A History Of Liverpool Thespians - Carl Au

 

Carl Au was born on the 24th of March 1987 in Kirkby, Merseyside with British, Chinese and Irish heritage. Having begun his career aged eleven, he appeared in multiple musical productions as a teenager including 'Copperfield', a musical based on Dickens’ David Copperfield; as young Benny in the stage production of 'Her Benny' at the Liverpool Empire and in August 2005 starred in the futuristic musical 'Lorenzo's Quest' as protagonist Lorenzo. He received scholarships to three musical theatre colleges to study acting and musical theatre, with Philip Key of the Daily Post calling this "an unprecedented event in show business". A prolific musical performer singing at the Merseyside Singer of the Year event in 2004, the Stephen Sondheim Student Performance of the Year, and in 'Barbara Cook and Friends', both in 2007. Having opted to study at the Arts Educational Schools, London, he featured in the 2006–2007 pantomime of 'Robin Hood and The Babes in the Wood' at the Bournemouth Pavilion with three of his fellow Arts Educational College classmates before graduating in 2008. From June to August 2008 he appeared in the ensemble of 'High School Musical on Stage' for its London premiere at the Hammersmith Apollo. Later that year, he appeared in the Oxford Playhouse's 2008–2009 pantomime 'Sleeping Beauty'. He went on to appear at the 2009 Brit Awards as one of the 'Pet Shop Boys' dancers and has also performed with Lady Gaga. Next he played the role of Nephew Fred in the 2009 production of 'A Christmas Carol' at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre before being cast as the mute in 'The Fantasticks' (2010) in the West End. Between September and October 2010, he appeared in the West End production of 'Bells Are Ringing' as Carl and, in December 2010, it was announced that he would join the West End cast of 'Jersey Boys' as Joe Pesci, from the 15th of March 2011. At the Freedom Bar in London, he joined other West End actors in a one-night showcase of composer David Are songs, 'Slip Into Your Skin', on the 18th of March 2012.

In Waterloo Road with screen Mum Zöe Lucke

 

 

Carl came to national television notice in 2013 playing Barry Barry (his full character name), one of the nastiest pupils at the BBC series 'Waterloo Road'. The character was introduced as part of a family headed by accredited actress Zöe Lucke. He said, "I did loads of research on kids with behavioural issues for the role of Barry, as I didn’t want to play a typical bad boy bully and I discovered a large percentage of high school dropouts are fatherless. And that’s Barry’s situation, he’s trying to fill the shoes of his father, who is in jail." After appearing in two series, he departed the drama filming his final scenes in October 2013. Clemmie Moodie praised Carl's performance opining that he managed to "effortlessly nail [his] delivery every time". Carl received a fanbase from his time on the drama and his fans continued to watch his stage roles. In February 2013 he appeared in the 'Let's Dance For Comic Relief' competition alongside four of his 'Waterloo Road' co-stars. They performed a 'Spice Girls' number dressed as the girl group with Carl performing as Mel C, which he was pleased with as he was the only performer who did not wear high heels.

Carl as Mike, and Sydney Rae White as Rita in Till Death Us Do Part

After leaving 'Waterloo Road' he moved to London into a flat with friends and shortly after, auditioned for the lead, Alan 'Icarus' Flynn, in the play 'Bright Phoenix' (2014) at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. Then after he guest-starred in an episode of BBC medical drama 'Casualty' (2014), the following year appeared in an episode of 'Doctors' as anxiety sufferer Karl Moran. In 2016, he proudly recreated the famous 'Till Death Us Do' part role of 'randy Scouse git' Mike Rawlins, for the love of his late grandad. Carl revealed: "When I got the part I rang home to tell my family. They said 'OK, what is it?' I replied 'I don’t know whether you will know it. It was on a long time ago – Till Death Us Do Part’. They said 'You ARE joking! That was your grandad’s favourite show!' The same year he appeared in the Belgrade Theatre's production of 'Ostrich Boys', with George Attwell of The Stage calling his performance "cartoonish yet consistently funny". In 2017 he was cast as Bobby in the 2017 touring production of 'Cilla The Musical', a biopic musical about the early career and music of Cilla Black. Then in September 2019, it was announced that he would star as Dick in the UK premiere of the musical 'High Fidelity' at the Turbine Theatre which ran between October and December 2019. Releasing his debut single, 'Uncle', on the 1st of November 2020, about him learning that he is about to be an uncle, which was released on his nephew's due date under the stage name Au. Then in November 2023, he made his last TV appearance returning to 'Doctors', but in the different role of Josh Harker.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2025/05/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-megan.html