Leo Bill

- Actor

Leo studied A Level Drama Package at the college in 1996-98. He went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and graduated in 2001. Leo has appeared in The Hothouse, The Reporter and The Observer at the National Theatre. He has also appeared in the Beautiful Thing.

His TV performances have included: Home Time, Ashes to Ashes, Lead Balloon, Sense and Sensibility, Jekyll, Bash, A Very Social Secretary, Silent Witness, Messiah, Beethoven’s Eroica, Canterbury Tales, Spooks, Midsomer Murders, Harry Enfield’s Celeb, Surrealismo, Attachments II, Crime and Punishment and Broke

Previous films have included: Me and Orson Welles, Alice in Wonderland, Becoming Jane, The Living and the Dead, These Foolish Things, The Fall, Vera Drake, LD50, Two Men Went to War, 28 Days Later, All or Nothing and Gosford Park. He was awarded the Austin Texas Film Festival Best Actor Award in 2006.

Leo is set to appear as Hamish Ascot in Alice in Wonderland, an upcoming fantasy-adventure film directed by Tim Burton. The film is scheduled for release on March 5th 2010 and will be released through Walt Disney Pictures in Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX 3-D, as well as in regular theatres.

 

Lorraine Burroughs 

- Actor

Lorraine studied A Level Drama at the college from 1997 until 1999.

Lorraine commented in 2001, "I was amazed at what a wonderful grounding Stratford-upon-Avon College gave me for my studies at RADA - many of the things we do now, I'd already had the chance to do at college, and the facilities and equipment, like the Studio were superb. It was like a mini-version of Drama School! The teaching was excellent, too; my English Literature course gave me so many insights that have helped tremendously with practical work that I'm now doing, such as Shakespeare's Sonnets."

Ben Daniels – Actor 

 

Ben Elton

– Comedian, Writer, Actor, Author and Director

Ben studied his A Levels at Stratford-upon-Avon College and is now a successful comedian, writer, actor, author and director! His first sitcom credit was as co-writer of the classic The Young Ones. He then went on to co-write some of the Blackadder series. By 2000, having established himself as a successful novelist, screen writer and comedian, Ben then turned to film directing with Maybe Baby.

 

 

Barry Farrimond – Actor/Musician

 

Burn Gorman – Actor

 

 

Jo Joyner

- Actor

Jo studied A Level Drama at the college in the 1990s. She now plays "Tanya Branning" in Eastenders and was rewarded for her role at the British Soap Awards in 1998. Jo has also appeared in a number of other programmes, including Clocking Off, North & South and No Angels. In 2006, Jo also won a Rose d'Or International Award for best female comedy performed in Channel 5's Swinging.

 

 

Joseph Mawle - Actor

 Joseph studied the BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts at the college. In 2008 he starred as Jesus, the leading role in BBC's blockbuster, The Passion. The Passion retells the last week in the life of Jesus and was written by Emmy Award winner Frank Deasy. He recently appeared in BBC’s Five Daughters playing Tom Stephens.

Tobias Menzies

- Actor

A multi-talented performed, Tobias was educated in the Steiner system which includes movement, singing and musical instruments. He attended Stratford-upon-Avon College in 1993-4 to do a workshop on Hamlet. He went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and graduated in 1998. Since then he has appeared in popular TV series such as Midsomer Murders (ITV, 2000), Casualty (BBC, 2000), Ultimate Force (ITV, 2002) and Foyle's War (BBC, 2002).

Tobias also appeared in the controversial drama A Very Social Secretary (Channel 4). He is best known to international audiences as Marcus Junius Brutus in the TV series Rom (BBC2, 2005-2007). Tobias had a major role in The Low Down (2000) and featured in the James Bond film Casino Royale (2006). 2007 saw him appearing in the production of Jane Austen's classic book, Persuasion (ITV) and in the Channel 4 drama, The Relief of Belsen (2007).

Tobias' stage performances include the character Irwin in Alan Bennett's The History Boys and Michael Blakemore's West End production of Three Sisters for which he was nominated for the Ian Charleston Award. He also played a critically acclaimed Hamlet at the Royal Theatre.

 

Sarah Jane Morris

- Rock, Blues, Jazz & Soul singer/songwriter

Sarah studied at Stratford-upon-Avon College in the 1970s on the A Level Drama Package (Drama and Liberal Arts) and was admired by her tutors for her 'uniqueness'. She had a "voice of remarkable quality" which she went on to discover and develop throughout her career as a successful jazz singer. She recently marked 25 years as a performed with the release of a retrospective album.

