Derek Jacobi

Born: 22nd October, 1938
Where: Leytonstone, London, UK

The theatre is the natural stage for the classical actor - although he has made the odd foray into films such as Gladiator and Gosford Park.

The son of a department store manager and a secretary, Jacobi regularly attended the cinema and was a big fan of the movie Pinnochio.

As a child in London's East End, he acted in local library productions and made his stage debut in 1957 as Hamlet with the English National Youth Theatre.

He joined the amateur dramatic society while studying at Cambridge University and went on to become a founding member of the National Theatre Company.

He made his London debut as Laertes in Hamlet and starred in Othello, The Three Sisters and The Idiot.

Aftering being spotted by Laurence Olivier, he was cast as Cassio opposite Olivier's Othello in the 1965 big screen adaptation.

His peformance attracted the attention of Hollywood and he landed a role in the TV mini series The Strauss Family.

In 1973, he starred alongside Edward Fox in the taut thriller The Day of the Jackal and went on to star in another Frederick Forsyth adaptation, The Odessa File.

From 1976 to 1981 he served as artistic associate at London's Old Vic and also played possibly his most memorable role as stuttering Emperor Claudius in the BBC series I Claudius.

Restricting himself to mainly TV work, his odd big screen outing included The Medusa Touch, Enigma and the marathon 1988 adaptation of Dickens' Little Dorrit.

The following year Kenneth Branagh cast him in Henry V and his noirish spoof Dead Again in 1991.

In 1994, he was knighted for his contribution to British drama (he also holds a Danish knighthood).

On TV, he won a new legion of fans as Brother Cadfael in the detective series and returned to the big screen as Claudius in Branagh's Hamlet.

In 2000, Ridley Scott cast him alongside Russell Crowe in the Oscar-winning Gladiator and he starred in the religious thriller The Body the following year.

Next up was Robert Altman's 2001 ensemble whodunnit Gosford Park with Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon.

In 2002, he appeared in Alex Cox's The Revengers' Tragedy and the comedy war drama Two Men Went To War.

Recent work includes providing the voice of Nezo in the Danish puppet drama Strings.