Anton Lesser

Anton Lesser was born in Birmingham the son of David Lesser and his wife Amelia Cohen. He is from a Jewish background. He was educated at Moseley Grammar School and at the University of Liverpool, where he earned a degree in architecture in 1973. Lesser went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1974 until 1976, was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year. His final performance there was as Gethin Price in Comedians by Trevor Griffiths. ==Career==

Lesser was spotted in The Comedians and offered a contract by the casting director for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). When he moved to London, the reviews were less flattering than he had become accustomed to at the RSC. However, he continued to win roles on stage, including as Stanley in Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, Rover in Wild Oats and Brutus in Deborah Warner's Julius Caesar in 2005. to contemporary novels by Robert Harris (Fatherland) and Philip Pullman. For two months in 2013, Lesser was a regular cast member playing Robin Carrow in Ambridge Extra, a BBC Radio 4 Extra spin-off from the BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers. In 2013, during the third season of the HBO Max series Game of Thrones, Lesser began playing the recurring role of Qyburn, an enigmatic mad scientist who served as part of the retinue of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). Qyburn, and Lesser's portrayal of him, were popular with fans, particularly as the series went on and the character appeared more frequently and had greater influence over the narrative. The Ringer described him as "the last curious man in Westeros" and noted that the character "refuses to seem like a MacGuffin, despite totally being one." The character returned across the remainder of the series run until the penultimate episode in 2019; Qyburn was one of the characters who perished in the episode, which led to many fans producing memes about his abrupt death. From 2013, Lesser also played Chief Superintendent Bright in the TV series Endeavour. Lesser portrayed Thomas More in the BBC mini-series Wolf Hall, and received a nomination for the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. In 2022, Lesser played Major Lio Partagaz, a supporting antagonist in the Star Wars spinoff Andor. His performance of Partagaz, a ranking member of the Empire's intelligence agency, the Imperial Security Bureau, was noted by critics. Digital Spy commented that Lesser delivered dialogue on Imperial bureaucracy with "powerful coolness." In July 2025, it was announced that he would play the role of Garrick Ollivander in the upcoming Harry Potter TV series. == Other activities ==

In 2015, Lesser became a public supporter of Chapel Lane Theatre Company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon. ==Personal life==

Lesser's daughter Lily Lesser is also an actor. ==Acting credits==

Film Television Video games Audio Theatre • Romeo, Romeo and Juliet, 1980, RSC • Hamlet, Hamlet, 1982, Donmar Warehouse, London • Troilus, Troilus and Cressida, 1981, RSC • Richard III, The Plantagenets (Henry VI, part 1–3 and Richard III), 1988, RSC • Edwin Forrest, Two Shakespearean Actors, 1990, RSC • Henry Bullingbrook, Richard II, 1990, RSC • Petruchio, The Taming of the Shrew, 1992, RSC • Frank Ford, The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1992, RSC • Serge, '''Art''', 1997, Wyndham's Theatre, London • Elyot, Private Lives, 1999, Lyttelton Theatre, London • Iachimo, Cymbeline, 2003, RSC • Marcus Brutus, Julius Caesar, 2005, Barbican, London • Leontes, ''The Winter's Tale'', 2006, RSC • Oliver Lucas, The Vertical Hour, 2008, Royal Court Theatre, London • Dr. Rank, ''A Doll's House'', 2009, Donmar Warehouse, London • Laurie Lee, Red Sky at Sunrise: Laurie Lee in Words and Music, 2023–present, Hambletts Productions, Stratford-upon-Avon • Thomas Hardy, A Beautiful Thread: Thomas Hardy in Words and Music, 2024–present, Hambletts Productions, Stratford-upon-Avon • Ghost, Hamlet, 2025, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon ==Awards and nominations==