Kevin Trainor is an Irish actor of stage and screen.

Early life

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, Trainor attended St Colman's College in

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...

, where he was a close contemporary of fellow actor Michael Legge, before attending Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read English. After Cambridge, Trainor trained at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

from 2001 to 2004.

Career

Making an early cameo appearance in the 2001 film '' The Hole'' while at RADA, he also appeared in the 2005 Royal Shakespeare Company season. He is notable for portraying the younger version of

Trevor Bruttenholm Trevor Bruttenholm ( alias: Prof. Trevor Broom) is a fictional character in the comic book series '' Hellboy'', created by Mike Mignola and John Byrne. His first appearance was in the comic book '' Hellboy: Seed of Destruction'' issue #1 (1994). ...

(played as an older man by

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...

) in the film ''

Hellboy Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossover ...

''; as the character John in ''

The Catherine Tate Show ''The Catherine Tate Show'' is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Derren Litten. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. ''The Catherine Tate Show'' airs on ...

'' (from the "Ulster Mum" series of sketches); as Charles Adams in the HBO miniseries ''

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...

''; and as "

living statue A living statue is a performer who poses as a statue or mannequin, usually with realistic statue-like makeup, Performances are commonly on the street busking but may also be at events where the artist is paid. A living statue attraction, as a pe ...

" Keiran Barker in Sky 1 television comedy-drama '' The Café''. Trainor earned critical accolades for his appearance in the special flash-back

episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek term ''epeisodion'' (), meaning th ...

that launched the 2014 second series of Channel 4's ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island societ ...

''. His performance as Mr Omida, an immaculate and punctilious torturer, was described by

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...

as ''"the most chilling torturer committed to screen in a long time"'' and by Geeks Unleashed as ''"the very neat, precise and sinister Mr Omida, who wins the creepiest man alive award"''. Kevin also appeared in the documentary drama 'Titanic Birth of a Legend' as Alfred Cunningham, apprentice fitter.

Selected Theatre Work

In 2008, Trainor appeared as Moth to Peter Bowles's Don Armado in Sir Peter Hall's '' Love's Labour's Lost'' at the

Rose Theatre, Kingston The Rose Theatre Kingston is a theatre on Kingston High Street in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The theatre seats 822 around a wide, thrust stage. It officially opened on 16 January 2008 with ''Uncle Vanya'' by Anton Chekhov, with ...

. Trainor played Jonesy, a

savant Savant syndrome () is a rare condition in which someone with significant mental disabilities demonstrates certain abilities far in excess of average. The skills that savants excel at are generally related to memory. This may include rapid calcu ...

with pervasive developmental disorder in the first production of ''Lost Monsters'' by Laurence Wilson at the

Everyman Theatre, Liverpool The Everyman Theatre stands at the north end of Hope Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1964, in Hope Hall (once a chapel, then a cinema), in an area of Liverpool noted for its bohemian environment and political edge, a ...

in 2009. In 2010, he played Trent Conway in ''

Six Degrees of Separation Six degrees of separation is the idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. As a result, a chain of "friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It is also k ...

'' at the Old Vic, London. In the same year Trainor took a leading role in Jonathan Harvey's new play, ''Canary'', in the

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...

and on tour. His character was unrepentant gay man ''avant la lettre'' and campaigner, Billy, whose life as portrayed spans the modern period of

gay liberation The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. Billy's initial betrayal at the hands of his closeted lover and, later, that of society in the form of

committal In law, a committal procedure is the process by which a defendant is charged with a serious offence under the criminal justice systems of all common law jurisdictions except the United States. The committal procedure, sometimes known as a prelim ...

for

aversion therapy Aversion therapy is a form of psychological treatment in which the patient is exposed to a stimulus while simultaneously being subjected to some form of discomfort. This conditioning is intended to cause the patient to associate the stimulus wit ...

, leads ultimately to the character's imprisonment when he kills his treating doctor in an encounter in a gay bar. Harvey offers this as a reminder to his audience of the numerous hopeless casualties of the struggle for gay rights. Trainor himself has spoken of his pride in being centrally involved in such a ''"campaigning piece"''. In 2011, Trainor starred as

Bertie Wooster Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intelligenc ...

in the revival of '' By Jeeves'', a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn, at the

Landor Theatre The Landor Theatre is a pub theatre in Clapham, South London. Originally the Cage Theatre upon its opening in 1994, the Landor became "Upstairs at the Landor" in 1995 and finally the Landor Theatre in 1998, following a refit of the building. I ...

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

, London. He was off-stage for just thirty seconds during the performance. Later in the year, he returned to the Old Vic to play a ''"strapping"'' Shawn Keogh in ''

Playboy of the Western World ''The Playboy of the Western World'' is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo (o ...

'' directed by John Crowley. Trainor returned to his native Northern Ireland in 2012 to appear in the ensemble play ''Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry 1912)'' by

Owen McCafferty Owen McCafferty (born 1961) is a playwright from Northern Ireland. Early life Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, McCafferty in 1961 he was brought up in London from the age of 1 until aged 10 when his parents returned to Belfast. He was educat ...

at the new MAC Theatre in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. In 2013, Trainor starred as

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

us opposite Siobhan Redmond's

Mephistopheles Mephistopheles (, ), also known as Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore. He originally appeared in literature as the demon in the Faust legend, and he has since appeared in other works as a stock character (see: Mephistopheles i ...

in Marlowe's '' Doctor Faustus'' in an ''avant-garde'' co-production between Glasgow's

Citizens Theatre The Citizens Theatre, in what was the Royal Princess's Theatre, is the creation of James Bridie and is based in Glasgow, Scotland as a principal producing theatre. The theatre includes a 500-seat Main Auditorium, and has also included various ...

and the Leeds West Yorkshire Playhouse. New scenes were written to complement Marlowe's incomplete text by Irish playwright

Colin Teevan Colin Teevan (born 1961 in Dublin) is an Irish playwright, radio dramatist, translator and academic. Teevan has premiered works in the National Theatres of Ireland, Scotland and the Royal National Theatre in London, He has been a regular collabo ...

Filmography

References

External links

*
Curriculum vitae
of Kevin Trainor {{DEFAULTSORT:Trainor, Kevin Alumni of RADA Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Male stage actors from Northern Ireland People from Kilkeel Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge People educated at St Colman's College, Newry Male television actors from Northern Ireland Actors from County Armagh Actors from County Down