Early career Cross started his career by taking manual jobs, including working as a
window cleaner, waiter, and joiner. He also worked as a carpenter for the
Welsh National Opera, and was the Property Master at
The Alexandra theatre in
Birmingham. After graduating from RADA, Cross performed in several stage plays at
The Dukes theatre in
Lancaster where he was seen in
Macbeth,
The Importance of Being Earnest and
Arthur Miller's
Death of a Salesman. He then joined the
Prospect Theatre Company and played roles in
Pericles,
Twelfth Night, and
The Royal Hunt of the Sun. Cross also joined the cast of the musical
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and played leading roles in
Peter Shaffer's
Equus,
Mind Your Head, and the musical
Irma la Douce — all at the
Leicester Haymarket Theatre. Cross's first big-screen film appearance came in 1976 when he went on location to
Deventer,
Netherlands, to play Trooper Binns in
Joseph E. Levine's
Second World War epic
A Bridge Too Far, which starred an international cast, including
Dirk Bogarde,
Sean Connery,
Michael Caine and
James Caan. In 1977, Cross became a member of the
Royal Shakespeare Company; he performed in the premiere of
Privates on Parade as "Kevin Cartwright" and played Rover in a revival of a Restoration play titled
Wild Oats. Cross's path to international stardom began in 1978 with his performance in the musical
Chicago, in which he played Billy Flynn, the slick lawyer of murderess Roxie Hart. Cross's starring role in
Chariots of Fire has been credited with continuing a transatlantic trend in elegant young English actors that had been set by
Jeremy Irons in
Brideshead Revisited. The film went on to win multiple
Academy Awards, including the one for
Best Picture. Cross followed up
Chariots of Fire with performances as a Scottish physician, Dr Andrew Manson, struggling with the politics of the British medical system during the 1920s, in
The Citadel, a 10-part
BBC Television dramatisation of
A. J. Cronin's novel, and as Ashton (Ash) Pelham-Martyn, a British cavalry officer torn between two cultures in the HBO/Goldcrest miniseries
The Far Pavilions first broadcast in the UK by Channel 4. The agreement eventually led to regular equal exchange agreements for equivalent acting jobs between London and New York City. During the 1984
Summer Olympic Games, Cross appeared in a commercial for
American Express ('Don't leave home without it') with the 87-year-old
Jackson Scholz, a sprinter for the 1924 American Olympic team whose character was featured in the film
Chariots of Fire. When Cross talks about beating Scholz, the latter remarks, "
You didn't beat me!" with mock indignation. Proving he is 'still pretty fast', Scholz beats Cross to the draw in picking up the tab with his credit card. Cross was also featured in
GQ Magazine as one of the annual "Manstyle" winners in January 1985 followed by a featured photo shoot in March 1985. In 1985, he played Barney Greenwald in a revival of
Herman Wouk's courtroom drama
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial at the
Queen's Theatre, London, alongside castmates
Charlton Heston (as
Captain Queeg) and
John Schuck. In a 1985 interview, the actor admitted he preferred American roles because of their emotionalism, saying of English acting: "Over here, people hide behind mannerism and technique and don't come up with any soul. American actors are much freer with the emotions. It's pretty hard in Europe not to have experience of Americans because we're exposed to a lot of American product." He played
Rudolf Hess in the 2006
BBC production
Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial. Cross spoke to
Star Trek magazine following the film's release, saying: In order to prepare for the role, Cross drew on his experience as a parent as well as Sarek's previous on-screen appearances. Having been present when his daughter was born, he was able to "call on all sorts of things" in the scene where Amanda has baby Spock, a scene which did not make it into the theatrical cut of the film. After 2012, Cross acted in various minor films but also acted in
The Hurricane Heist, which earned a box office of US$32.5 million. In 2019, he starred with
Whoopi Goldberg in the film
Master of Dark Shadows, which earned a rating of 100% on
Rotten Tomatoes, his second film to receive such a rating, the other one being
Paperhouse.
Directing, screenwriting, and music Cross was also a director, writer, and musician. He wrote music, screenplays, and articles for
English-language publications, and the lyrics for an album with Bulgarian singer Vasil Petrov, which was released in late 2007. He sang two
Frank Sinatra songs with Petrov in the Apollonia Festival at the
Black Sea in September 2007. Cross's first single as a lyricist was released by
Polydor Records in the late 1970s and was titled "Mickey Moonshine". The original soundtrack for
Nearly Midnight was written, produced and performed by his daughter Lauren. These works were performed in
Edinburgh in 2002 and 2003, respectively.
Square One, directed by Cross, was performed at the
Etcetera Theatre in London in 2004. ==Personal life==