Craig Kelly (born 31 October 1970) is an English actor and voice-over narrator. He is known for his roles as Vince Tyler in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

television series '' Queer as Folk'' and as Luke Strong in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

''.

Early life

Kelly was born on 31 October 1970 in

Lytham St Annes Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population of the built-up area at the 2021 United Kingdom census, ...

near

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

, Lancashire. He is the brother of actor

Dean Lennox Kelly Dean Lennox Kelly (born 30 November 1975) is an English actor and voice over artist. He is known for his television roles as Kev Ball in '' Shameless'' and Meredith Rutter in '' Jamestown''. Early life Kelly is from Lytham St Annes, Lancashir ...

Career

Kelly moved to London and attended the Drama Centre from 1989 to 1992, where he studied the Stanislavski School of

method acting Method acting, known as the Method, is a range of rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, understanding, and expe ...

alongside

John Simm John Ronald Simm (born 10 July 1970) is an English actor, director, and musician. He is best known for playing Sam Tyler in ''Life on Mars'', the Master in ''Doctor Who,'' and DS Roy Grace in ''Grace.'' His other television credits include '' ...

and Joe Duttine. Graduating in 1992, Kelly played a minor speaking role in ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

'' as Assistant Wireless Operator,

Harold Bride Harold Sydney Bride (11 January 1890 – 29 April 1956) was a British merchant seaman and the junior wireless operator on the ocean liner during her ill-fated maiden voyage. After the ''Titanic'' struck an iceberg at 11:40 pm 14 April 1912, B ...

and also as Russell Muir in the film ''

When Saturday Comes ''When Saturday Comes'' (''WSC'') is a monthly magazine about football, first published in London, England in 1986. "It aims to provide a voice for intelligent football supporters, offering both a serious and humorous view of the sport, covering ...

''.

TV work

Kelly is best known for his role as Vince Tyler in '' Queer as Folk''. He also appeared in ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'' as Daniel Perryman between 1995 and 1996. A very brief role was as the

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

driver in the " Rabbit in Your Headlights" video, who utters the line 'Nice coat, mate', before speeding off. In the 1998 BBC series of ''

The Children of the New Forest ''The Children of the New Forest'' is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat. It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. The story follows the fortunes of the four Beverley children who are orphaned d ...

'', Craig played Abel Courbould, the villainous puritan preacher. Craig also starred opposite

Amanda Holden Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English media personality, actress and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent competition show '' Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the national ''H ...

in the ITV series '' The Grimleys'' as Mr Treblecock, the school lothario. He played the young father of Alison Mundy in a second series episode of ''

Afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...

'' in 2006. In 2003, Kelly featured in the

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, webca ...

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' adventure '' Scream of the Shalka''. He later guest-starred in the third series of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's '' Waking the Dead'', in which he played a

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

woman who is released from prison on appeal after murdering her father. In November 2008, Kelly landed the role of the new underworld factory boss, Luke Strong, in ITV's ''

''. His character first appeared on 20 February 2009 and Kelly departed in the episode that aired on 19 October 2009. On 25 August 2009, it was announced that he would take part in Series 7 of

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

'', partnering Flavia Cacace. Kelly was the 8th celebrity eliminated from the competition on 7 November 2009 in a special show from Blackpool Tower Ballroom. Kelly starred alongside his brother in the ITV1 drama ''

Collision In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great for ...

'', which aired over five consecutive nights in November 2009. In 2023, he appeared as Peter Jeffries in

miniseries '' Boat Story''.

Film work

He played Cristian O'Neil in '' The Young Americans'', with

Harvey Keitel Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor and film producer, known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running associatio ...

(1993). Kelly was also in

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

's 1997 film ''

'' and played the part of radio operator Harold Sydney Bride. He appeared in '' Spice World'' with a minor speaking role in which he speaks to Geri (Ginger Spice). Kelly had a small role in the 1999 sci-fi film ''

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr or W/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Wing commander is immediately se ...

'' playing Falk, the ship's radar man.

Voice-over work

Kelly is a prolific

voiceover Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique used in radio, television, filmmaking, theatre, and other media in which a descriptive or expository voice that is not part of the narrative (i.e., non- ...

artist, appearing on numerous adverts as well as

idents and, more recently, on

idents. He narrated for various television programmes, including Channel 4's '' Shipwrecked: Battle of the Islands'' (2006–2009), E4's '' Shipwrecked: The Island 2011'' (2s narration on Sally Morgan's ''Star Psychic Show'', series 6 of '' The Real Hustle'' on BBC Three (a show his brother narrated for two series) and more recently, the popular Channel 4 show '' Rich House Poor House''. He is currently the station voice for

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Key 103 Hits Radio Manchester, formerly Key 103, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester. As of September 2024, the station has a weekly ...

Personal life

Kelly and his wife Camilla married in 2009. He has a keen interest in

kickboxing Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid Martial arts, martial art and Boxing (disambiguation), boxing type based on punch (combat), punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, norma ...

, in which he has a black belt.

Filmography

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Craig 1970 births Living people 21st-century British male actors Actors from Lytham St Annes Alumni of the Drama Centre London English male voice actors English male television actors English male film actors Male actors from Lancashire