Shaun Evans (born 6 March 1980) is a British actor. He is best known for playing a young

Endeavour Morse Endeavour Morse, George Medal, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England, Oxford, England. On television h ...

in the ITV drama series '' Endeavour'' and Coxswain Elliot Glover in ''Vigil''.

Early life

Evans was born on 6 March 1980. He is a Liverpudlian with Irish parents. His father worked as a taxi driver and his mother was a hospital worker. He has a brother who is 11 months his senior. He gained a scholarship to

St Edward's College St Edward's College is a co-educational Catholic school with academy status in the UK located in the Liverpool suburb of West Derby. Founded in 1853 as the Catholic Institute, the college was formerly a boys grammar school run by the Congreg ...

in Liverpool's

West Derby West Derby ( ) is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, in the east of the city. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West Derby achieved significance far earlier tha ...

suburb, which he attended from 1991 to 1998 and where he began acting in school productions. He completed a course with the

National Youth Theatre The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and charity in London, created with the aim of developing young people's artistic skills via theatrical productions and other creative endeavours. Founded in 1956 as the world ...

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 ...

before fully moving to London around the age of 18 to study at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

Career

Acting

Evans's first major role was that of French teacher John Paul Keating 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 ...

comedy-drama ''

Teachers A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

'' during its second series in 2002. The following year he made his feature film debut in ''

The Boys from County Clare ''The Boys from County Clare'' is a 2003 Irish comedy/drama film about a céilí band from Liverpool that travels to Ireland to compete in a céilí competition in County Clare. Directed by John Irvin, the film was released in Canada on September ...

'', starring alongside

Bernard Hill Bernard Hill (17 December 1944 – 5 May 2024) was an English actor. He was known for his versatile roles in both television and film, and his career spanned over fifty years. Hill first gained prominence as the troubled hard man Yosser Hughes ...

Colm Meaney Colm J. Meaney (; ; born 30 May 1953) is an Irish actor. Known for his performances across screen and stage, he has received seven nominations from the Irish Film & Television Academy, winning twice for 2001's '' How Harry Became a Tree'', and ...

and

Andrea Corr Andrea Jane Corr (born 17 May 1974) is an Irish musician and actress. Corr debuted in 1990 as the lead singer of the Celtic folk rock and pop rock group The Corrs along with her three elder siblings Caroline, Sharon and Jim. Aside from singi ...

. Additional screen credits include '' Sam’s Game'', ''

Being Julia ''Being Julia'' is a 2004 comedy-drama film directed by István Szabó and starring Annette Bening and Jeremy Irons. The screenplay by Ronald Harwood is based on the novel ''Theatre'' (1937) by W. Somerset Maugham. The original film score was ...

'', '' The Situation'', '' Cashback'', '' Gone'', '' Boy A'', '' Telstar: The Joe Meek Story'', '' Princess Kaiulani'' and Clive Barker's horror film '' Dread''. On television, Evans was featured in the 2002

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...

'' The Project'' and was seen as the

Earl of Southampton Earl of Southampton was a title that was created three times in the Peerage of England. Its first creation came in 1537 in favour of the courtier William FitzWilliam. He was childless and the title became extinct on his death in 1542. Its s ...

in the

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

'' The Virgin Queen'', which premiered in November 2005 on ''

Masterpiece Theatre ''Masterpiece'' (formerly known as ''Masterpiece Theatre'') is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on PBS on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions. Many of these ...

'' on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

in the US before airing on 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 ...

in January 2006. His stage work includes a UK tour of the award-winning play ''

Blue/Orange ''Blue/Orange'' is a play written by English dramatist Joe Penhall. The play is a sardonically comic piece which touches on race, mental illness and 21st-century British life. Productions The play premiered in the Cottesloe Theatre at the ...

'' by

Joe Penhall Joe Scott Penhall (born 1967) is an English-Australian playwright and screenwriter, best known for his award-winning stage play '' Blue/Orange'', the award-winning West End musical ''Sunny Afternoon'' and creating the Netflix original series ' ...

