Dean Lennox Kelly

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Dean Lennox Kelly
Born (1975-11-30) 30 November 1975 (age 48)
Occupation(s)Actor and voice over artist
Years active1997–present
RelativesCraig Kelly (brother)

Dean Lennox Kelly (born 30 November 1975) is an English actor and voice over artist.[1] He is known for his television roles as Kev Ball in Shameless and Meredith Rutter in Jamestown.

Early life[edit]

Kelly is from Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where his classmates included Richard Coyle and Oded Fehr. [citation needed] He is the brother of actor Craig Kelly.[2]

Career[edit]

Kelly is best known for his role playing Kev Ball in Channel 4's Shameless. Other television credits include Maisie Raine, Tipping the Velvet, ShakespeaRe-Told and The Worst Week of My Life. He had parts in the films The Lowdown and Mike Bassett: England Manager. In 2006 he took a lead role in BBC One's drama series Sorted, which is about a group of postmen.

On 1 January 2007 he starred in ITV Drama Dead Clever alongside Suranne Jones. He left Shameless after the first episode of the fourth series along with his co-star and on screen girlfriend, Maxine Peake. In 2007, he appeared as William Shakespeare in the episode "The Shakespeare Code" of the BBC One science-fiction series Doctor Who.[3]

In March 2008, he appeared as one of Jesus' disciples, James, in the BBC drama The Passion, a retelling of the last days of Jesus' life. In May, he appeared as Hedley, the landlord of the local pub in BBC drama The Invisibles, a story of two retired crooks returning to Britain from abroad. Hedley then joins the twosome later in the series. In January and February 2009, he appeared in two episodes of Being Human as a werewolf named Tully.

He starred in Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel a comedy sci-fi film with Chris O'Dowd, Marc Wootton and Anna Faris, ITV drama Married Single Other with Ralf Little and Miranda Raison, the BBC mini-series Cranford as a poor man struggling to feed his six children and wife, and in Robin Hood as Robin's father, Malcolm.

In 2002, he starred as Private Willie McNess in the major motion picture Deathwatch, a 2002 European horror film directed by Michael J. Bassett. He narrated a documentary style DVD about the Great Britain national rugby league team during the 2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations, titled League of Their Own. He was also narrator of the first couple of seasons of The Real Hustle.

In 2009 he starred alongside his brother in the ITV1 drama Collision which ran over five consecutive nights in November. In 2010, he played industrialist Christoper Rawson in BBC drama The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister. In 2013 he played Ian, the boyfriend of the title character, in the BBC One drama series Frankie.[4]

In 2013, he took on the role of Danny, a soldier facing his fears in the short film On The Bridge, based on a true story and shot entirely on Waterloo Bridge.

Empire had announced that Kelly would be voicing the role of John Lennon for the then-upcoming 3D remake of Yellow Submarine before the project was cancelled.[5] However, in late 2011, he appeared as the narrator on the interactive Apple iBooks version of Yellow Submarine.[6]

In 2015, he appeared in the BBC TV series Death in Paradise. In 2016, he played Carmichael in Silent Witness. In 2020, he appeared in an episode of Sick of It. He had a recurring role as Pekka Rollins in Shadow and Bone (2021-22).

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1998 Still Crazy Pizza Boy
2000 Saving Grace Bob
2000 The Low Down Mike
2001 H3 Ciaran
2001 Mike Bassett: England Manager Kevin Tonkinson
2002 Deathwatch Private Willie McNess
2005 The Secret Life of Words Liam
2005 Ashes Father
2009 Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel Pete
2013 On the Bridge Danny Short film
2019 Trick or Treat Dan Kielty

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1998 Peak Practice Martin Beasley 2 episodes
1999 City Central Robbie Foster Episode: “Second Time Around”
1999 Maisie Raine DC Chris Mallory Main role (series 2)
2000 Border Cafe Danesy Miniseries; main role
2001 The Bill Robert Slade Episode: “Eye of the Lens”
2002 Impact Scott Miniseries; main role
2002 Tipping the Velvet Tony Reeves Miniseries; 1 episode
2004–2007, 2011, 2013 Shameless Kev Ball Main role, (series 1–3); recurring (series 4–11; 3 episodes)
2004 The Worst Week of My Life Dom Recurring role; 6 episodes
2005 The Brief Michael Westlake Episode: “Blame”
2005 ShakespeaRe-Told Puck “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
2006 Comedy Lab Lindsay Carol Episode: “FM”
2006 Sorted Dex Miniseries; main role
2007 Dead Clever Ian Bottomley Television film
2007 Doctor Who William Shakespeare Episode: “The Shakespeare Code
2007 Cranford Job Gregson 3 episodes
2008 The Passion Apostle James Miniseries: 3 episodes
2008 The Invisibles Hadley Huthwaite Miniseries; main role
2009 Being Human Tully 2 episodes
2009 Robin Hood Malcolm Episode: “Bad Blood”
2009 Collision Danny Rampton Miniseries; main role
2010 Married Single Other Dickie Main role
2010 The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister Christopher Rawson Television film
2011 Inspector George Gently Sgt Molloy Episode: “Goodbye China”
2011 Moving On Sam Episode: “Tour of Duty”
2011 Animal Cops: Houston Narrator
2013 Frankie Ian Hargrave Main role
2014 Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond Sergeant Dixon Miniseries; 2 episodes
2015 Death in Paradise Jake Peters Episode: “Hidden Secrets”
2016 Silent Witness Carmichael 2 episodes
2017–2019 Jamestown Meredith Rutter Main role
2020 Sick of It Tony Episode: “Useless Lump”
2021-2023 Shadow and Bone Pekka Rollins Recurring role
2022 The Walk-In Jack Renshaw's Father 3 episodes
2023 Maryland Jacob 3 episodes
2023 Jamie Johnson FC Wayne Cooper
2023 Brassic Curtis Plum


Stage[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1997 The Popular Mechanicals Snug Arts Theatre, London
1998 Oh, What a Lovely War! Ovrtur Royal National Theatre, London
2011 This Happy Breed Frank Gibbons Theatre Royal, Bath
2012 Canvas Alan Chichester Festival Theatre, Minerva Theatre, Chichester
2014 A Taste of Honey Peter Royal National Theatre, London
2015 The Crucible John Proctor Bristol Old Vic, Bristol

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Dean Lennox Kelly". Archived from the original on 21 July 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  2. ^ "Interview with Dean Lennox Kelly". The Argus. 10 April 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  3. ^ "Shakespeare Sorted". BBC. 3 September 2006. Retrieved 3 September 2006.
  4. ^ "Eve Myles to star in new BBC One drama series, Frankie". BBC. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  5. ^ "Peter Serafinowicz IS Paul McCartney! | Movie News | Empire". www.empireonline.com. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012.
  6. ^ "The Beatles' 'Yellow Submarine' Hits iBooks as Free Animated e-Book".

External links[edit]