Addy was born in York, where his family has lived since at least 1910 when his paternal great-grandfather was recorded there. His father, Ian, spent his working life as a glazier at York Minster. Addy was educated at Joseph Rowntree School, and from 1982 to 1984 attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Career
Addy made his first TV appearance in 1987 in The Ritz, followed in 1988 by A Very Peculiar Practice, followed by TV performances in shows such as Heartbeat, Band of Gold, Married... with Children, Peak Practice, The Thin Blue Line, Too Much Sun, Sunnyside Farm, Trollied and The Syndicate. He played Bill Miller in Still Standing and played Detective Boyle in the second series of the British sitcom The Thin Blue Line. He also appeared on ITV1's comedy drama series Bonkers, and another ITV comedy drama, Bike Squad, in early 2008 as Sergeant John Rook. For a period from 2009, Addy starred with Fay Ripley in a series of adverts for the relaunched Tesco Clubcard. He played Robert Baratheon in the HBO series Game of Thrones: Addy's audition for the role was, according to showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the best they saw, he being the easiest actor to cast for the show. He played Hercules, one of the main characters in the BBC One fantasy drama series Atlantis, which started airing on 28 September2013 in the UK. In the BBC TV drama New Blood, featuring young detectives from the Serious Fraud Office and the London Police Service, Addy played D.S. Derek Sands. In film, Addy had a leading role in The Full Monty, and played Fred Flintstone in the 2000 film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. He played Mac McArthur in the 1998 filmJack Frost. In 2001, he played Roland in A Knight's Tale and a butler to Chris Rock's character in the film Down to Earth. In Down to Earth, his character was an American who was pretending to be British. Addy played David Philby in The Time Machine and made an appearance as the Ship Captain in Around the World in 80 Days with Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan, and made an appearance as Friar Tuck in Ridley Scott's 2010 film Robin Hood. In 2018, Addy played Paltraki in the Doctor Who episode "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos". In 2019 he appeared in the Downton Abbey movie as Mr. Bakewell, who owns the shop from which Mrs. Patmore buys her supplies; a character who was mentioned in the television series but hadn't yet appeared onscreen.
On 20 July 2019 Addy was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of York, having given a speech at the Roses Varsity opening ceremony a few months prior.
