Christopher Eccleston

Christopher Eccleston (born 16 February 1964) is an English stage, television and film actor. He is well-known for his roles in such high-profile films as Shallow Grave and 28 Days Later, and in 2005 became the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who. Eccleston was born in Little Hulton, near Salford, then Lancashire now Greater Manchester, and raised in a working class family. He was head boy at Joseph Eastham's High School, Hilton Lane, Little Hulton, Worsley. with a love of television and an ambition to play football for his beloved Manchester United. However, at the age of 19, he found himself to be a much better actor than footballer, and was inspired by television dramas such as Boys from the Blackstuff. Eccleston trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. As an actor, his early influences had been Ken Loach's Kes and Albert Finney's performance in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, but he soon found himself performing the classics, including the works of...