10 actors who performed at Edinburgh Fringe before they were famous
Playbill goes fringe benefits10 actors who performed at Edinburgh Fringe before they were famous
The festival hosted like Jude Law, Maggie Smith, Robin Williams and more.
Theater artists and lovers travel to Scotland every August for August Edinburgh Festival Fringethe world’s largest arts festival. The festival offered over 3000 productions on over 300 venues, and introduced Smash Hit International shows like Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’ SES: The musical and played a role in building the careers of many actors since it began in 1947.
Read below to learn about ten well -known actors who performed at Edinburgh Fringe before they became household names. The history of the festival to give a platform for new talent is one of the many exciting aspects of the festival that Playbill writers Margaret Hall and Leah Putnam will write about as part of Playbill goes fringe benefitsPlaybill’s extensive coverage of the festival. Excited to learn more? Exit Playbill goes to Fringe: Meet the correspondents who will cover the good, the surprising and the stranger at Edinburgh Fringe To find out more about how to follow and “live” the experience with them.
The late Alan Rickman, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, made his debut in Edinburgh at the age of 30, but two, show: Measure for benchmark and The devil is a holeat the mounting rooms. Although he is known to many for his films, he became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1980s. Starring as vicomte de Valmont in RSC’s Dangerous connections In 1985, he would be transferred to the West End and then to Broadway, for which he earned a Tony nomination. He returned to the Broadway stage in 2002 Private lives (Earn him a second nomination), and again in 2011 for Seminar.
Emma Thompson, another Cambridge University Alumna, was part of the well -known Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club. With fellow members Stephen FryHugh Laurie, and more, she performed in the Footlights Show on Fringe in 1981 The cellar ties in St. Mary Street Hall. It has won the festival’s first Perrier Comedy Award, since the renamed of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards and is considered one of the most sought after comedy prices in the UK. Since then, Thompson has won two Oscars, three Baftas, two Golden Globes and an Emmy.
3. John Cleese
Another member of the footlights, John Cleese, is very well known for the co-founding comedy group Monty Python. He wrote the screenplay together and interpreted in the Footlights Revue of 1963 A Bunch of pedestals by fringe. After a successful run at the festival, the renamed is to Cambridge Circus for his West End Transfer and played in New Zealand and Broadway in 1964. After the tour, Cleese stayed in America to step on Broadway A half sixpence in 1965-66. His recorded voice was used for the part of God in Spamalotwhich opened on Broadway in 2005.
4. Rachel Weisz
While at Cambridge University, English actress Rachel Weisz founded a student drama group with Sasha Hails called Talking Heads. Weisz and Hails created a two-hand improvisation program called Minor possession who took them to Fringe in 1991, for which Weisz received a Guardian Youth Drama Award. The show played Notting Hill’s Gate Theater where an agent saw Weisz and launched her career. Since then she has played on stage in the West End, including Blanche Dubois in A street wagon named Desire, who earned an Olivier award. In New York, Weisz has her Broadway debut in Betrayal in 2013 and off-broadway in The public theater‘ Enough.
5. Judi Dench
In 1959 two years after making her first professional stage appearance, Judi Dench acted at Edinburgh Fringe The double dealer with Maggie Smithwho then played the Old Vic. Dench has since become an established actor in the following years, and has since performed successfully on stage and screen. She won a Tony Award in 1999 for action in Amy’s view and seven of her 15 Olivier nominations taken home for performances in Macbeth In 1977, Juno and the Paycock In 1980, Pack lies In 1983, Antony and Cleopatra In 1987, Absolute hell and A small night music both in 1996, and The Winter’s Languages in 2016.
6. Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith started her acting career at the age of 17 in 1952 and made her Broadway debut four years later New faces of ’56 against Ethel Barrymore Theater. Three years after that she interprets with Judi Dench in The double dealer at Edinburgh Fringe and in his subsequent run at the Old Vic. Laurence Olivier, who took note of Smith, noted in the audience of the Old Vic One Night and invited her to join his national theater company, which was founded at the Old Vic in 1962. Smith settled in the Royal National Theater in the 1960s. In addition to performing regularly in the West End and earned seven Olivier nominations, she returned to Broadway three times to step in Private lives In 1975, Night and day in 1980, and Lettice and lovage in 1990. Each performance earned her a Tony nomination with Smith who won the best actress in a play Lettice and lovage.
While Fringe introduced many British actors and comedians, late American comedian Robin Williams also performed at the festival. As part of a student theater enterprise of the California College or Marin, he interpreted as Tranio in a wild Western inspired production of The pace of the shed In 1971 at Fringe. The show won the best production, which led them to act for Princess Margaret of the British royal family. He will play further in the track in the track Waiting for Godot against Lincoln Center Theater in 1988 and played the starring role in the filmMrs. Doublefirenow a Broadway show. Williams also performed on Broadway with his one -man show Robin Williams: Live on Broadway and in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo in 2011.
8. Russell brand
In 2000, Russell Brand was one member of a trio that performed the stand-up show Pablo Diablo’s cryptic drift at Fringe’s gold -plated balloon. An Audin member threw a glass at him, and burning threw a microphone stand to the Heckling audience. He would be recognized for his screenwork in the mid -2000s, and performed in several films and television programs July Taymor‘S 2010 fil maid of Shakespeare’s The storm as a trace.
Although many people best recognize Rowan Atkinson to Mr. To play Bean or Johnny English, he performed for the first time in 1973. He returned in 1975, and again in 1976 with Oxford Revue next door Richard Curtis. Curtis would continue to write Blackadder and co-writing Mr. Bean who played both Atkinson. This was also how Atkinson was discovered, as television producer John Lloyd saw his benefits of 1976. Since then, Atkinson has acted on the screen and also played in the 2009 West End Revival of Oliver! As Fagin, who earns him an Olivier nomination.
10. Jude Law
While he was a teenager, Jude Law performed at Edinburgh Fringe in the World Premiere of National Youth Music Theater of The colored child In 1986. Since his youths, Law continued to act on stage in addition to his film and television work. He earns Olivier nominations for his performances in the 1994 production of 1994 Awful parents as well as the 2010 Donmar production of Ham and Anna Christie in 2012. Ham transferred to Broadway’s Broadhurst -Theaterdeserves his second Tony nomination. He received his first for Indisresies in 1995.
