Pool of Life has Andrew Schofield's date of birth as '1961ish'. It has been difficult to pin down such pieces of personal information about him. But his Wikipedia page has been expanded and updated lately, and gives his birth year as 1958. It also has a mini-entry on his actress daughter Jessica (born 1986).
Read about Andrew Schofield in Pool of Life: The Story of Liverpool in Caricatures. More information... Order your copy here...
Is the Royal Court Theatre about to be re-named the
Andrew Schofield Theatre? Of late you could
see him there in three runs of Brick Up the Mersey
Tunnel, Lost Soul (alongside his actress daughter
Jessica), Good Golly Miss Molly, On the Ledge. Furthermore he is due to appear in Misery (an adaptation of Steven King's harrowing novel), followed by Eight Miles High in July.
Drew was only about 15 when he appeared in a Willy
Russell TV play: Alan Bleasdale saw the performance
and cast him in his own series, Scully, which
successfully transferred from radio to telly, to
video, book and dvd (available at local car-boot sales.)
In 1991 his portrayal of Peter, the wonderfully nasty
militant agitator, was an unforgettable feature of
Bleasdale's television series GBH. But before that,
he had already played key parts in films by Scouse
directors Alex Cox and Terence Davies. In Cox's Sid
and Nancy he played the part of Johnny Rotten though
he has little resemblance to John Lyden (for Lyden's colourful response to the film and his portrayal, click here.) He starred as
the original Narrator in the first production of Willy
Russell's Blood Brothers at the Playhouse. He stood
out in the Liverpool Nativity for BBC Three — broadcast
live in December 2007 — playing a shepherd and singing
John Lennon's Imagine.
Russell, Bleasdale, Davies, Cox, Royal Court... It
might seem to a non-Liverpudlian that Drew Schofield
is a big fish in a small Scouse pond. He still lives
in Kirkby, Liverpool, where he was born, along with
his wife and four kids. But the fact is that he's an
outstanding actor (and a more talented musician than
you'd expect any actor to be), and the fact he doesn't
seem inclined to uproot himself to seek bigtime fame
and fortune outside Liverpool is a huge bonus for the
city. He is certainly appreciated by fellow-Scousers:
You only have to visit these websites (see left) to see the
following he has attracted.
The Schofield Effect
In this Year of Culture, visitor figures at all Liverpool theatres are up in comparison with 2007, but none of the other theatres can match the staggering 55% surge at the Royal Court. No doubt Drew, who has hardly left the stage there, has played his part. In April he was presented with the 2008 Scouseology Award for Theatre.
