A History Of Liverpool Thespians - Stephen Walters

 

Stephen Martin Walters was born on the 22nd of May 1975 in Litherland, Liverpool, the third of four children in a working class household. The acting seeds were sown at school as when watching 'children’s drama' on television Stephen thought, "I could give it a go". In 1989, while at St. Wilfrids Secondary school, he was cast in ITV's British Children's anthology series 'Dramarama', where he portrayed Corporal Tomkins in the series seventh episode entitled 'Ghost Story'. As he was aware of an actor from Liverpool called George Christopher, who was on 'Grange Hill', in the back of his mind Stephen thought. 'I could do that'. There was a local agency ART run by the Liverpool actor Ricky Tomlinson, so with a childhood friend Stephen kept going into the office asking for an audition. It just so happened there was one going at Granada studios and although there were hundreds of kids there, he eventually I got the part. He then played Geoff 'Growler' Rogers, the son of Chrissy and Frank in the soap 'Brookside' (1989-93). Then in 1992, after completion of a 2 year BTEC in Performing arts at Southport College, he went on to gain a place at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (1994-1996). It was his time at Southport College that solidified his thinking that there was nothing else he wanted to do, after he had secured the lead role in the TV movie 'Blood on the Dole', part of the 'Alan Bleasedale Presents' series. His performance prompted Bleasdale to suggested that he apply to drama school and it was later that year that he was accepted to the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. After leaving drama school he appeared as Ian Glover in Jimmy McGovern's highly acclaimed drama 'Hillsborough', which went on to win a Bafta for best drama. His next performance was in the role of Jamie Spencer on ITV's ill fated drama series 'Springhill' (1996-97), though he did not return for the second series due to artistic differences. Between 1998 and 2000, he appeared in numerous eye catching episodic performances such as in the BBC's 'Pie In the Sky' (1997), Mikey Sullivan in Jimmy McGovern's 'Liverpool 1' (1998), Private John McGrath in 'Band of Brothers' (2001), and Scot in 'Nice Guy Eddie' (2001). In 2001 he played Kick Box Stevie in the feature film 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' by Stuart Suggs and with three back-to-back roles in the same year, his work and range were presented to a larger much larger audience. He starred in the BBC's production of writer Jim Cartwright's 'Strumpet' opposite Christopher Eccleston, directed by Oscar winning director Danny Boyle. The role of Knockoff was, in Stephen's words, "An actor's dream" and showed his love for comedy. He has said, "It took someone like Danny to take a chance on me...previously I had done more intense, perhaps disturbed kind of characters...then along came this script that I read for and Danny and thought I could play it...working with Danny Boyle, Christopher Eccleston and Jim Cartwright was a real learning curve for me". That same year he featured in the film 'Mean Machine' (2001), a remake of the 1974 Burt Reynolds film produced by Matthew Vaughn, as bomb expert Nitro opposite actor Vinny Jones. He then played the role of Nazi skinhead Blowfish in Ronny Yu's film '51st State' (2001), opposite Samuel L Jackson and Robert Carlyle. Stephen had worked with Carlyle in his first ever feature film 'Plunkett and McCleane (1999), directed by Jake Scot, son of acclaimed director Ridley Scot, where he played the role of Denis. Robert Carlyle has been an important influence on Stephen's career.

