Ray Burdis (born August 23, 1958 in London) is an English Actor,
Screenwriter Director and Film Producer. Ray Burdis started his Acting
career at the age of eleven years old where he trained at the famous
Anna Scher Theatre in Islington. His first
major role was at the age of sixteen, in the hit Thames TV production
of You Must Be Joking, alongside a young
'Birds of a Feather', Pauline Quirke
and Linda Robson, which he co
created, wrote and starred in. He also starred with Quadrophenia's
Phil Daniels in Four Idle Hands, at
the time having two hit TV network shows running alternately in the
same hour
An actor from adolescence, he starred in an episode of the classic BBC
sitcom Steptoe and Son before he turned 16. He first came to real
prominence when he took the part of cowardly inmate Eckersley in the
controversial movie Scum in 1979. He had played the same role two years
earlier in a BBC version of the story, although this was not
transmitted for many years due to its nature, hence the cinematic
re-make. He later had a small role alongside
Daniel Day-Lewis in the film Gandhi.
Burdis, whose younger brother Mark was a teenage heart-throb in the
early 1980s with a leading role in children's drama Grange Hill, then
played a supporting role as Richard, a gay neighbour in Channel
4's
short-lived sitcom "Dream Stuffing" in 1984 (which featured a theme song
performed by the late Kirsty MacColl).
After this, he played ambitious photographer Nick Tyler in the BBC
comedy Three Up, Two Down. His character was the son and son-in-law
respectively of the two lead characters, played by
Michael Elphick and
Angela Thorne.
As a second string to his acting Ray co - formed Fugitive as an
independent Film, Television and Music Production Company which started
life as a premier music video producer, producing videos for
internationally renowned artists such as
Elton John,
Queen,
Tina Turner,
George Michael, etc, placing
itself in the Top 5 international music video production companies. Ray
Burdis' first foray into television drama was creating the series 'The
Fear', for Euston Films, which was broadcast on the ITV Network. The
series was critically acclaimed and was based on the unpublicised
real-life gangster scene in the late 1980s.
Ray Burdis has subsequently concentrated more on writing - producing
and directing. He was the producer of The Krays, the
critically-acclaimed biopic of the East End gangsters Reggie and Ronnie
Kray, and also co-wrote-produced and directed the movies Final Cut and
Love, Honour and Obey starring the cream of British and International
cinema - Jude Law,
Jonny Lee Miller,
Kathy Burke,
Ray Winstone,
Rhys Ifans. He also created, co wrote,
produced, directed and starred in the television police fly on the wall
docu-comedy Operation Good Guys for three seasons - which was awarded
the Silver Rose for Best Sitcom and the Prix de la Presse, voted for by
the International Press, at the Montreux Golden Rose Festival.
Turning his hand once again to acting he went on to star in Manchild
for two seasons - a BBC comedy drama with
Nigel Havers,
Anthony Head and
Don Warrington.
Ray Burdis wrote and directed the film, 'The Wee Man', starring Martin Compston and John Hannah, which won two Scottish BAFTAs. Contemporary titles include 'To Be Someone', described in IMDb as "A light-hearted adventure movie set in the world of Mods", was shot in Oct of 2020. Ray has also completed the film 'Miss The Kiss', starring Charlie Clapham, John Hannah and Martin Kemp, to be released in the spring of 2023. Ray's next project in the director's chair is 'The Last Tandem in Paris', expected to start production in the summer of 2023.
