Sullivan was born in
Hoddesdon,
Hertfordshire. In 1982, he joined the
National Youth Theatre, where he played
Edmond in
King Lear, and then joined the
Old Vic Youth Theatre playing the title role in
Macbeth. He studied at
Central School of Speech and Drama from 1983 to 1986 and then in New York under
Uta Hagen at
HB Studio. In 1988 he joined the Catalan performance group
La Fura dels Baus and toured the world with them in their trilogy of spectacles
Accions,
Suz/O/Suz and
Tier Mon. In 1990 he was asked by
Deborah Warner to join the
National Theatre in London to tour
King Lear and
Richard III, directed by
Richard Eyre, staying on to play in
Napoli Millionaria as part of the
Lyttelton Theatre company. He also worked extensively at the
National Theatre Studio with
Simon Usher and there formed The Actors' Group. He left the National to work with
David Freeman, playing Pentheus in
Opera Factory's
Bacchae at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall, before moving into television to play the lead in
Dick Clement and
Ian La Frenais' sit-com
Over The Rainbow. He was nominated for the
Evening Standard Best Newcomer award for his portrayal of Ray in Simon Bennet's
Drummers directed by
Max Stafford-Clark at the New Ambassadors in London's West End. He also played SS Colonel
Karl Schoengarth in the multi-award-winning B.B.C./H.B.O film
Conspiracy written by
Loring Mandel and directed by
Frank Pierson. He then played
Jack the Ripper in
Jonathan Kent's revival of
Wedekind's
Lulu in a new version by
Nicolas Wright that started at the
Almeida Theatre before transferring to the
Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He has worked extensively for
Peter Gill, appearing in both
Way of the World and
Certain Young Men at the Almeida Theatre, as well as in a number of plays at the
Royal Court Theatre, contributing to their recent book
Inside Out. At the Court he played The Husband in
Debbie Tucker Green's
Stoning Mary directed by
Marianne Elliott, originated the role of Ferdinand in
Tom Stoppard's
Rock n Roll directed by
Trevor Nunn, which transferred to the West End and Broadway, as well as playing Cash in
Dominic Cooke's first play as artistic director,
The Pain and The Itch by the American writer
Bruce Norris. He played Mortensgaard in Antony Page's acclaimed revival of
Ibsen's
Rosmersholm in a new version by
Mike Poulson, once again at the Almeida. He has played JPW for Garry Hynes in Tom Murphy's
The Gigli Concert at Druid in Galway and has returned to the National to do two plays with Angus Jackson; David Hare's financial crash piece
The Power of Yes and a revival of Clifford Odets'
Rocket to the Moon. Most recently he has played Sir Robert Morton in Lindsey Posner's acclaimed revival of
The Winslow Boy at The Old Vic and was critically acclaimed for his rediscovery of the role of Sir William Collier in
The Deep Blue Sea, his seventh play at the National. He played Cardinal Sforza in
The Borgias and was Commander Laurence Stern in
Abi Morgan's award-winning
The Hour for the BBC. He played the leads in Sky TV's
Critical, created by
Jed Mercurio, and in
Cuffs on BBC1. He played recurring leads in
Curfew for Sky,
MotherFatherSon with
Richard Gere for BBC2, and was also Ralph Hanson in Series 5 of the BBC1 drama series
Poldark. He will soon reoccur in
Jack Thorne’s drama
The Light for Channel 4, having also appeared in Thorne's miniseries
The Accident for the same channel. Sullivan played antagonist Nyle Bellamy in the 2022
BBC adaptation of adventure novel
Around the World in Eighty Days by
Jules Verne. Sullivan played Julian Baxter in the 2025 TV series
The Iris Affair created by
Neil Cross. He has appeared in numerous television shows, both as regular and guest characters and in a number of films, both studio pictures as well as indie films in the U.S, UK and Spain. == References ==