Paul Ready

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title: "Paul Ready" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["21st-century-english-male-actors", "20th-century-english-male-actors", "1977-births", "living-people", "english-male-film-actors", "english-male-television-actors", "english-male-stage-actors", "british-male-shakespearean-actors", "alumni-of-the-london-academy-of-music-and-dramatic-art", "people-educated-at-king-edward-vi-five-ways", "male-actors-from-birmingham,-west-midlands"] description: "British actor (born 1977)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ready" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British actor (born 1977) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Paul Ready
birth_name	Paul John Ready
birth_date
birth_place	Birmingham, England
education	King Edward VI Five Ways
alma_mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
occupation	Actor
::

| name = Paul Ready | image = | birth_name = Paul John Ready | birth_date = | birth_place = Birmingham, England | education = King Edward VI Five Ways | alma_mater = London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art | occupation = Actor | spouse = | children =

Paul John Ready (born 1977) is a British actor. He is known for appearing in British television series including Utopia, Ripper Street, Motherland and MotherFatherSon. In 2018, he played the role of Rob MacDonald in the BBC television series Bodyguard and Harry Goodsir in AMC's The Terror. He received a commendation at the 2003 Ian Charleson Awards.

Early life

Ready was born in Birmingham and grew up in Harborne. He attended King Edward VI Five Ways school in Bartley Green, after which he trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. His first acting performance was in a primary school production of The Willow Pattern. In secondary school, he would go on school trips to Stratford-upon-Avon to visit the theatre.

Career

At the age of 17, Ready played Romeo in the National Youth Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet at London's Bloomsbury Theatre, opposite Rosamund Pike as Juliet.

He is a regular at the National and Royal Court theatres. Past appearances have included leading parts in Major Barbara and Saint Joan (both plays by George Bernard Shaw) and Time and the Conways by J.B. Priestley. His West End credits include One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which starred Christian Slater. In 2018 he starred as the titular character in Macbeth at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (2018), opposite his wife Michelle Terry as Lady Macbeth. Of his role as Macbeth the Financial Times said: "Ready is a rare bird in that he has an actorly way with oratory, but instead of keeping us at a distance from his character, it clarifies nuances and levels and paradoxically allows us in deeper." In 2020, he and Terry returned to the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as Petruchio and Biondello respectively in The Taming of the Shrew, which had to close early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between January 31 and April 19 2025 he will star in Chekhov's Three Sisters as Aleksandr Vershinin, once again alongside Terry.

Also appearing on television, Ready received notability in 2013 for his role in the television show Utopia. He is best known for his role as the special adviser to Keeley Hawes’ Home Secretary in the BBC series Bodyguard and Kevin in the BBC series Motherland.

In 2018, Ready featured as Harry Goodsir, one of the lead roles in The Terror, a 10-part series based on Dan Simmons' novel, for which he was nominated for a Satellite Award. Vanity Fair said of his performance: "Ready's character is the heart of the show: despite the various calamities that have befallen him and his comrades, he still sees hope."

Filmography

::data[format=table title="Key"]

	Denotes productions that have not yet been released
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Year(s)	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Angels and Insects	Tom
2000	Doctors	Terry Hyde	Episode: "Confidential Information"
Maybe Baby	Student Doctor
2001	Princess of Thieves	Sheriff's servant
Poirot	William	Episode: "Evil Under the Sun"
2002	Plain Jane	Clerk
Heartbeat	Henry Harrison	Episode: "A Girl's Best Friend"
Tipping the Velvet	Renter Alice	TV mini-series
Jeffrey Archer: The Truth	Paul McCartney
2004	Life Begins	Mark	Episode: "Maggie & Phil"
Blackpool	Will	Episode 1.3
2005	Twisted Tales	Phil	Episode: "Death Metal Chronicles"
Born and Bred	Abel Marl	Episode: "The Great Leap Forward"
Pierrepoint	Anthony David Farrow
Trial & Retribution	Harry Cranley	Episode: "The Lovers: Part 1"
2006	Holby City	Leon Harris	Episode: "Yesterday Once More"
Dresden	William
2008	The Gravity of Belief	Mr. Bumpkin	Short film
Pulling	Mike	Episode 2.2
2011	Silk	Tony Paddick	Episode: "All Plain Sailing"
2012	Private Peaceful	Captain Wilkins
2013	One Wrong Word	Tony	Short film
The Tunnel	Benji Robertson
2013–2014	Utopia	Lee
2013–2016	Ripper Street	Frederick Treves	3 episodes
2015	Cuffs	DI Felix Kane	8 episodes
2016	The Complete Walk: Richard III	Second Murderer	Short film
The Circuit	Danny	TV movie
The Witness for the Prosecution	Tripp
2016–2022	Motherland	Kevin Brady
2017	Fortitude	Mark Devlin	2 episodes
Beside Himself	Devlin	Short film
The Death of Stalin	NKVD Officer Delov
2018	Endeavour	Sebastian Fenix	Episode: "Quartet"
Bodyguard	Rob	5 episodes
The Terror	Harry Goodsir
2019	Our Liam of Lourdes	Toby	Short film
MotherFatherSon	Nick Caplan	7 episodes
2020	Muse	Aderman	Short film
Flack	Damien Paulson	3 episodes
2021	The Dig	James Reid Moir
2022	The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself	Soul O'Brien
2023	Capture	Dad	Short film
Heart of Stone	Max Bailey
2024	Mandy	Cooper	Episode: "Destination: Dundee"
A Gentleman In Moscow	Petrov
Bring Them Down	Gary
2025	Rob & Romesh Vs	Guest	Episode: "Shakespeare"
†	All That Glitters	Shakespeare
Kafka's Appraisal	Franz Kafka	Short film
Ann Droid	Michael	Main role
::

