Ray Fearon
Fearon in 2012
Alma mater	Rose Bruford College
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994–present
Children	3+

Raymond Fearon is a British actor. He played garage mechanicNathan Cooper onITV's long-running soap operaCoronation Street from 2005-2006. Other credits includeBand of Gold (1997),EastEnders (2001),As If (2002), theHarry Potter film series (2001-2002),His Dark Materials (2003),Doctors (2008),Raw (2010),Da Vinci's Demons (2014),Fantastic Beasts (film series) (2018-2022),Fleabag (2019),Red Dwarf (2020),Champion (2023), andThe Feud (2025).

Fearon was the youngest of ten children born to Jamaican parents living in northwest London.^[1] From a young age, he joined theRoyal Court Theatre^[1] andTricycle Youth Theatre,^[1] before going on to study drama atRose Bruford College.^[2]

Fearon made his reputation as a stage actor, working atLiverpool'sEveryman Theatre;^[2] Manchester Contact Theatre;Manchester Royal Exchange;^[2]Oxford Playhouse;^[2] Barn Theatre, Kent; The Almeida; The Crucible, Sheffield;The Donmar Warehouse; The Royal Shakespeare Theatres in Stratford and the National Theatre.^[2] He starred inOthello—oppositeGillian Kearney's Desdemona— in Liverpool at the age of 24, becoming the first black actor to play Othello on RSC main stages for over 40 years.^[3] His other early stage roles included Charles Surface inThe School for Scandal;^[2] Betty/Martin inCloud 9 (play);^[2] Longaville inLove's Labour's Lost;^[2]Ferdinand inThe Tempest;^[2] and Pete inBlues for Mister Charlie.^[2]

His early theatre work in London included Hugo/Frederick inRing Round the Moon at theLilian Baylis Theatre;^[2] the title role inThe Invisible Man (his one-man show) at theBridewell Theatre;^[2] and Pierre inVenice Preserv'd at theAlmeida Theatre.^[2]

He has worked extensively with theRoyal Shakespeare Company(RSC) in their Stratford and London theatres and on tour.^[2] He was the first black actor to play the title role inOthello in the main Royal Shakespeare theatre (directorMichael Attenborough, 1999) giving a performance alongside Richard McCabe's strong and repressed Iago.^[4] They also played opposite one another in 1996'sThe White Devil (Gale Edwards, Swan theatre) where he played Brachiano and McCabe the villain Flamineo.^[2] Fearon was directed by Attenborough also asRomeo alongside Zoe Waites as Juliet inRomeo and Juliet (RSC,Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1997).^[2]

Other RSC roles have included the First Knight and First Tempter inMurder in the Cathedral (Swan, 1993),^[2] Stubb inMoby Dick (musical) (TOP, 1993),^[2] the Prince of Morocco inThe Merchant of Venice (RST, 1994),^[2] Paris inTroilus and Cressida (Ian Judge, RST, 1996),^[2] the Marquis of Posa inDon Carlos (play) (1999),^[2] Pericles inAdrian Noble'sPericles, Prince of Tyre (RST and Roundhouse, 2002)^[2] andMark Antony inJulius Caesar (play) (2012).^[2]

In 2003, he played 'Oberon' inA Midsummer Night's Dream atSheffield'sCrucible Theatre.^[2] In 2004, he appeared in as Jean Kiyabe inWorld Music bySteve Waters at theDonmar Warehouse,^[2] and in the same year at the National Theatre as Mark inSing Yer Heart Out for the Lads by Roy Williams.^[2]

In 2010, he starred as Walter Lee Younger inA Raisin in the Sun byLorraine Hansberry,^[2] the production was directed byMichael Buffong at theRoyal Exchange, Manchester.^[2]

In July 2013 he playedMacduff oppositeKenneth Branagh (as Macbeth) andAlex Kingston (as Lady Macbeth) inMacbeth at Manchester International Festival.Manchester.^[2] His performance was broadcast to cinemas on 20 July as part ofNational Theatre Live.^[5]

In December 2017 he played Nathan Detroit inGuys and Dolls at theRoyal Exchange, Manchester.^[2] The production was directed byMichael Buffong.^[6]

In the BBC's 2003 radio adaptation ofHis Dark Materials, Fearon appeared as the narrator and as the angel Balthamos.^[7]

In 2001 he appeared inHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (asFirenze the centaur).^[8] He had a minor role as a sentry in Kenneth Branagh's 1996 film version ofHamlet.^[2]

Fearon playedNathan Cooper inCoronation Street from 2005 to 2006.^[2] He was in the 2006 series ofStrictly Come Dancing, partnered byCamilla Dallerup, and was voted out in week 6.^[2]

From 2013 to 2015, he appeared as a fictionalised version of historical figureCarlo de' Medici on the Starz seriesDa Vinci's Demons.^[2] In 2019, Fearon played the role of Hot Misogynist in season two of the acclaimed BBC Three comedy-dramaFleabag.^[1]

In 2023, he starred Beres Champion in the BBC television seriesChampion, about the Champion family's involvement in the black music scene of London.^[9]

• Ray Fearon atIMDb
• Agent: Markham Froggatt and Irwin

• Living people
• 20th-century English male actors
• 21st-century English male actors
• Alumni of Rose Bruford College
• Black British male actors
• English male film actors
• English male soap opera actors
• English male television actors
• English male voice actors

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use British English from November 2017
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from April 2022
• Articles with hCards
• Year of birth missing (living people)