Paul Copley

Known for ActingBorn 1944-11-25 (age 81)Denby Dale, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Paul is a long established and much respected British actor and voiceover artist. Born in Denby Dale, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 25th November 1944 he grew up beside a dairy farm. His father, Harold, was involved with local amateur dramatic productions, as were the rest of his family. He went to Penistone Grammar School, then the Northern Counties College of Education in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he received an Associate of the Drama Board (ADB) in Drama. He taught English and Drama in Walthamstow, before he joined the Leeds Playhouse Theatre-in-education Company in 1971. In 1976, Paul won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a New Play for his role in John Wilson's For King and Country. With many and varied roles to follow, Paul soon established himself as one of the UK's leading stage, film, television and radio actors. In 2011-2015 Paul gained worldwide recognition appearing in 16 episodes of the hugely popular television series Downton Abbey playing the popular role of farmer Mr Mason. Paul is married to the actress Natasha Pyne. They married in 1972, after both performing in a Leeds Playhouse production of Frank Wedekind's Lulu, adapted by Peter Barnes, directed by Bill Hays in 1971.Read more

Movies & web series

The Many Lives of Albert Walker

Nice Guy Eddie

Young Charlie Chaplin

The Gathering Seed

Written in Blood

Born and Bred

How's Business

Testimony of a Child

On a Paving Stone Mounted

Speech Day

Downton Abbey

Inside No. 9

Tenko

The Key

Inspector George Gently

The Sound of Music Live!

Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus

The Royal

A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado

Life on Mars

West End Tales

Queer as Folk

Destiny

Hornblower

Father Brown

The Worst Witch

The Street

Call the Midwife

Shameless

Death of a Princess

Silent Witness

Vera

Hornblower: The Even Chance

Secret Army

Code of a Killer

Midsomer Murders

Moving On

Enola Holmes

Downton Abbey: A New Era

Hornblower: The Examination for Lieutenant

Hornblower: Mutiny

New Tricks

Torchwood

Messiah

Hornblower: Retribution

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

Hornblower: Duty

The Remains of the Day