In 1986 Sarah became famous when she featured as a co-vocalist with the popular 1980s band, the Communards, on their cover version of the song 'Don't Leave Me This Way', which spent four weeks at Number 1 and became the UK's biggest selling single. Sarah continues to perform at various national and international venues.

 

Simon Pegg

– Comedian turned Actor/Director

Simon studied A Levels at Stratford-upon-Avon College in 1985-87 including English Literature and Theatre Studies. Since leaving the college, he went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre, Film and TV at Bristol University in 1991. After a brief career as a stand-up comedian, his first small screen appearance was in the comedy sketch show Six Pairs of Pants (Channel 4, 1995). This led to a few cameo appearances in a number of comedy productions between 1997-99. He then co-wrote and starred in the BAFTA nominated Spaced (Channel 4, 1999-2001). Following the success of this programme, Simon went on to act in a number of other roles, including an effective straight role as a soldier in Tom Hanks' Band of Brothers (HBO, 2001).

Simon's big screen breakthrough came in his role in Shaun of the Dead, a gripping horror spoof. The film was nominated for Best British Film at the BAFTAs and won the Peter Sellers' Award for Comedy at the Evening Standard Awards. The success of this film was a wonderful breakthrough for Simon as the film also became popular in America. Following this Simon landed his role as a twitchy computer expert, starring with Tom Cruise in 'Mission Impossible 3' and alongside David Schwimmer in the American film, Big Nothing (US, 2007). Following Shaun of the Dead's success, once again Simon teamed up with co-star and best friend Nick Frost to make crime comedy-thriller Hot Fuzz (2007).

 

 

Lauren Samuels

 – Finalist in BBC's Over The Rainbow

Lauren Samuels is a former National Diploma Performing Arts student who left Stratford-upon-Avon College in 2006 (better known to college staff as Lauren Bonner). Lauren took part in many college productions including Little Me. After leaving the college, Lauren continued to study Musical Theatre at the Guildford School of Acting.

Edward Pinner, Curriculum Area Manager for Performing Arts at Stratford-upon-Avon College said, “We are all delighted to see Lauren doing so well and it is fantastic that her career is going from strength to strength. Her participation in Over the Rainbow has raised her profile to stratospheric levels and many new doors will open for her."

Lauren will soon be appearing in Grease in London's West End.

Photograph courtesy of the BBC.

 

Sam Swann

- Actor

Sam studied A Level Drama Package at the college. He’s currently studying a three-year acting course at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and he’s now landed himself a role with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Sam has been picked to play the Boy Soldier in Dunsinane, a new play by David Greig, which opens at Hampstead Theatre (London) in February 2010.

 

Tony Tobin

– Celebrity Chef

Tony Tobin studied for two years at Stratford-upon-Avon College. His first professional position was in the kitchens of the Chester Grosvenor. In 1984 he moved to London and joined the staff at the Capital Hotel under head chef, Brian Turner. This was followed by a ground-breaking move to work for five years with Nico Ladenis. Tony started off at Chez Nico in Battersea, later becoming Sous Chef at Simply Nico in Westminster.

At just 25, Tony took over as Head Chef at the South Lodge Hotel in Lower Beeding where the restaurant was awarded the Good Food Guide's Country Restaurant of the year during his three and half years in charge. In 1992, he made his first television appearance in the BBC series 'Hot Chefs'. From 1995 onwards, he featured on 'Ready Steady Cook' and also as a presenter on 'Spice World' and 'The Green Gourmet' on the Carlton Food Channel.

Tony is currently serving up modern British dishes at The Dining Room in Reigate, Surrey where he is Chef Proprietor. He is also the patron of The Ketogenic Diet, intended for children with epilepsy and is a spokesperson for Spirit Pubs as part of his campaign to inspire young people to enter into the catering industry.

Tony is pictured above with ex-college student Nicholas Palmer at the college awards ceremony in 2007.

 

Melissa Walton

– Actor

Melissa studied the BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts (Performance) at the college in 2006/8, passing the course with three distinctions. She joined Hollyoaks in February 2009 and plays Loretta Jones.  Melissa has previously appeared in Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story as Head Girl alongside Julie Walters.

 

This page is currently under construction so keep coming back to find out more about our alumni.