Craig Fairbrass

Craig John Fairbrass (born 15 January 1963) is an English actor who made has appeared in over fifty feature films, usually as the "hard man" character. He is best known for his role as Challoner in For Queen and Country (1988), Delmar in Cliffhanger, as Dan Sullivan in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and as Pat Tate in the Rise of the Footsoldier film series. Fairbrass has had other notable roles in the films White Noise: The Light (2007), The Bank Job (2008), as well as lead roles in Devil's Playground (2010), St George's Day (2012), The Outsider (2014), Breakdown (2016), and London Heist (2017). More recently he has starred in the critically acclaimed Muscle (2019) and Villain (2020). He has also voiced several characters in the Call of Duty video game franchises, along with Battlefield V.

Life and career[]

Fairbrass was born in Mile End Hospital and grew up in East London, the son of Maureen and Jack Fairbrass. His father worked as a stevedore, while his mother was employed as a seamstress. After being expelled from Eaglesfield Boys Comprehensive in Woolwich at 15, Fairbrass successfully auditioned for the National Youth Theatre.^[1]

He then worked as a roofer's labourer for the following years, while managing to land an agent. After a few years of doing walk-on roles in Emmerdale, Three Up Two Down, and Shelley, Fairbrass made his first real TV appearance as an actor in the 1984 BBC television series Big Deal as Nev in the episode "Fighting chance" followed by another BBC role in Tuckers Luck.

Fairbrass made his feature film acting debut as D.I Challoner in the 1989 Working title thriller For Queen and Country opposite Academy Award winner Denzel Washington. Film and television appearances quickly followed, including the Ray Winstone film Tank Malling, and the Channel 4 Film, The Final Frame playing Suggs's right-hand man, Franklin. He also landed a regular role as Gary 'Technique' Pagnall in the ITV drama series London's Burning in 1990. That same year Fairbrass was cast opposite Helen Mirren as Detective Inspector Frank Burkin in the Bafta/Emmy-award-winning original Prime Suspect 1 and 2.^[2]

In 1991, he travelled to Los Angeles and secured his first Hollywood acting role in the 1992 action blockbuster Cliffhanger with Sylvester Stallone. This led to roles in independent films with lead roles in (1994) with Elizabeth Hurley, Galaxis (1995) with Brigitte Nielsen, Proteus, Killing Time, and Darklands.

More TV credits soon followed, including a guest star role opposite Melinda Clarke in the U.S. action show Soldier of Fortune Inc, and with Helen Baxendale in An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. Fairbrass travelled to Rome next for The Aldo Moro Story, opposite Roshan Seth and directed by the award-winning Art house director, Aurelio Grimaldi and a regular role in the ITV comedy series Duck Patrol.

It was in 1999 that Fairbrass landed the regular role of Dan Sullivan in EastEnders. He left the show in August 2001. He then took the lead role of Ray Betson in the Channel Five crime drama The Great Dome Robbery.^[3]

Fairbrass returned to the U.S, starring in the Chris Klein comedy, The Long Weekend, and as Henry Caine opposite Nathan Fillion in White Noise 2. In February 2007, he appeared as the renegade Jaffa, Arkad, in the episode "Talion" in the final season of Stargate SG-1, as a guest lead in The Sarah Connor Chronicles opposite Lena Headey, and as guest lead Devon Burke, a rogue MI5 agent in David Mamet's hit show The Unit.

In 2007, he starred in the feature film Rise of the Footsoldier as real life gangster Pat Tate, and opposite Jason Statham in The Bank Job. The following year he joined Til Schweiger in the game-based action film Far Cry (2008). Fairbrass provided additional voices in the video game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007), then again as one of the most iconic characters in the game's history as Ghost in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and as various characters in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. He starred in the vampire film Dead Cert^[4][5] as well as the action film Freight and comedy Just for the Record.^[6]

In 2011, Fairbrass took the co-lead in the crime thriller St Georges Day, other lead roles included Vikingdom 3D, House of the Rising Sun, opposite Dave Bautista, Hijacked, and Get Lucky and Let me Survive. In 2012, Fairbrass took his first lead role in a US action thriller The Outsider, which starred Jason Patric, James Caan and Shannon Elizabeth. In Bula Quo!, he co-starred alongside Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi.

In 2014 he took the lead in the psychological thriller, Breakdown, alongside James Cosmo, Bruce Payne, Emmett Scanlan, Olivia Grant. In 2015, he played the lead role of Jack Cregan in the revenge thriller with Steven Berkoff, which he also co-wrote.^[7] The film was produced by his own son, Luke Fairbrass. Craig Fairbrass went on to win the Best Actor Award at the 2016 Marbella International Film Festival for the role.^[8][9]

Fairbrass returned to the Call of Duty franchise, voicing Tee and additional voices in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

In 2017 he reprised his role of Pat Tate in Rise of the Footsoldier 3: The Pat Tate Years, a prequel to the 2007 original and proved to be Fairbrass's most powerful performance to date, winning him the best actor award at the 2018 National Film Awards in London.^[10]

Fairbrass has major roles in two online motion capture games, Star Citizen and as George Mason in Under no Flag the single player mode in Battlefield V, due for release in 2018.^[11]

Personal life[]

Fairbrass is married to Elke Kellick, a former Page Three model. They have two sons.^[12]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Television[]

Video games[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Craig Fairbrass at IMDb