Russell Tovey isn’t, on the face of it, typical “leading man” material. With his Essex accent, expressive face and those trademark ears, the 44-year-old sat squarely in the category of “character actor” for many years, injecting light relief into a spread of supporting roles amid stellar ensemble casts. He was the slow but diligent Rudge in History Boys; Billericay geezer Budgie in Gavin and Stacey; lovesick John Chivery in Little Dorrit. Often the winsomely comedic bridesmaid, hardly ever the bride.
Things have shifted, slowly but surely, over the past five years. His heartbreaking turn as Daniel Lyons in the Russell T Davies mini-series Years and Years earned him a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination in 2019; being cast as Detective Patrick Read in American Horror Story: NYC in 2022 introduced him to a global audience. More recently, his portrayal of Andrew in 2025’s romantic indie thriller Plainclothes, about an undercover police officer tasked with entrapping gay men in Nineties New York, is currently being considered for a Bafta.
