Christopher Parker (born 24 August 1983) is a retired English actor and television presenter, best known for portraying Spencer Moon on

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 ...

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'' between 2002 and 2005.

Early career

Christopher Parker's career began at an early age as a model appearing in print campaigns and TV commercials. He progressed onto small roles in TV dramas such as ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'', '' London's Burning'' (appearing in the last ever episode) and '' Judge John Deed''. Parker worked as a

stunt double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes for another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...

in ''

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the second novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ...

''. He then came to wider attention in the role of Spencer Moon in 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 ...

soap opera ''

'', where he played the younger brother of Alfie Moon, portrayed by British actor Shane Richie. During his time on ''EastEnders'', he appeared in the first series of ''

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 ...

'' and made it through to the final alongside his partner Hanna Karttunen.

Recent broadcasting

In 2005/06 he worked as a presenter on ''CD:UK'', ''MTV News'', ''

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

'' with Fearne Cotton,

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

and as an entertainment presenter on the morning television show '' This Morning''. Parker hosted an hour long special called "Bond is Back" for American television about the latest James Bond film, ''Casino Royale''. He has appeared on

on '' Hider in the House'' presented by Jason King and Joel and taken part in

ITV2 ITV2 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the fiv ...

's reality television programme '' Deadline'' with chief editor

Janet Street-Porter Janet Vera Street-Porter (''née'' Bull; born 27 December 1946) is an English broadcaster, journalist, writer, and media personality. She began her career in 1969 as a fashion writer and columnist at the ''Daily Mail'' and was appointed fashion ...

. He was the first celebrity to be sacked by Street-Porter, for refusing to take pictures of famous people without first asking their permission. He presented ''Dead Famous Live'' opposite

Gail Porter Gail Porter (born 23 March 1971) is a Scottish television personality, former model and actress. She started her television career in children's TV, before branching out into modelling and presenting mainstream TV. In 1999, she posed nude for ' ...

and was, for a period, the face of the digital music channel

Bubble Hits Bubble Hits was an Irish digital television music channel owned by Creative Sounds. It broadcast two channels, one for Ireland, and a Pan-European feed which covered the United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Germany. On 13 February 2009, B ...

. Parker appeared in the second series of the

's '' Hotel Babylon'' opposite

Danny Dyer Danial John Dyer (born 24 July 1977) is an English actor and presenter. Dyer's breakthrough role was as Moff in ''Human Traffic'' (1999), with other notable roles Billy the Limpet in ''Mean Machine (film), Mean Machine'' (2001) and as Tommy J ...

. In 2006 he worked alongside

Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor. He made his film debut with a leading role in '' The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakout role as Jason "J.D." Dean, a sociopath ...

Nick Moran Nick Moran (born 23 December 1969) is an English actor and filmmaker. His roles include Eddie the card sharp in ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' and as List of Harry Potter characters#S 2, Scabior in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hall ...

and

Eddie Izzard Suzy Eddie Izzard ( ; born Edward John Izzard, 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomi ...

in a live performance of the Hollywood film ''The Rogues''. Parker splits his time between Los Angeles and London. In Los Angeles he worked for Fox owned channel TV Guide Channel and also Reelz Channel (a film themed channel). In 2008, he took part in the Strictly Come Dancing Live Arena Tour and he has acted in Tim Smith's short film Schoolboy and also the feature film Education of Keiron which stars

James Wilby James Jonathon Wilby (born 20 February 1958) is an English actor. Early life and education Wilby was born in Rangoon, Burma to a corporate executive father. He was educated at Terrington Hall and Sedbergh School, studied for a degree in M ...

. He is also presenting holiday segments for ITV1's This Morning and has a column in Teen Now magazine. Chris Parker hosted a weekly show on Gala Bingo's TV channel, commencing June 2009. Christopher took part in a celebrity version of TV show Total Wipeout which aired on 2 January 2010.

Law career

Parker later studied for a law degree at

Birkbeck, University of London Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a Public university, public research university located in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London. Establ ...

. He was a final year law student in April 2013. He has expressed a desire to take his law aspirations further after completing his degree, but has encountered problems with many law firms requiring A-level results which, due to his acting experiences when younger, he lacks. As of October 2022, he is a senior consultant at London-based law firm Ignition Law.

Personal life

Parker has completed two London Marathons, one for the charity Barnardo's and the second for the

Make Poverty History Make Poverty History were organizations in a number of countries, which focused on issues relating to 8th Millennium Development Goal such as aid, trade and justice. They generally formed a coalition of aid and development agencies which worked ...

Campaign and visited Africa with

Comic Relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

alongside Fearne Cotton. He is also a celebrity supporter for the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society () is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with 1 ...

. In 2004, he attempted suicide by cutting his wrists and taking an overdose of paracetamol tablets after a woman claimed he lied about their relationship to hide his sexuality. After two friends found him, he was left with no lasting damage, and said the attempt was stupid but that he had reached the stage of desperation. After three weeks of extended leave from ''EastEnders'', he and production staff reached a mutual decision that he would not return to the series.

Awards

* Best new TV talent at the

TRIC Awards The Television and Radio Industries Club (widely known as TRIC) is a British institution chartered in 1931 to "promote goodwill in the television and radio industries". The Club holds an annual awards ceremony each year honouring achievement in t ...

in 2005

References

External links

* ''official website'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Christopher English male soap opera actors English television presenters 1983 births Living people