as Blowfish

Playing 'Blowfish' was the springboard to Stephen being cast in the lead role of prison Psychiatrist Nick Vaughn, alongside Lenny James, in Channel 4's eight-part drama series 'Buried' (2003). The series, by award winning producer Tony Garner, was awarded the Bafta for Best Drama and Stephen was the recipient of critical acclaim for his performance. The following year director Matthew Vaughn offered him the explosive supporting role of Shanks, opposite Daniel Craig, in the feature film 'Layer Cake' (2004). Stephen's next project was Guy Richie's film 'Revolver' (2005) where, opposite Jason Statham, he portrayed Irish Joe. That same year saw a cameo appearance, as the Arkham Lunatic, in Christopher Nolan's acclaimed feature 'Batman Begins' and then later as master Lord Gilbert Gifford in the BBC's 'Virgin Queen' (2006). Following a self imposed year hiatus, he undertook three new projects. First was the feature film 'Hannibal Rising' (2007), the final installment of the Hannibal series which explored the origins of Hannibal Lecter. He then featured in BBC 3's six part comedy series entitled 'The Visit' (2007), playing the colorful character Splodge and later that same year played the frighteningly strange, oddly comedic Maddison Twatter in a three episodes stint for E4's cult smash 'Skins' (2007). In 2008 he appeared in 'Franklyn, in which his dual role as Bill Wasnik/Wormsnakes was played opposite Bernard Hill and Ryan Philippe respectively. In another two-part drama entitled 'Wire In The Blood' (2008) he played a serial killer on the loose, James Williams. Robson Green, who also featured in the series, collaborated with Stephen in ITV's 1997 drama 'Touching Evil'. These episodes were directed by Philip John who, coincidentally, would later direct him in Outlander (2014-16). 'Splintered' (2010), a horror movie, was demanding for Stephen since he played dual roles as brothers Vincent and Gavin. Playing opposite himself in the same scene presented unique challenges, yet garnered recognition and acclaim for him.
'Powder' (2011), featured him in the lead role of Johnny Winegums, the manager of an aspiring pop group and later that year he featured as the role of Private Syd Brightling in 'Age of Heroes' along with Sean Bean, which was both a physical and mental test of endurance. He would work with Sean Bean again in 'The Accused' (2013), penned by Jimmy McGovern. In 2012 he played the role of gangster Callum Rose, opposite his name-sake and friend, actor Stephen Graham, in the BBC's production 'Good Cop' which won the RTS award for Best Drama.That same year he played the role of Gaz in Niall Griffith's 'Kelly + Victor', a film which received a Bafta for Best Debut Feature and critical acclaim for its director Kieran Evans. In 2013, Stephen was nominated for a Royal Television Society award (Best Actor) for his portrayal of young Ricky Tomlinson in Sky Arts' television drama 'Ragged' and saw him playing lead roles in two back to back television series, highlighting his range and versatility. First was the comedy 'Great Night Out', from Jimmy Mulville's HatTrick Productions, and the second was 'The Village' where he played Crispin Ingram, a sadistic teacher from Derbyshire.
Stephen worked extensively with director Brian Kelly in 2014 filming three episodes of NBC's 'Dracula', as Hungarian detective Hackett. Kelly then cast Stephen as Simon the Sorcerer in NBC's series 'AD the Bible' (2015).

as Angus Mhor in Outlander

From 2014-2016, opposite Caitriona Balfe and Graham McTavish, Stephen portrayed the featured role of Angus Mhor in the television adaptation of Diana Gabaldon's best selling Scottish time travel novel 'Outlander'. Between seasons one and two, Stephen was featured in two stylistically different shows back to back, both for the BBC. First, he was in two episodes of 'Dickensian' (2015) and then a lead episode of 'Musketeers' (2015), in the role of Borel, for which he received strong accolades. In 2016 he completed filming on Rowan Joffe's 'Tin Star' (2017) for Sky Atlantic and during the summer of 2016 he completed filming on two episodes of 'Into the Badlands' (2017), in which he played The Engineer, an American Warlord, opposite Daniel Wu and Nick Frost. After appearing in 4 episodes of 'Silent Witness' (2003-20), 'Shetland' (2018) saw a local police team investigate crimes within the close knit island community of Shetland. He then returned to play Anne William's husband Steve in ITV's Hillsborough disaster drama 'Anne' (2022). One of Steven's family members was at the fateful FA Cup match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough stadium – but fortunately made it out. One of his latest roles was in 'The Night Caller' (2024) about a lonely Liverpool taxi driver, who begins to form a twisted world view and an unhealthy obsession with a late-night radio talk show host.

In addition to his acting credits, Stephen is also an accomplished writer and director, with several short films completed. The first is the award winning short "Danny Boy", an intense drama where a man must come to terms with his mother's Alzheimer's. Second, a recently completed film titled "I'm not Here", is an exploration of Charles Manson wherein Stephen plays the lead role. Stephen also has numerous original scripts in various stages of development.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/12/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians_23.html