Born:
October 12, 1953
in
Manchester
Best Known For:
Playing foul-mouthed Frank Gallagher in Shameless.
Early-life:
Born in Manchester on October 12, 1953. He has a brother; their father was a plumber. David never wanted to be an actor, his first love was football, but thanks to a little encouragement from teachers, he trod the boards in a school production of The Crucible. After a short stint at art college in Sheffield, and a few months labouring, he became a student at Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama. His breakthrough role came in the gritty 1977 drama Scum.
Career:
Aside from a lean period at the back end of the 1990s, Threlfall has rarely been out of work. His small-screen work includes roles in Mike Leigh's Kiss of Death, a 1984 staging of King Lear (opposite Laurence Olivier), Conspiracy and The Queen's Sister. His most famous on-screen character is that of chain-smoking patriarch Frank Gallagher, a role he held in Channel 4 drama Shameless between 2004 and 2013. Other projects include The Russia House, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Housewife 49, Hot Fuzz, Nowhere Boy and The Ark. He was also made a surprisingly good Tommy Cooper in the ITV biopic Not Like That, Like This.
Quote:
On acting: "I just like getting up and pretending. It's the game of pretending you're other people, that's the liberating thing."
Trivia:
He supports Manchester City. He received an honorary doctorate from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2013.