Radio

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Year(s)	Title	Role	Station	Notes	Ref.
2011	A Tale of Two Cities	Sydney Carton	BBC Radio 4	4 episodes
2012	Romeo and Juliet	Mercutio	BBC Radio 3
Twelfth Night	Orsino
2013	Imo and Ben	Benjamin Britten
Sword of Honour	Guy Crouchback	BBC Radio 4	7 episodes
2014	The Once and Future King	Arthur	6 episodes
2015	The Master and Margarita	Master	BBC Radio 3
The Pumpkin Eater	Jake Armitage	BBC Radio 4	5 episodes
2018	Home Front	Johnnie Marshall
2022	He Do The Wasteland In Different Voices	The Poet	BBC Radio 3
Jason's Mates	Ernest Montague	BBC Radio 4
2023	Christmas Miracle on Brighton Pier	William McFadden
2025	The History of Mr Polly	Alfred Polly	2 episodes
::

Theatre

::data[format=table title=""]

Year(s)	Title	Role	Theatre
1999	The Beggar's Opera	Filch	Wilton's Music Hall
2000	Cuckoos	Tito	Gate Theatre
2001	Twelfth Night	Sebastian	Liverpool Playhouse
2001–2002	Mother Clap's Molly House	Martin	Lyttelton Theatre
2002	Romeo and Juliet	Mercutio	Liverpool Playhouse
Crazyblackmuthafuckin'self	Colin	Royal Court Theatre
2003	Black Milk	Levchick
Terrorism	Various
The Comedy of Errors	Dromio of Syracuse	Bristol Old Vic
2003–2004	World Music	Tim/Young Geoff	Donmar Warehouse
2004	Forty Winks	Charlie	Royal Court Theatre
2005	Romance	Bernard	Almeida Theatre
2006	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	Billy Bibbit	Garrick Theatre
Waves	Neville	National Theatre
2007	Attempts on Her Life	Various
Saint Joan	Dauphin
2008	Major Barbara	Adolphys Cusins
2009	Love's Labour's Lost	Don Armado	Shakespeare's Globe
The Pillowman	Michal	Curve Theatre
Time and the Conways	Alan Conway	National Theatre
Three More Sleepless Nights	Pete
2010	London Assurance	Charles Courtly
2011	Wastwater	Mark	Royal Court Theatre
A Woman Killed with Kindness	John Frankford	National Theatre
2011–2012	Noises Off	Tim Allgood	The Old Vic
2012–2013	In the Republic of Happiness	Bob	Royal Court Theatre
2014	Black Comedy	Brindsley	Chichester Festival Theatre
Much Ado About Nothing	Benedick	Royal Exchange, Manchester
2015	Measure for Measure	Angelo	Young Vic
2018/19	Macbeth	Macbeth	Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
2020	The Taming of the Shrew	Petruchio
Macbeth: A Conjuring	Macbeth
2022	King Lear	King Lear (cover)	Shakespeare's Globe
2022	The Contingency Plan	Chris Casson	Crucible Theatre
2023	Twelfth Night: For One Night Only	Sir Andrew Aguecheek	Shakespeare's Globe
2024	The Duchess (of Malfi)	The Cardinal	Trafalgar Theatre
2025	Three Sisters	Aleksandr Vershinin	Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
A Midsummer Night's Dream: For One Night Only	Theseus/Oberon	Shakespeare's Globe
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Awards and nominations

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Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2019	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or TV Film	The Terror	Nominated
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References

References

1. "When is Motherland back on TV?".
2. John, Emma. (2018-11-12). "Motherland's Paul Ready: 'Michelle Terry and I are very much like the Macbeths!'". The Guardian.
3. (22 May 2018). "How The Terror Crafted Its Haunting, Perfect Series Finale".
4. "Adopt An Actor 2018: Macbeth: Macbeth (Paul Ready)".
5. "paul ready macbeth".
6. Shuttleworth, Ian. (15 November 2018). "Macbeth at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London — this is the one to see".
7. "The Taming of the Shrew (2020): Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse {{!}} BBA Shakespeare".
8. "Three Sisters {{!}} What's On".
9. (2016-09-29). "Jared Harris to Star in AMC Anthology Series 'The Terror'".
10. "2018 Winners". International Press Academy.
11. "Curtis Brown".
12. "BBC Radio 4 Extra - Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities, 2. The Old Order".
13. "Drama on 3 - Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - BBC Sounds".
14. "BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3, Shakespeare on 3, Twelfth Night".
15. "BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3, Britten 100: Imo and Ben".
16. "BBC Radio 4 - Classic Serial, Evelyn Waugh - Sword of Honour, Men at Arms".
17. "BBC Radio 4 Extra - The Once and Future King, The Coming of Merlyn".
18. "BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3, The Master and Margarita".
19. "BBC Radio 4 - 15 Minute Drama, Penelope Mortimer - The Pumpkin Eater, Episode 1".
20. "BBC Radio 4 - Home Front - Johnnie Marshall".
21. "BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3, He Do The Waste Land in Different Voices".
22. "BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Jason's Mates".
23. "BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Christmas Miracle on Brighton Pier".
24. "BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, The History of Mr Polly, Beginnings and the Bazaar".
25. "A Woman Killed With Kindness - Cast credits". National Theatre.
26. "Noises Off".

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