David Suchet

Born in London in 1946, David Suchet developed an interest in acting whilst studying at boarding school in Somerset. He joined the National Youth Theatre aged 16, and went on to train at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He has previously said that he failed many auditions to other drama schools because he couldn’t sing.

His career began at the Watermill Theatre in Berkshire, before joining the RSC in 1973. His first role consisted of two words before he took on understudy roles which got him noticed. He moved from dressing room 12 to 1a, where he remained until he left the theatre in 1986.

Suchet made his first television appearances in the 70s. His roles have included playing theoretical physicist and “father of the H-Bomb” Edward Teller in the miniseries *Oppenheimer*, and Sigmund Freud in a series about the psychoanalysis. His most notable screen role however came in 1989 when he was cast as the title character in the television adaptation of Agatha Christie’s *Poirot*.  Instantly recognisable for his curled moustache, three-piece suit and Homburg hat, Suchet appeared as the Belgian detective for 70 episodes until 2013 when the series ended.

In London, Suchet’s stage credits include a West End production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opposite Diana Rigg, and John in the play Oleanna at the Royal Court, directed by Harold Pinter. He played Salieri in the Broadway production of Amadeus in 1998, and starred in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest at the Vaudeville Theatre in 2015. More recently, he starred in the Pinter at the Pinter season at the Harold Pinter Theatre.