. Recent television appearances include '' Murder City'',

's '' Ashes to Ashes'', ''Gentley's Last Stand'' and the four-part drama '' The Take'' from the novel by

Martina Cole Eilidh Martina Cole (born 30 March 1959) is a British crime writer. she has released twenty-six novels about crime, most of which examine London's gangster underworld. Four of her novels, ''Dangerous Lady'', ''The Jump (1998 TV series), The Jum ...

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989 ...

. Evans also starred in '' Sparkle'' alongside

Bob Hoskins Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor and film director. Known for his intense but sensitive portrayals of "tough guy" characters, he began his career on stage before making his screen breakthrough pl ...

and

Stockard Channing Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. List of awards and nominations received by Stockard Channing, Her accolades include three Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a nomination for an Acade ...

(2007). Shaun played Lawrence Elton in the Acorn Series, Inspector George Gently, S1, E1; "Gently Go Man" 2007. In 2009, he portrayed

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – ) was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establis ...

in the

Roy Smiles Roy Smiles (born 1960) is a singer-songwriter & playwright from Ealing, London. He is also an occasional actor. Smiles has written 27 theatre plays, the best known of which is '' Kurt and Sid'', a 2009 London West End production about the fict ...

play '' Kurt and Sid'' at the

Trafalgar Studios Trafalgar Theatre is a West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London. The Grade II listed building was built in 1930 with interiors in the Art Deco style as the Whitehall Theatre; it regularly staged ...

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 ...

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

bassist

Sid Vicious Simon John Ritchie (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the second bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. After his death in 1979 at the age of 21, he remai ...

. In 2012, Evans also played the role of new pupil Daniel in the BBC legal drama ''

Silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

'' alongside

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in ''Dinnerladies (TV series), dinnerladies'', a sitcom on BBC One (1998–2000), as List of Shameless (British TV series) characters#Vero ...

and starred in the ITV series '' The Last Weekend''. Starting in 2012, Evans played the young

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

in '' Endeavour'', which focuses on the detective's early career. The initial episode was broadcast on 2 January 2012. ''Endeavour'' was then recommissioned for nine further series by ITV. On 23 May 2022, ITV confirmed that ''Endeavour'' would end production after a decade on air with a total of 36 episodes. In January and February 2015, Evans starred as Alex in the

Peter Souter Peter Souter (born 1962) is a British writer. He is the chairman and chief creative officer of TBWA London as well as the former executive creative director of Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. He wrote the screenplay for the 2010 ITV six-episode comedy ...

play ''Hello/Goodbye'', with

Miranda Raison Miranda Caroline Raison is a British actress who is best known for playing Jo Portman in five seasons of '' Spooks'' (MI5) and Nellie Davenport in HBO's ''Warrior''. She originated the title role in Howard Brenton's ''Anne Boleyn'' at Shakespe ...

playing his love interest. In 2021, Evans starred as Elliott Glover,

coxswain The coxswain ( or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the wiktionary:cockboat, cockboat, a ...

of the fictional submarine HMS ''Vigil'', in the TV series of the same name. In September 2024, it is announced that Evans will portray as John Hughes in the new ITV espionage thriller, ''Betrayal''.

Directing

Evans directed three episodes of the

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 ...

'' which aired on 8 July 2017, and 19 and 26 May 2018. He also directed four episodes of ''Endeavour'': 'Apollo' in series 6, which aired on 17 February 2019; 'Oracle' in series 7, which aired on 9 February 2020; and 'Striker' in series 8, which aired on 12 September 2021. On 22 May 2022, he directed 'Prelude', the first episode of the prequel's ninth and final series which aired on 26 February 2023.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Shaun 1980 births Living people 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors English people of Northern Ireland descent Male actors from Liverpool National Youth Theatre members People educated at St Edward's College