Edward John Speleers

English

Ed is born in St Richards Hospital, Chichester, West Sussex in 1988. He grew up in West Sussex and as you can see he’s into performing from anearly age.

When he was 7 he went to Dorset House School in Bury, near Arundel where he performed in his first stage production, Peter Pan. Dorset House is set in a paradisiacal setting where he had lots of fun and made some friends for life.

He lived out his Secondary education at Eastbourne College - He luckily received a scholarship at the school, where he took on more serious roles on the stage namely John Proctor in the Crucible, Street Car Named Desire, Richard the 3rd and Hamlet. It was about this time that he had his frist experience of acting in front of the camera in a short film directed by new zeelander Charlie Bleakley called Metropolis in wich he played a wankaholic.

During the time they were performing the Crucible, the school had a visitor who would make a decision that eventually would give him his big break. It was the casting director for Narnia : Pippa Hall. Pippa put him forward for the part of Peter in Narnia. After the auditions the part od Peter was between him and another boy. Eventually William Peter Moseley won the part.

In the year before Eragon, a friend of his, Rob Curran and he experimented with writing their own script which they later performed in front of the school. A controversial production called Retribution. This short play touched on such issues as sexual abuse and paedophilia within a borstal.

The casting director then got him an audition for the prequel to the Thomas Harris adaptation movie called Behind The Mask in which he would play a young Hannibal Lector. Who first has ideas of cannibalism when he watches Russian soldiers eat his sister by the side of the road. It was a part he really wanted, however he lost out to a good French actor called Gaspard Ulliel.

Te third call from casting director was more fruitful, the audition was to take place in front of a Hollywood Mogul and Special Effects Wizards named Stefen Fangmier. The audition was to play the main part in a 20th Century Fox film called Eragon...