Adrian Lester

Adrian Anthony Lester, OBE (born 14 August 1968) is a British actor, director, and writer. --- Lester was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, the son of Jamaican immigrants Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. From the age of 9 Lester sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham. At 14 he began acting with the Birmingham Youth Theatre. After leaving Archbishop Masterson RC School he attended Joseph Chamberlain VI Form College for one year before completing 3 years training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 1993, he played Anthony Hope in the Royal National Theatre's production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Lester is known for playing a big-time con artist named Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone in the BBC TV series Hustle between 2004 and 2012. The character was written out of the fourth series and replaced by Ashley Walters, although he returned from the fifth series onwards. In the United States, he played campaign manager Henry Burton in Mike Nichols's 1998 film Primary Colors, based on the novel by Anonymous (Joe Klein). His character is believed to represent George Stephanopoulos. This part earned him a Chicago Film Critics Association award nomination for "Most Promising Actor". Lester appeared in Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost, an adaptation of the William Shakespeare play, set in the 1930s. The film itself was poorly received, but Lester received a British Independent Film Awards nomination for his performance. --- Lester  is married to actress Lolita Chakrabarti. They live in South East London with their two daughters, Lila and Jasmine. He currently holds a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do.