Maxwell Nathaniel J. Brown (born 7 February 1992), known professionally as Max Parker, is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Alasdair "Base" Newman 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 ...

medical drama ''

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 ...

'' (2018–2019), Luke Posner in the ITV soap opera ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...

'' (2019–2021), and Mikhail Tanner in the

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

fantasy horror series ''

Vampire Academy ''Vampire Academy'' is a series of six young adult fiction, young adult paranormal romance novels by American author Richelle Mead. It tells the story of Rosemarie "Rose" Hathaway, a dhampir girl, who is training to be a guardian of her moroi be ...

'' (2022).

Early life and education

Parker was born Maxwell Nathaniel J. Brown on 7 February 1992 in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England, to parents Susan and Stephen. He has one biological full sister and four half-siblings. Parker trained at

Arts Educational Schools Arts Educational Schools, or ArtsEd, is an independent performing arts school in Chiswick, West London, England. Overview ArtsEd provides specialist vocational training at secondary, further and higher education level in musical theatre an ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, graduating in 2013.

Career

Parker made his stage debut as part of the ensemble cast of '' Barnum''. In 2014, he appeared in the musical ''

I Can't Sing! The X Factor Musical ''I Can't Sing! The X Factor Musical'' was a musical comedy written by Harry Hill, and Steve Brown. Based on the TV series ''The X Factor'', the musical made its West End and world premiere in March 2014, at the London Palladium. Due to low tic ...

'' and began appearing in ''

Matilda the Musical ''Roald Dahl's Matilda'', also known simply as ''Matilda'' and ''Matilda the Musical'', is a musical with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and a book by Dennis Kelly. It is based on the 1988 novel '' Matilda'' by Roald Dahl. The musical's narr ...

'' until 2015. In 2016, Parker portrayed Paul in ''

Kiss Me, Kate ''Kiss Me, Kate'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and the conflict on and off- ...

'', and starred as the Tin Man in ''

The Wizard of Oz ''The Wizard of Oz'' is a 1939 American Musical film, musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Based on the 1900 novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left pro ...

,'' which earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Performance at the

UK Theatre Awards The UK Theatre Awards, established in 1991 and known before 2011 as the TMA Awards, are presented annually by UK Theatre (formerly the Theatrical Management Association) in recognition of creative excellence and outstanding work in regional thea ...

''.'' The same year, he made his acting debut as Christopher Morgan in the feature film ''My B.F.F.'' In August 2018, Parker began appearing in the

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 ...

medical drama ''

'' as Alasdair "Base" Newman on a recurring basis. He made his final appearance in January 2019 when his character died of a heroin overdose. He then appeared as Danny in an episode of '' World on Fire''. In August 2019, Parker joined the cast of the ITV soap opera ''

'' as

Luke Posner ''Emmerdale'' is a British soap opera first Broadcasting, broadcast on 16 October 1972. The following is a list of characters that appear during 2019, by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by the soap's executive producer, J ...

, the son and brother of established characters

Wendy Posner ''Emmerdale'' is a British soap opera first broadcast on 16 October 1972. The following is a list of characters that appear during 2019, by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by the soap's executive producer, Jane Hudson. Th ...

(

Susan Cookson Susan Cookson (born 20 April 1965) is an English actress. She has appeared in various television series, and is known for roles including Tanya in '' Early Doors'', Janice Piper in '' Clocking Off'', Maggie Coldwell in the BBC medical drama '' ...

) and Lee Posner ( Kris Mochrie). He had originally auditioned for the role of

Jamie Tate The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the British soap opera ''Emmerdale'' in 1996, by order of first appearance. Sandra Fowler Sandra Fowler is the mother of Biff Fowler (Stuart Wade). She was played by Kate Layden. She ...

, which ultimately went to Alexander Lincoln. He made his departure from the soap in June 2021. In 2020, Parker appeared in two episodes of ''

COBRA COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

'' as John Cripps and played Alex in the film '' Love Sarah''. In 2022, he starred as Mikhail Tanner in the

fantasy horror series ''

'' and portrayed Henry Tudor in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series ''Blood, Sex & Royalty''. In 2024, Parker is set to star alongside

Miles Heizer Miles Heizer (born May 16, 1994) is an American actor. On television, he is known for portraying Alex Standall in the Netflix original series ''13 Reasons Why'' and Drew Holt in the NBC drama series '' Parenthood''. He has also appeared in the fi ...

and

Vera Farmiga Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress. Farmiga began her professional acting career on stage in the original Broadway production of '' Taking Sides'' (1996). After expanding to television and film, her breakthrough ...

in the Netflix series ''The Corps''. In March 2025, it was announced that Parker had been cast in the next series of ''Doctor Who''.

Personal life

Parker is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

, after

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

during an interview with ''Attitude'' magazine in December 2020, in which he confirmed he was in a relationship with ''Emmerdale'' co-star Kris Mochrie. They announced their engagement in January 2022.

Filmography

Stage

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Max 1992 births 21st-century English LGBTQ people 21st-century English male actors English gay actors English male film actors English male soap opera actors English male stage actors English male television actors Living people Male actors from Bolton