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Early life

Godley was born to Jewish parents in Amersham on 22 July 1964, the son of a magistrate mother and solicitor father. He grew up near Watford and went to Rickmansworth School in Croxley Green.¹

Career

Godley began his acting career at the age of nine in a BBC radio production of Hemingway's My Old Man. His first stage role came at age 11, as Prince Giovanni in The White Devil at The Old Vic.² His childhood career also included work at the National Theatre, in Lillian Helman's Watch on the Rhine, and Close of Play, directed by Harold Pinter.³ Godley achieved national prominence after playing the lead in the 1984 BBC TV adaptation of J. Meade Falkner's Moonfleet.⁴

In 1986, Godley joined Alan Ayckbourn's theatre company in Scarborough, where he stayed for three seasons. Productions included June Moon and The Revengers' Comedies, both of which transferred to the West End, and Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays, which transferred to the National Theatre.⁵

He spent one season as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before creating the role of Cliff in Sam Mendes's production of Cabaret at the Donmar Warehouse in 1993. Several major productions followed, including Mouth to Mouth at the Royal Court, The Front Page at the Donmar, and The Rivals in the West End, after which Godley went on to create a series of roles at the National, including Kenneth Williams in Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick; and the title role in Howard Davies' production of Paul. In 1999 he played John Worthing in the West End production of The Importance of Being Earnest.

In 2002 he made his film debut in Claude Lelouch's And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen starring Jeremy Irons and Patricia Kaas which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. He continued acting in films such as the Christmas classic Love Actually (2003), Around the World in 80 Days (2004), Nanny McPhee (2005), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).

In 2002 he starred as Victor Prynne alongside Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan in a revival of Noël Coward's Private Lives at the Richard Rogers Theatre in New York City, where Godley made his Broadway debut. For his performance he earned a Theatre World Award. The following year Godley starred as Michal in Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman opposite Jim Broadbent and David Tennant at the Royal National Theatre.

In 2008 he played Raymond Babbitt in the West End production of Rain Man opposite Josh Hartnett. In 2010 he played Jonathan Powell in the HBO television film The Special Relationship about Tony Blair's relationship with Bill Clinton. He had recurring roles as Elliott Schwartz in AMC's Breaking Bad and Jocelyn Pugh in Lodge 49. He also appeared in BBC's A Young Doctor's Notebook (2011), CBS's The Good Wife (2012), USA Networks's Suits (2012), Showtime's Homeland (2015), and NBC's The Blacklist (2017). In 2011 he played Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in Roundabout Theatre's multi-award-winning Broadway revival of Anything Goes. The production starred Sutton Foster, John McMartin, Jessica Walter and Joel Grey. For his performance he earned a Tony Award nomination, a Drama Desk Award nomination, and an Outer Critics Circle Award. In 2013 he led a new adaptation by Dennis Kelly of Georg Kaiser's 1912 German expressionist masterpiece, From Morning to Midnight, at the National Theatre.

His most recent stage role was as one of the three Lehman brothers in the 2019 National Theatre's The Lehman Trilogy for which he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Play alongside Simon Russell Beale and Ben Miles.⁶ The play transferred to Broadway in 2021 where he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play along with Adrian Lester and Simon Russell Beale.

In 2023, he portrayed pollster Darwin Perry in the HBO drama series Succession episode "America Decides".

Personal life

Godley is gay.⁷ He married Alex Belcourt in 1999, and they divorced in 2004. He is currently in a relationship with writer Jon Hartmere, with whom he lives in California.⁸

Acting credits

Film

Television

Theatre

Audio plays

Awards and nominations

External links

• Adam Godley at IMDb
• http://www.playbill.com interview

References

1. Nathan, John (29 August 2008). "Mr shy and mighty". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 15 December 2019 – via PressReader. https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-jewish-chronicle/20080829/282119222337344 ↩

2. "RSC Performances- The White Devil". Royal Shakespeare Company. Retrieved 3 January 2021. https://collections.shakespeare.org.uk/search/rsc-performances/whv199604 ↩

3. "Adam Godley - Profiles". National Theatre. Retrieved 3 January 2021. https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/people/4751 ↩

4. "Moonfleet". BFI. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20200328194859/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b747429d5 ↩

5. "THEATRE / A choice evening: Paul Taylor on Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays at the Cottesloe". The Independent. 8 March 1993. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2021. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-a-choice-evening-paul-taylor-on-mr-a-s-amazing-maze-plays-at-the-cottesloe-1496365.html ↩

6. "'The Lehman Trilogy' has been a critical standout on Broadway this fall. Its superb cast sheds light on how that happened". Washington Post. Retrieved 3 January 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/theater-dance/2021/12/24/lehman-trilogy-broadway/ ↩

7. "Let Actors Act". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/opinion/acting-representation-identity.html ↩

8. "Adam Godley and Jon Hartmere attends 'The Upside' cocktail party". 9 September 2017. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/adam-godley-and-jon-hartmere-attends-the-the-upside-news-photo/844614498 ↩

9. ‘The Umbrella Academy’: Cameron Britton, Colm Feore, Adam Godley & Ashley Madekwe Join Netflix Series https://deadline.com/2018/02/the-umbrella-academy-cameron-britton-colm-feore-adam-godley-ashley-madekwe-cast-netflix-series-1202291968/ ↩

10. Petski, Denise (4 February 2020). "'The Great': Sebastian De Souza Joins Elle Fanning & Nicholas Hoult In Hulu Comedy Series". Deadline. Archived from the original on 21 May 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2020. https://deadline.com/2020/02/the-great-sebastian-de-souza-joins-elle-fanning-nicholas-hoult-in-hulu-comedy-series-1202851471/ ↩

11. ‘The Lehman Trilogy’ is so good, it expands your sense of what three actors on a stage can conjure https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/the-lehman-trilogy-is-so-good-it-expands-your-sense-of-what-three-actors-on-a-stage-can-conjure/2019/03/28/bbb673c0-515e-11e9-a3f7-78b7525a8d5f_story.html ↩

12. "Moriarty". Audible. 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022. https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Moriarty-Podcast/B0B2DYRHFC?qid=1666240080&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=771c6463-05d7-4981-9b47-920dc34a70f1&pf_rd_r=PJVMK89AFC563X2M4FEG ↩