He's Not a Gangster, He Just Plays One on TV: An Interview with Boardwalk Empire's Anatol Yusef". Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  8. ^ Higashi, Sumiko; Robinson, David; Scorsese, Martin (June 1997). "From Peep Show to Palace: The Birth of American Film". The American Historical Review. 102 (3): 910. doi:10.2307/2171678. ISSN 0002-8762. JSTOR 2171678.
  9. ^ Noble, Michael (October 2013). "Boardwalk Empire season 4 episode 4 review: All In". Den of Geek. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  10. ^ The Playlist Staff (23 December 2014). "The 15 Best TV Episodes Of 2014". IndieWire. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  11. ^ "The Summer Football Came Home: The Story of Euro 96".
  12. ^ Stasio, Marilyn (14 July 2017). "Off Broadway Review: Oscar Isaac in 'Hamlet'". Variety. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  13. ^ Brantley, Ben (14 July 2017). "Review: The Greatest of Danes, as Oscar Isaac Takes On 'Hamlet'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  14. ^ Shaw, Helen. "Hamlet". 4columns.org. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  15. ^ Rooney, David (13 July 2017). "'Hamlet': Theater Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  16. ^ "The Winter's Tale". Off Off Online. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  17. ^ Green, Jesse (26 March 2018). "Review: A Moving 'Winter's Tale,' With Women in Charge". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  18. ^ Philpott, Maryam. "Anatol Yusef". Cultural Capital. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
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