Ian Hart


Ian Hart is an English actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Rabbit in the Channel Four drama miniseries One Summer, Joe O'Reilly in the biopic Michael Collins, Quirinus Quirrell in the fantasy film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and Kester Gill in the E4 series My Mad Fat Diary.

Early life

Hart was born Ian Davies in the Knotty Ash district of Liverpool, one of three siblings, and was brought up in a Catholic family. He attended Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School in Liverpool's West Derby suburb and was a member of the city's Everyman Youth Theatre in his teens, before studying drama at the now-defunct Mabel Fletcher College of Music and Drama. From 1988 to 1991, Hart studied video production at South Mersey College.

Career

Hart portrayed a POUM militia volunteer in the Spanish Civil War in Land and Freedom and an unemployed Liverpool shipyard worker in Liam. His best known role, however, is perhaps that of Professor Quirrell in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. He also provided the voice of the CGI-generated face of Lord Voldemort.
Hart has played John Lennon in three productions: as a 22-year-old Lennon a few months prior to the late 1963 British Invasion in The Hours and Times, a slightly younger Lennon during The Beatles' 1960-62 in Backbeat, and a 50-year-old Lennon in the Playhouse Presents television production Snodgrass.
Hart played Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the film Finding Neverland in 2004, having already played Doyle's creation Dr Watson in a BBC One television film of The Hound of the Baskervilles in 2002, and reprising the role in 2004 in Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking, with a different actor playing Sherlock Holmes. He also played schizophrenic paparazzo Don Konkey in the FX series Dirt in 2007 and 2008. In 2009 he played Tom Ripley in BBC Radio Four's adaptations of all five of Patricia Highsmith's "Ripliad" series.
Hart had an interesting audience interaction during the Duke of York's Theatre's 2009 production of Andrew Bovell's play Speaking in Tongues. After the performance on 23 November, Hart went into the audience and remonstrated with a man whom he had earlier told to "shut up" from the stage. He also played Adolf Hitler in the BBC drama The Man Who Crossed Hitler, which aired in August 2011. He is also starring in The Last Kingdom on Netflix as Father Beocca which first aired in October 2015.

Filmography

Film

Television