Ian Davies (born 8 October 1964), known professionally as Ian Hart, is an English actor. His most notable screen roles have been in One Summer (1983), Land and Freedom (1995), Nothing Personal (also 1995), Michael Collins (1996), Liam (2000), as Professor Quirrell in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), as Ludwig van Beethoven in Eroica (2003), as Brian Keenan in Blind Flight (also 2003), as Kester Gill on My Mad Fat Diary (2013–15), as Father Beocca on The Last Kingdom (2015–20), and as Carl on The Responder (2022). He is also known for playing musician John Lennon in multiple productions, including the 1994 biopic Backbeat.
Hart won the Volpi Cup for Best Supporting Performer for his performance in Nothing Personal. He is also a three-time British Independent Film Award nominee and a BAFTA Scotland Award nominee, among other accolades.
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Early life
Hart was born Ian Davies, in the Knotty Ash district of Liverpool on 8 October 1964. He has two siblings and was brought up in an Irish Catholic family. He attended Cardinal Heenan Grammar School in Liverpool's West Derby suburb, and was a member of the Everyman Youth Theatre, Liverpool, in his earlier years. He studied drama at the now-defunct Mabel Fletcher College of Music and Drama in Liverpool's Wavertree district.
Career
In 1983, a 19-year-old Hart (credited by his birth name) starred in the television serial One Summer, alongside David Morrissey.
In 1991, Hart played John Lennon in the low-budget independent film The Hours and Times. He played Lennon twice more: a slightly younger Lennon during The Beatles' 1960-62 Hamburg period in Backbeat (1994), and a 50-year-old Lennon (having avoided his true fate at age 40) in the Playhouse Presents television production Snodgrass (2013).
In 1995, Hart portrayed a POUM militia volunteer in Ken Loach's Spanish Civil War film Land and Freedom. The same year, he played psychotic Northern Irish Protestant gangster 'Ginger' in the Thaddeus O'Sullivan directed 1995 Irish-British drama film Nothing Personal, alongside John Lynch, James Frain and Michael Gambon, for which, Hart won the Volpi Cup for best supporting actor at the 52nd Venice International Film Festival.
In 2000, he was back in Liverpool as an unemployed shipyard worker, father of three, including the protagonist, in the film Liam. His best-known role, however, is perhaps that of Professor Quirrell in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). He also provided the voice and motion capture for the computer-generated face of Lord Voldemort.
In 2003, Hart and fellow actor Linus Roache fasted for three months and lost 2 stones each, to achieve a malnourished look for the filming of Blind Flight, where he played Middle-Eastern hostage Brian Keenan.
In 2004, Hart played Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the film Finding Neverland, having already played Doyle's creation Dr. Watson in a BBC One television film of The Hound of the Baskervilles in 2002, and reprising the role in 2004 in Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking, with a different actor playing Sherlock Holmes. He also played schizophrenic paparazzo Don Konkey in the FX series Dirt in 2007 and 2008.
In 2009 he played Tom Ripley in BBC Radio Four's adaptations of all five of Patricia Highsmith's "Ripliad" series. The same year, Hart worked alongside John Simm at the Duke of York's Theatre production of Andrew Bovell's play Speaking in Tongues.
In 2011, he played Adolf Hitler in the BBC drama The Man Who Crossed Hitler.
In 2015, he landed the role of Father Beocca in The Last Kingdom and remained as a main character until the end of series 4 in 2020.
In 2018, he starred as Sailing Master Thomas Blanky in the AMC produced series The Terror.
In 2022, Hart was back in Liverpool playing drug dealer Carl Sweeney, in the BBC One British police drama series The Responder alongside Martin Freeman.
Personal life
In order to relax and unwind Hart has participated in kung-fu.
Hart is a supporter of Everton Football Club.