John Elnaugh: Biography

John Elnaugh is a versatile actor whose career spans film, television, over six hundred performances on the West End stage, National Tours, pantomime, weekly repertory, stand-up comedy and even Internet TV drama.

He began his career with sixteen months at the Llandovery Festival Theatre appearing as Algernon in The Importance Of Being Earnest, Laertes in Hamlet and Gerald in An Inspector Calls. He then joined the New Vic Company. Many subsequent appearances include over fifty leading roles in weekly repertory at the Manor Pavilion, Sidmouth in such plays as Billy Liar, Gaslight, Abigail's Party, Spring And Port Wine, Relatively Speaking and Worm's Eye View.

A member of Clive Barker's Dog Company, John played in the original productions of Frankenstein In Love and The Secret Life Of Cartoons. A co-founder of Red Shift with Jonathon Holloway, he appeared as The Hanged Man in their inaugural production, a gothic horror entitled The Mask.

John's West End debut was as Henry Furley in Dan Crawford's revival of Noel Coward's Easy Virtue at the Garrick Theatre, and he then spent a year playing Christopher Wren in The Mousetrap at the St Martin's. Various national tours include Once A Catholic with Terence Frisby, A Murder Is Announced with Dermot Walsh and later Richard Todd and Last Of The Mohicans for the New Vic.

Television and film appearances include commercials for Mobil Oil, Standard Life and a Spanish Road Safety Organisation, as well as Her Name Was Amy Tillman and the award winning Asylum Night, which premiered on the horror channel in 2004, and was released on DVD in the USA by York entertainment in 2006. You can see extracts from these films in John Elnaugh's Showreel (broadband suggested).

John "brings a chilling realism to the screen" as Mike, the loan shark, in That Samba Thing, starring Brazilian dance legend Martinho da Vila and Joseph Marcell, which premiered at the 2007 Rio Film Festival. He is also to be seen as a very stern School Inspector in the hit TV Series Genie In The House and was "brilliantly cast" as Dudley in the controversial play The Death Of Margaret Thatcher which played at the Courtyard Theatre, Hoxton in early 2008. For the Christmas season that year, John played Mr Micawber in Giles Havergal's adaptation of David Copperfield at the Movieum of London.

John Elnaugh inhabits every role he plays; from an English Gentleman to a Serial Killer to Shakespeare. Dedicated to his craft, he brings something new to every part and his characters to life. — Fabian Cortez