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Brian Murray

Murray was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and grew up in England. He began his acting career in London performing in the West End prior to joining the Royal Shakespeare Company. His RSC roles included Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cassio in Othello, and Edgar in Peter Brook's King Lear.

He has performed on Broadway in The Crucible (for which he was nominated for a Tony), Uncle Vanya, The Little Foxes (another Tony-nominated role), Racing Demon, Black Comedy, A Small Family Business, Noises Off, Sleuth, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (another Tony-nominated performance) and starred in Da.

Off-Broadway he has appeared in Spread Eagle at the WPA Theatre, The Knack, New York Shakespeare Festival's Hamlet (Claudius) opposite Kevin Kline, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Mud River Stone and Travels With My Aunt at Minetta Lane, in which he played nine different roles and earned both Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards. He won a Drama Desk Award in 1997 for playing Ben Hubbard in The Little Foxes opposite Stockard Channing, and picked up a third Obie in 2001 for his performance in Edward Albee's The Play About the Baby. He also is a recipient of a Obie Lifetime achievement award and the Lucille Lortel award for the body of his work.

Murray's Broadway credits as director include the productions The Circle with Rex Harrison, The Show Off, Blithe Spirit with Richard Chamberlain, Hay Fever with Rosemary Harris, Waltz of the Toreadors, and Arsenic and Old Lace with Jean Stapleton.

The actor made his film debut in 1959, playing Chunky Grogan in the acidly droll British caper film The League of Gentlemen. His other film roles have included Lynch in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1979), Terry Manchester in Bob Roberts (1992), and he appeared in City Hall (1996). On television Murray has appeared in Illusions (1983), Hamlet (1990, playing Claudius) and Twelfth Night, or What You Will (1998, playing Sir Toby Belch).

Murray resides in Manhattan. He is currently starring in a pre-Broadway production of Alfred Uhry's latest play, Edgardo Mine.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2002.

Brian Murray Facts

OccupationActor
BirthplaceJohannesburg, South Africa

Selected Filmography

Scaredy Pants/I Was a Teenage Gary
Wayne's World
Home Of The Brave
NCIS: Season 12
K-PAX
Rushmore
Daddy Day Camp
Kindergarten Cop
NCIS: Season 9
NCIS: Season 10
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