Andrew Clement Serkis was born on April 20, 1964, and is an English actor, director, and producer of Iraqi and Armenian descent. He is renowned for his performance capture roles, which involve motion capture acting, animation, and voice work for computer-generated characters.
Some of his most notable roles include Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, King Kong in the 2005 film, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot series, Captain Haddock / Sir Francis Haddock in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin, and Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films.
In addition to his film work, Serkis has also received critical acclaim for his television roles. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of serial killer Ian Brady in the British television film Longford and was nominated for a BAFTA for his portrayal of new wave and punk rock musician Ian Dury in the biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.
Serkis has received numerous awards and nominations for his work, including an Empire Award and two Saturn Awards for his motion-capture acting. He has also won a BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema and a Daytime Emmy Award for the series The Letter for the King.
In addition to his acting and directing work, Serkis is also the founder of The Imaginarium, a production company and motion capture workshop in London. He used The Imaginarium to produce and direct his 2017 film Breathe and his 2021 film Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which is set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe.
