Luke Treadaway

Years active2005–presentRelativesHarry Treadaway (twin brother)

Luke Antony Newman Treadaway^[1] (born 10 September 1984) is a British actor and singer. He won an Olivier Award for Best Leading Actor for his performance as Christopher in the National Theatre's production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in 2013. He has also been nominated for an Evening Standard Theatre Award.

Early life

Born at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Exeter, Treadaway was brought up in Sandford, Devon. His father is an architect and his mother a primary school teacher.^[2]

His first acting role was in the village Christmas pantomime Little Red Riding Hood, that of a daffodil while his father was the Big Bad Wolf.^[3] Luke and Harry attended Queen Elizabeth's Community College in Crediton, where he played scrum half in the twice Devon-Cup-winning rugby union team.^[4]

Inspired by a love of Eddie Vedder^[4] and with support from their secondary school drama teacher, Phil Gasson,^[3] Luke and his twin brother Harry Treadaway formed a band called Lizardsun with Matt Conyngham and Seth Campbell. They also both joined the National Youth Theatre,^[3] for whom Luke played Prince Ivan in The Firebird. He was also in the ensemble for a production of Murder in the Cathedral.

Career

While still at drama school he and his twin brother recorded roles in their first feature film, Brothers of the Head, in which they played conjoined twins. Luke played Barry Howe, the band's singer, and his brother Harry played Tom Howe, the guitarist and songwriter. During rehearsals and throughout the shoot Luke and Harry were connected to each other for fifteen hours a day, wearing sewn-together wet suits or a harness. They also slept in one bed to simulate the conjoined nature of their characters. The Treadaways performed all tracks featured in the film themselves live on stage as well as recording nine tracks for the soundtrack album.

After graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2006 he played a series lead in The Innocence Project for BBC television. He also appeared as a 14-year-old Theo in the hard-hitting Channel 4 drama Clapham Junction.

He made his stage debut in Saint Joan at the Royal National Theatre,^[5] followed by playing Albert in the original production of War Horse at the same venue.^[5] In 2008 he appeared in Piranha Heights, a new play by Philip Ridley, at the Soho Theatre, and in Cradle Me, a new play by Simon Vinnicombe, at the Finborough Theatre. He also played Albert in John Tams' adaptation of War Horse for BBC Radio 2 on 8 November 2008.

In 2009 he appeared in the play Over There at the Royal Court Theatre alongside his twin brother from 25 February to 21 March. He spent November 2009 in Romania filming The Whistleblower with Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave and Monica Bellucci.^[3]

He played Prokopion in the 2010 film Clash of the Titans. He played Lee in Philip Ridley's Heartless, also starring Jim Sturgess and Noel Clarke, released in May 2010. He appeared in Killing Bono, starring Ben Barnes and Pete Postlethwaite. He also had a leading role in the independent Scottish film You Instead, which was filmed at T in the Park 2010.^[3]

In 2011 he played the eponymous hero of The History of Titus Groan, a cycle of six BBC Radio 4 dramas based on the books of Mervyn Peake dramatised by Brian Sibley. He also filmed Late Bloomers with William Hurt and Isabella Rossellini. He also starred in Attack the Block, a Film Four production, alongside John Boyega, Nick Frost and Jodie Whittaker.^[3] He also directed a music video for girl band Boxettes, whose lead singer Bellatrix comes from Sandford.^[3]

In 2012 Treadway starred in Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, the ITV adaptation of the Ruth Rendell thriller Thirteen Steps Down, and the National Theatre's adaptation of Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time^[5] – of which the 6 September 2012 performance was broadcast live to open the fourth season of National Theatre Live. On 28 April 2013 Treadaway won the Laurence Olivier Award for best actor for his performance in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which by winning seven Oliviers equalled Matilda the Musical's record win in 2012.^[6] Starred in Horror Thriller Fortitude between 2015 and 2018

In April 2018 Luke played the part of Dr Arthur Calgary in a BBC One three-part adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel Ordeal by Innocence.^[7]

Personal life

Treadaway is the twin brother of the actor Harry Treadaway.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Brothers of the Head	Barry Howe
2007	God's Wounds	Mark	Short film
2008	Scratch	Sol	Short film
2009	Dogging: A Love Story	Dan
	Viko	Viko	Short film
	Heartless	Lee Morgan
2010	Clash of the Titans	Prokopion
	Alice	White Rabbit	Short film
	The Whistleblower	Jim Higgins
	Over There	Karl
2011	Late Bloomers	Benjamin
	You Instead	Adam
	Attack the Block	Brewis
	Killing Bono	Rick
	Man in Fear	Anthony Fox	Short film
2012	Cheerful Weather for the Wedding	Joseph
	The Rise	Harvey Miller
	St George's Day	William Bishop
2013	Get Lucky	Lucky
2014	Unbroken	Miller
2015	The Magi		Short film
2016	The Rack Pack	Alex Higgins
	Ethel & Ernest	Raymond Briggs	Voice role
	A Street Cat Named Bob	James Bowen
2017	National Theatre Live: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Nick
	The Dying Hours	Jack	Short film
2020	A Gift from Bob	James Bowen

Music video

Year	Title	Artist
2010	For the First Time	The Script
2010	Champion Sound	Crystal Fighters
2013	Puppet on a String	The Boxettes

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006–2007	The Innocence Project	Adam Solomons	Main cast
2007	Clapham Junction	Theo	TV movie
2008–2009	Mist: Sheepdog Tales	Eddie	Recurring role (seasons 2–3), voice role
2012	National Theatre Live: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time	Christopher John Francis Boone	TV movie
2012	13 Steps Down	Mix Cellini	Main cast, miniseries
2015	Vicious	Young Freddie	Episode: "Flatmates"
2015–2018	Fortitude	Vincent Rattrey	Main cast
2016	The Nightmare Worlds of H. G. Wells	Edward Eden	Episode: "The Late Mr. Elvesham"
	The Hollow Crown	Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond	Episode: "Richard III"
2017	Unspeakable	Danny	TV movie
2018	Ordeal by Innocence	Dr. Arthur Calgary	Main cast, miniseries
	Urban Myths	David Jones	Episode: "When Bowie Met Bolan"
2019	Traitors	Hugh Fenton	Main cast, miniseries
2020	The Singapore Grip	Matthew Webb	Main cast, miniseries
2023	Lockwood & Co.	The Golden Blade	3 episodes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue
2007	Saint Joan	Page	Royal National Theatre, London
	War Horse	Albert Narracott	Royal National Theatre, London
2008	Piranha Heights	Garth	Soho Theatre, London
	Cradle Me	Daniel	Finborough Theatre, London
2009	Over There	Karl	Royal Court Theatre, London
2012	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time	Christopher John Francis Boone	Royal National Theatre, London
2017	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Nick	Harold Pinter Theatre, London
2024	Cabaret	Emcee	Playhouse Theatre, London

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2006	British Independent Film Awards	Most Promising Newcomer (with Harry Treadaway)	Brothers of the Head	Nominated
2012	Black Reel Awards	Outstanding Ensemble (with John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Nick Frost, Nina Gold, Simon Howard, Leeon Jones, Maggie McCarthy, Danielle Vitalis & Jodie Whittaker)	Attack the Block	Nominated
2013	Laurence Olivier Awards	Best Actor	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time	Won
	WhatsOnStage Awards	Best Actor in a Play		Nominated

References

External links

• Luke Treadaway at IMDb