Neil Smye
Biography
Born in Oxford, Neil was thirteen when he
played the title role in his school production of the musical, OLIVER! which encouraged his decision to make a career
as a performer. On leaving school at
eighteen he went on to train at the Guildford School of Acting before making
his professional debut as The Gingerbread Man in David Wood’s THE GINGERBREAD MAN at the Oxford
Playhouse for Whirligig Theatre Company. Since then Neil’s theatre work has
been varied and has taken him all over the U.K. and beyond.
Neil’s early work
was almost exclusively for Polka Theatre in Wimbledon where his physical
theatre skills were put to good use. During this time he played well-known
characters such as Pinocchio, Icarus and also Hansel in an adaptation of
Humperdinck’s opera HANSEL AND GRETEL. He then also continued to perform
with David Wood’s Whirligig Theatre Company, which specialised in large scale
national tours of original children’s musical productions. Roles included
Seagull in THE SELFISH SHELLFISH and Norman in SAVE THE HUMAN a
joint production with the Cambridge Arts Theatre. Other early credits include
playing Dick in HAUL FOR THE SHORE for Kent Arts Theatre and Henry in LITTLE
WOMEN at the Churchill Theatre Bromley and then on tour.
Moving to live full
time in London Neil’s work began to diversify and he began to hone his comedy
and musical theatre skills. He played Charlie Brown in SNOOPY - THE MUSICAL
for Jill Freud & Company in Southwold, Desmond in BERNARD TROPP’S
UNFINISHED MUSICAL for No Mess Productions in Bracknell, a season in
Germany playing Norman in Neil Simon's THE STAR SPANGLED GIRL at the English
Theatre in Hamburg and a summer season in Wales playing Benny Southstreet in GUYS
AND DOLLS for the Aberystwyth Arts Centre.
Large-scale
commercial touring has been a major part of Neil’s career. He performed,
somersaulted, juggled and uni-cycled for over a year as Tom Thumb in a UK tour
of BARNUM with Andrew O’Connor,
“Shuffled off to Buffalo” as Bert Barry in two tours of 42ND STREET with
Gemma Craven then Ruth Madoc and ‘swept’ the stage in the multi-character role
of stagehand Vic in two tours of LANZA – THE LAST SERENADE.
Between touring Neil
appeared as William Park in RIOTOUS ACTS at The Theatre Museum Covent
Garden, The White Rabbit in ALICE IN WONDERLAND at The Civic Theatre
Barnsley, Edgar Wallace in THE GAMBLER at St Georges Theatre Luton,
Wilbur in CHARLOTTE’S WEB, Mr Brown in A BEAR CALLED PADDINGTON
and Centipede/Aunt Sponge in JAMES AND
THE GIANT PEACH all for Polka Theatre Wimbledon, Smee alongside Derek
Griffiths’ Captain Hook in PETER PAN at the Weston Playhouse, , Arnell
in Israel Horovitz’s black comedy LINE at the Tristan Bates Theatre
London, Cosmo Brown in SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN at the Aberystwyth Arts
Centre, The Chinese Policeman in ALADDIN at The Riverfront Theatre
Newport, Ned in NO GIPSY CHILD OF MINE at The St Augustine’s Sanctuary
Edinburgh and Bert in the world premiere of a new musical - IT’S A WONDERFUL
LIFE for the New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich.
Recent theatre work
includes playing Reg in TABLE MANNERS
and Detective Fergus in DOUBLE DEATH
both for The Manor Pavilion Sidmouth, Alderman Fitzwarren in DICK WHITTINGTON for The Towngate
Theatre Basildon, Robertson in LLOYD
GEORGE KNEW MY FATHER and Geoffrey Thornton in THE DRESSER both for The Theatre Royal Windsor, Yvan in a rehearsed
reading of ART at St Vincent's Hall
Brixton, King Stefan in SLEEPING BEAUTY at
the Theatre Royal Wakefield and Mr Smee in PETER
PAN for Lighthouse Theatre Poole.
More recently Neil
has been developing his on-screen skills with Television and film appearances
as Deputy Editor in Season 5 of THE
CROWN for Netflix, Lord Goring in Season 2 of BRIDGERTON also for
Netflix, Glen Tilson in EASTENDERS
for the BBC and The Lieutenant in JACK
for Independent Films. Other TV and film appearances include, Robert in CENTURY HOUSE (a short film which Neil
also wrote and directed), Al Jardine in BREAKING
THE BANDS – THE BEACH BOYS for ITV – Potato, Neil
in EL GATO for East River Productions, Mark in TORCHWOOD for
Summerhouse films and Student in AFTER PILKINGTON for the BBC.
Neil has also
featured in several TV ad’s including The Official in ‘The Weigh-In’ for HARIBO TANGFASTICS, Mark in the ‘But
First…’ campaign for COSTA COFFEE,
The Husband in the ‘Beautifully Simple’ campaign for WAITROSE, The Dad with arms in plaster in 'Refreshing little Lifts'
for TIC TAC mints and The Dad in the ‘Love to Toast’ campaign for KINGSMILL.
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