Martin Shaw is a renowned English actor with a career spanning over four decades, showcasing his remarkable versatility through over 100 TV roles. His journey began in 1967 with the television episode "Love on the Dole," followed by a long list of diverse performances to avoid being typecast.
His theatrical career has been marked by numerous West End successes, commencing with the first revival of "Look Back in Anger" in 1967 and most recently, a Tony nomination and a Drama Desk award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Lord Goring in "An Ideal Husband" on Broadway.
The Professionals, an international hit, brought him offers for similar roles, but Shaw chose to decline, prioritizing variety over riches. He refused the American series The Equalizer in 1985, instead opting for a diverse range of projects.
A notable exception was the television mini-series Rhodes, which was a commercial and critical failure. Shaw's later projects include the hospital drama Always and Everyone, where he played consultant Robert Kingsford, and the BBC adaptations of P.D. James's novels Death in Holy Orders and The Murder Room, in which he portrayed Adam Dalgliesh.
Martin Shaw resides in a beautiful Quaker house in Norfolk, once owned by an ancestor of Abraham Lincoln, and is a licensed pilot, owning and flying a vintage biplane, a Boeing Stearman. Despite his success, he is known for being reticent about his private life, disliking interviews, and having little respect for the press.
