Andy
was born and brought up in Ruislip, West London. He grew up wanting to be
a painter/graphic artist and eventually studied visual arts at Lancaster
University. Being so close to the Lake District, it just so happened that
it also enabled him to follow his other passion in life, mountaineering!
Whilst at university, he became heavily involved in the theatre studies
department, which had a broad-based approach including design, lighting,
staging, as well as history and acting theory. After performing in a production
of Barrie Keefes play Gotcha, Andy decided that he wanted to become
an actor.
In 1985
he began working at the Dukes playhouse, Lancaster, where he started to
learn his craft. Under the direction of Jonathan Petherbridge, he performed
in fourteen plays on the trot, playing a wide variety of characters in plays
including Volpone, The Good Person of Szechwan, and A Midsummer Nights
Dream.
After that, Andy joined a number of touring companies, including Paines
Plough and Hull Truck (Bouncers), then joined David Freemans company
at the Lyric, Hammersmith, working on Freeemans epic production of
Faust. In 1989 Andy began his long association with the Royal Exchange Theatre,
Manchester, in Braham Murrays production of Macbeth. He would return
many times to appear in plays such as She Stoops to Conquer, Your Home in
the West, and Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love. He
played the emcee in Cabaret at the Sheffield Crucible, Macheath in The Threepenny
Opera for the Bubble Theatre, Jerry (the Jack Lemmon role) in the musical
version of Some Like It Hot at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. He was awarded
the Manchester Evening News Best Actor award for his performance in Steven
Berkoffs two hander, Decadence.
In the 90s Andy began to make his mark on the London Stage, particularly
at the Royal Court Theatre, receiving critical success for his roles as
Dogboy in Hush , The fool in Max Stafford Clarks production of King
Lear, and as Potts in the original production of Jez Butterwoths hit
play Mojo.
At the same time his career in film and television began to gain momentum.
On television, his first breakthrough role was Tom in the hit geordie gangster
series Finney. Over the following years he played a wide range of roles
in many TV dramas, including Grushko, The Jump, The Arabian Nights, Touching
Evil, Shooting the Past, and was recently highly acclaimed for his performance
as Bill Sykes in Alan Bleasedales adaptation of the Dickens classic,
Oliver Twist. On film, Andy began to make a name for himself in movies like
Mike Leighs Career Girls, The screen adaptation of Mojo, Among Giants
and Stella Does Tricks.
He returned to the stage in 1997 to play Phil in the British premiere of
David Rabes hit play Hurlyburly for Peter Hall's company at The Old
Vic. It was a great success and transferred to the West End (Queen's Theatre).
As John D'Auban in Topsy Turvy Over the next few years Andy concentrated
on film work, spending the best part of one year creating the character
of John Dauban, Gilbert and Sullivan's choreographer in Mike Leigh's Topsy
Turvy. Other roles included Jacobin revolutionary John Thelwall, in Julien
Temple's film Pandaemonium , and as Mel, Michael Caines minder in
Shiner directed by John Irvine.
In 1999, Andy was offered the prize role of Gollum in Peter Jacksons
epic film trilogy version of J.R.R. Tolkien's saga The Lord of the Rings
-- Although the principal photography for all three films took place over
18 months, Andy spent much of 2002 in post-production due to the complex
technical nature of bringing Gollum to the screen in The Two Towers, and
will repeat this process in 2003 for The Return of The King. The role has
been one of the most psychologically complex/physically demanding/technically
challenging roles to date.
In between trips to New Zealand, Andy played Factory Records producer Martin
Hannett, in Michael Winterbottoms Madchester film 24 Hour Party People,
and Private Quinn in Michael Bassetts debut feature, World War I horror
film Deathwatch. He has also returned to the stage twice -- as Jake in Sam
Shepards play A Lie of the Mind directed by Wilson Milam at the Donmar
warehouse, and most recently to play Iago in Braham Murray's production
of Othello at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.
Andy has always continued to paint, and is pursuing his goal to work on
the other side of the camera -- in September 2001 he wrote and directed
his debut short film Snake. He is currently involved in developing several
feature film projects with his co-producer Paul Viragh.
Andy lives in North London with his wife, actress Lorraine Ashbourne
and their two young children Ruby and Sonny.
Taken From Andy's offical site