Christopher Eccleston (photo ©Benjamin Ellis) was born on February 16, 1964, in the Langworthy area of Pendleton, Salford, Lancashire, England.
When he was 19, Christopher Eccleston decided to become an actor after watching television dramas. After a two-year Performance Foundation Course at Salford Tech, he went to the Central School of Speech and Drama. He made his stage debut when he was 25 but for a few years was forced to do various jobs because he couldn’t find enough work.
In the early ’90s, Christopher Eccleston started finding regular roles in television and movie productions getting some attention thanks to the movie “Let Him Have It” in 1991. In 1993 he obtained a role in the regular cast of the TV show “Cracker” which brought him fame in the UK but the following year he asked to leave the show.
Christopher Eccleston’s fame at the national level increased with his participation in productions cush as the BBC drama “Our Friends in the North”. At the international level, he started being famous for his roles in various movies such as “Jude” (1996), “Elizabeth” (1998), “eXistenZ” (1999), “Gone in 60 Seconds” (2000), “The Others” (2001), and “28 Days Later” (2002).
Especially at the beginning of the last decade, Christopher Eccleston has participated in important but also controversial television productions such as “Clocking Off” (2000), “Flesh and Blood” (2002) and “The Second Coming” (2003). The last show was created and produced by Russell T Davies.
In 2004, it was announced that Christopher Eccleston would play the Ninth Doctor in the new “Doctor Who” series, with Russell T Davies as executive producer. The show brought great success to an already legendary saga and Eccleston was voted as the Most Popular Actor at the National Television Awards 2005. Nevertheless, he left the role after only one season.
Today the real reasons why Christopher Eccleston left “Doctor Who” after one season only are still open to debate. Since the beginning, several assumptions were made, starting from the idea that the actor didn’t want to be typecast as the Doctor. Over the years, Eccleston has released other statements, claiming he was proud to have played the Doctor but he didn’t like the environment of the show’s production.
Certain statements in 2012 by Christopher Eccleston seemed encouraging and there was hope for his participation in at least the special for the 50th “Doctor Who” Anniversary. He had also discussed it with executive producer Steven Moffat but in the end, he refused to play the Doctor again.
In recent years, Christopher Eccleston has participated in other stage, television, and movie productions. On TV he has appeared in several episodes of TV shows such as “Heroes” and “Shadow Line”. He played John Lennon in the TV movie “Lennon Naked”, in which Yoko Ono is played by Naoko Mori, who previously appeared with him in “Doctor Who”. He won an Emmy for his participation in the anthology drama “Accused”. At the cinema, he has appeared in a few movies such as “Thor: The Dark World”.
Christopher Eccleston is married and in February 2012 the couple had a son, Albert. He supports many charities and is an ambassador of Mencap, a British organization that works with people who suffer from learning disabilities. He’s also a supporter of the British Red Cross.
