Hugh Quarshie
Ghanaian-British actor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hugh Quarshie is a Ghanaian-born British actor. He is known for his long-running role as Ric Griffin on the BBC One medical drama Holby City (2001–20), and for playing Captain Panaka in the Star Wars film Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). He is also known for stage roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company. His film work includes Highlander, Nightbreed, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Hugh Quarshie | |
|---|---|
Quarshie at German Comic Con 2024 | |
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Occupation | Actor |
Early life and education
Hugh Quarshie was born in Accra, Ghana.[citation needed] He emigrated with his family to the United Kingdom at the age of three.[1]
He studied PPE at Christ Church, Oxford.[citation needed]
Career
Quarshie had considered becoming a journalist before taking up acting.
He has been a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) since 1981 and an associate since 2005 and has appeared in many stage productions.[2]
He has also appeared in many television programmes, including the serial Behaving Badly with Judi Dench. He is well known for playing the roles of Sunda Kastagir in Highlander, Captain Panaka in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, and Ric Griffin on the television series Holby City. He portrayed Lieutenant Obutu in Wing Commander.
He appeared in the 2007 two-part Doctor Who episode "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks" as Solomon, the leader of the shanty town Hooverville. He headed the cast of Michele Soavi's The Church (1989) as Father Gus, and played Aaron the Moor in the BBC Television Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.
Quarshie has also narrated for television. His work includes the 2006 documentary Mega Falls of Iguacu (about the Iguaçu Falls), the 2009 adaptation of Small Island, and the 2010 BBC Wildlife series The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart.
Personal life
In September 2010, Quarshie featured in an episode of the television genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, in which he traced his Ghanaian and Dutch origins.[3][4] The episode revealed that Quarshie is part of his country's old mixed-race elite as one of his ancestors, Pieter Martinus Johannes Kamerling, was a Dutch official on the Gold Coast. This also made him a distant relative of Dutch actor Antonie Kamerling.[5]
Quarshie was a supporter of the Women's Equality Party.[6]
Awards and nominations
In 1987, he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor[7] and in 2022 he was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for playing Neville Lawrence in Stephen.[8]
He has also won a Critics' Circle Theatre Award and an Emmy Award.[citation needed]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | The Dogs of War | Zangaron Officer | |
| 1985 | Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend | Kenge Obe | |
| 1986 | Highlander | Sunda Kastagir | |
| 1989 | La Chiesa | Father Gus | |
| 1990 | Nightbreed | Detective Joyce | |
| 1999 | Wing Commander | Lieutenant Obutu | |
| Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace | Captain Panaka | ||
| 2000 | It Was An Accident | George Hurlock | |
| Threesome | Dave | Short film | |
| 2003 | Conspiracy of Silence | Fr Joseph Ennis, SJ | |
| 2011 | Ghosted | Ade | |
| 2012 | Black Magic | Short film | |
| 2013 | The Meeting | Jack | |
| 2018 | Red Sparrow | Simon Benford | |
| Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald | Mustafa Kama | ||
| 2020 | What Matters | Ewan | Short film |
| 2021 | Fire Ants | Ewen | |
| 2022 | The Railway Children Return | General Harrison | |
| The Son | Dr. Harris | ||
| 2023 | Book Club: The Next Chapter | Ousmane | |
| 2024 | The Return | Imphinomous |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Scene | Episode: "Wide Games" | |
| 1979 | The Knowledge | Campion | TV movie |
| 1980 | Buccaneer | Major Nbodi | 2 episodes |
| 1981 | Wolcott | Dennis St George | Miniseries |
| The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs | Danny Young | TV movie | |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Philostrate | TV movie | |
| 1983 | Rumpole of the Bailey | Jonathan Mazenze | Episode: "Rumpole and the Golden Thread" |
| 1983 | Angels | Turi Mimi | 2 episodes |
| 1984 | Sharma and Beyond | Man on Stairs | TV movie |
| 1985 | Titus Andronicus | Aaron | TV movie |
| Alas Smith and Jones | 1 episode | ||
| 1986–89 | ScreenPlay | Mike / Wallace | 2 episodes |
| 1988 | A Gentleman's Club | Baba | Episode: A Question of Er... |
| 1989 | Behaving Badly | Daniel | 4 episodes |
| 1991 | Chancer | Kazeem | 2 episodes |
| Press Gang | Inspector Hibbert | 2 episodes | |
| 1992–94 | Medics | Dr. Tom Carey | 19 episodes |
| 1992 | Surgical Spirit | Fergus Debonaire | 1 episode |
| Virtual Murder | Dr. Mellor | Episode: A Dream of Dracula | |
| The Tomorrow People | Professor John Galt | 5 episodes (The 5-part story officially known as "The Origin Story") | |
| 1993 | The Comic Strip Presents... | Lieutenant Delaney | Episode: Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase |
| Red Dwarf | Computer Voice | Episode: "Emohawk: Polymorph II" | |
| 1994 | Horizon | Narrator (voice) | Documentary |
| The Chief | Vincent Pierce | 1 episode | |
| MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis | Inspector Rhodes | TV movie | |
| Shakespeare: The Animated Tales | Cassius (voice) | Episode: Julius Caesar | |
| 1999 | The Murder of Stephen Lawrence | Neville Lawrence | TV movie |
| 2000 | Arabian Nights | Mustappa | Miniseries |
| 2000 | Jason and the Argonauts | Chiron the Centaur | Miniseries |
| 2001 | In Deep | Jim Craddock | |
| 2001–2020, 2022 | Holby City | Ric Griffin | 506 episodes |
| 2002 | Hornblower | Francois Lefanu | Episode: "Retribution" |
| 2004–2019 | Casualty | Ric Griffin | |
| 2007 | Doctor Who | Solomon | Episodes: "Daleks in Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks" |
| 2009 | Hot Cities | Narrator | 8 episodes |
| 2009 | Small Island | Narrator/adult Michael junior | 2 episodes |
| 2012 | White Heat | Victor | 6 episodes |
| 2017 | Still Star-Crossed | Prince Cosimo | 3 episodes |
| 2019 | Absentia | Dr. Semo Oduwale | Season 2 |
| 2021 | Stephen | Neville Lawrence | Miniseries |
| 2021–2022 | Breeders | Alex | 6 episodes |
| 2022 | Vera | Dr. Leon Palmer | Episode: "Vital Signs" |
| Silent Witness | Series 25; Episode: "History Part 1" | ||
| Riches | Stephen Richards | ||
| 2023 | Maryland | Pete | 3 episodes |
| 2024 | McDonald & Dodds | Clarence Adderley | Episode: "Jinxy Sings The Blues" |
| 2025 | The Rainmaker | Wilfred R. Keeley | 4 episodes |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Cymbeline | Posthumous | Royal Exchange, Manchester |
| 1985 | The Admirable Crichton | Crichton | Royal Exchange, Manchester |
| 1995 | Goethe's Faust | Mephistopheles | RSC |
| 1995 | Julius Caesar | Mark Antony | RSC |
| 2015 | Othello | Othello | RSC |